Happy Memorial Day! Such an important day of remembrance for our country, for those who made the ultimate sacrifice. I know I am thinking differently about sacrifice these days. Also, happy summer! It’s here! The weather was perfect in Los Osos today to kick off summer, blue skies, warm sun.

Health is Physical:

I got out mid day today for 7 miles around town in the blazing sun. Pretty chill cruiser run, adding the miles across virtual Tennessee. I think June might mark the time when I get back on my bike for some riding. I’m starting to feel the pull after a whole month of just running. The temps are warm and climbs are calling me.

Health is Mental/Emotional:

I got a day behind in my daily journal and noticed today that I was starting to spin crazy in my head. I sat down and caught up in my journal and got out the crazies. I think that sleep is the number one most important part of a healthy life fore me, and journaling is number two. Third is exercise and it’s not as important as the other two. And then… foundational and supportive to all of that is making room for a spiritual side to myself. That’s helps to provide perspective and rootedness. This life on Earth is crazy folks, I’m so thankful that the hard times I’ve been through have paved the way for coming alive these days.

Health is Spiritual

I can’t get enough of Care for the Soul and today I read the chapter on Love’s Initiations. It was such a heavy hitter and gave me so many feels I can hardly handle it. Love is a concept I have struggled to really wrap my head around through the years. I have been told by more than one psychic, my uber guru, etc, that I am stuck on the heart level and I think as I have taken steps in service to my soul I am making progress on that level of consciousness.

Right off the bat:

Plato called love the child of fullness and emptiness.

Oh sweet poetry, this hit me in my soul.

Ficino says, “What is human love? What is its purpose? It is the desire for union with a beautiful object in order to make eternity available to mortal life”

I loved this quote and the concept that earthly pleasures are an invitation to eternal delights.

The early Romantic German poet Novalis put it quite simply: love, he says, was not made for this world.

He talks a lot about the unconforming nature of love. It’s often objectionable. The soul is as well. And to care for the soul is to respect it’s emotions and fantasies, however objectionable. This is some pretty bold stuff when I read it, but I also get that the soul pushes Earthly boundaries, because it is not of here. Last one:

Love releases us into the realm of divine imagination, where the soul is expanded and reminded of its unearthly cravings and needs. We think that when a lover inflates his loved one he is failing to acknowledge her flaws - “Love is Blind.” But it may be the other way around. Love allows a person to see the true angelic nature of another person, the halo, the aureole of divinity.

- Thomas Moore

It’s so beautiful when you think about it. Not long ago, I remember having the thought that all anyone wants in the world is for people to love them as exactly who they are in this very moment. And that can be the hardest thing to do on the Earth. Start small, fail often, come back to that intention. That’s been my tactic.

Insights

The sunset today was a real stunner. I love that evening walks are pretty much mandatory in our house now and that everyone has to get out and watch the sun go to sleep. The sunset started in blues and purples and then shifted to orange and yellow later. It was wild to watch, it just kept getting better.

Until tomorrow… in good health.