A Little Loving Kindness

From afar, I know that many of my friends and colleagues in the writing community are suffering at this moment. I see you and I am sending you love. For many, the suffering is causing writer’s block, and I know from experience this increases the suffering and the pain. When I’m not making things, I feel like I’m not totally myself — I’m just a body moving through the world, committing one fuck up after another. I don’t wish this on anyone.

I want everyone who is suffering to find the peace and forgiveness that they need so they can get back to the work and return to being their fullest selves. This will take time, just as much time as needed. We are all strong, and we have stories to tell.

This Pema Chödrön quotation from Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Livingreminds me not to close off my heart when things get scary:

“The idea of karma is that you continually get the teachings that you need in order to open your heart. To the degree that you didn’t understand in the past how to stop protecting your soft spot, how to stop armoring your heart, you’re given this gift of teachings in the form of your life, to give you everything you need to learn how to open further.”

This life is teaching us how to be us, to be human. Let’s struggle together, even if our narratives differ. This is how we will heal. We got this.