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So I’m participating in a Change Shaping series put together by EcoGather, which combines the ideas and expertise of so many people I admire.
One of the first exercises in the “Showing Up for Change” module is about the value of journaling:
Journaling functions in a few different ways:
It is a great record of what happens, what you learn, and what you think and feel at different stages of your life and your learning.
It increases retention of information and helps us create context for what we learn and what we make of what we read.
It also has a calming impact on your nervous system which means it is a self-regulation tool when you need one.
It helps you develop ideas, be creative, and expand your thinking beyond what you can do entirely in your head.
In a class like this, where you may be sharing what you learn with your community or with others in your community talking the class, journaling also helps you prepare for those conversations.
One of our assignments was to read this poem, titled Love, and then riff on the things we love. I was surprised at where the mind goes once things get rolling! This is an incomplete but very fun and stream-of-consciousness list that I enjoyed making.
I love the way the late morning sun warms me up like I’m a lizard when the morning is chillier than I thought it would be.
I love the mints you get after you go to a diner.
I love seeing others having a really good time.
I love Sierra’s laugh.
I love Odesza and the myriad feelings their music evokes within me.
I love when broccoli is kind of burnt.
I love Golden Gate Park and the fact that it’s seen as an important thing, a thing worth having and improving and enjoying.
I love Tom Misch, and the song of his, Tidal Wave, that’s playing right now.
I love the way my Dad lies down on the floor after he gets home from work, giving the cold shoulder to each and every chair in our home.
I love how many different types of clouds there are, and how they give the sky an infinite amount of personalities.
I love it when I’ve learned the patterns of stoplights at an intersection so I know when it’s my turn to walk without the white man on the sign instructing me to do so.
I love morning light.
I love when you can see a tree’s roots bulging out of the ground and can only wonder how deep or wide they travel beneath the surface.
I love when I know I have a good story to tell and I think the group will enjoy it. I think I get this from both my parents.
I love when I’m meditating, and I get distracted, and I softly chuckle at the place my mind had gone.
I love the selfies my parents take, and how they love to have fun and how they’re so easily able to not take themselves too seriously. I love when they lean into jokes and make me laugh.
I love eating peanut butter and banana sandwiches at the peak of a mountain.
I love the moment right after the initial spazz of entering really cold water—the burst of aliveness, the feeling of “oh, I can calm myself down, cool!”
I love dogs’ embrace of routine.
I love owls, and particularly Great Gray Owls after reading Cloud Cuckoo Land. I love their silence, their wisdom, their default mode of observation and patience.
I love the feeling of possibility I get when imagining a more beautiful world.
I love the Butterfly Effect.
I love the presence my Mom has on FaceTime. I also love her fearlessness in trying new recipes, or steadfastness when trying something new in general, like making a friendship bracelet.
I love sending voice memos to friends I haven’t spoken with in a while, and putting as much good energy into two minutes of speech as I can.
I love musical harmony.
I love not eating animals that have needlessly suffered their entire lives.
I love finishing a run.
I love when I remember something I read about and actually apply it to my life.
I love that there are people in the world trying to clean up rivers.
I love when Sierra climbs into bed next to me and how our bodies have become like compatible Tetris pieces.
I love random acts of kindness.
I love coloring books.
I love how cool every picture of space looks, however rendered.
I love people who devote themselves to the practice of photography.
I love lamp (had to).
I love Steven Pressfield’s idea of Resistance.
I love Rich Roll and his podcast and the way he listens.
I love Thich Naht Hanh and the fact that a person’s ideas and writing completely changed the way I relate to death. Language is so cool.
I love when something genuinely makes me say “that’s crazy!”
I love people who are really big fans of music artists/groups, and how it inspires them to do awesome things themselves. I think music and the way it makes us feel brings out the best in so many of us.
I love Thai food, and when it’s just a little too spicy so that you eat it a little more slowly and sweat a little.
I love being silly on the dance floor.
I love the little notes people write in cards.
I love the way my Yaya used to make french toast and how it smelled in the morning. I love how willingly and lovingly she made it.
I love seeing rock formations that have been shaped by the fierce combination of water and air, and wondering how and then remembering how real “little by little” can be.
I love bagels that barely have any room for a hole in the middle.
I love good movie scores.
I love stretching.
I love when I get to introduce someone to someone else and give them both compliments in the process.
I love fresh strawberries, and I love fighting for the fair treatment of those who pick them as part of their livelihood.
I love sunrises and sunsets, and how you never know when you’ll be blessed with something breathtaking.
I love sports and the emotions they make us all feel. I love seeing people push their body to the limit and how it inspires others to do the same.
I love dinosaurs.
I love how my whole family does the “live long and prosper” hand sign from Star Trek as if it’s the same as saying “what’s up,” and I love it even more because of how we honor my Jedo.
I love giving Sierra a sweaty hug after she finishes a race.
I love how supportive people are when other people are injured.
I love how the fact that some animals can see ultraviolet light proves that the reality we perceive is only a small sliver of what is really there.
I love that you’re my amazing son and every feeling being your Mom brings to me! 💜