Love for the Is-ness

My girlfriend Sabrina was telling me that her teenage daughter was going through a rough patch, not eating, perfectionism flaring, feeling crappy about her lovely self. I thought, “I gotta write that girl a letter!” I thought, “I gotta start a circle for teenage girls!” I thought, “I need to call every shrink I’ve ever had and find out if there’s any new science to treat that thing!” And then I did none of that and went and had lunch with friends, grateful for friends, grateful for appetite, grateful for food.

This life has so many phases. I had a not eating perfectionistic feeling shitty phase when I was a teenager. Maybe it’s hormonal. Maybe it’s societal. Maybe it’s mental. Probably all of the above, plus.

Lately, I have had some flare ups of feeling sub-optimal, cyclical blues.  And I realize, hmm, again, could be hormonal, societal, mental, all of the above, other.

My beloved yoga teacher, Eddie reminded us today that anything in nature, including humans, does not promise an endless string of happy and/or ecstatic delights.  There’s no ever-blooming. There are cycles, seasons, shifts, and on we go.

We live in a time when there are so many people telling me that anything other than blissful productivity and great hair is pathological, can be solved with the right diet or outfit or pill, for a price, and that if I don’t avail myself of these solutions I’m either lazy, uninformed, or both.

I found it comforting to be reminded that seasonality is normal, and fighting nature is actually a more bizarre practice than being with the is-ness of today, taking care of what needs taking care of with love. I’m gonna keep going.