YOUNG

I wonder if you remember when you were a young child, maybe five or six years old? Do you remember what you loved? What made you so happy that you danced a bit in your chair, a goofy smile on your face, eyes all lit up? What made you feel incredibly alive with joy, so intensely yourself? 

 Many of us had had difficult things happen to us by this point in life – I certainly did – but still, the pure essence of a small child is intact at that point, to some extent. By the time we are seven years of age, our beliefs and patterns we’ve learned have a lot to do with our operating systems as we move through life.  Earlier, though, kids often still believe in magic and are far more in touch with who they are on a soul level. 

 Can you remember those moments, before your inner light got covered up? What was it that made you happy then?

 For me, there were several – books were a door to a different world and the library was a sanctuary, always. I made pretend “potions” in an old fireplace in our potting shed, combining bark, herbs, leaves and various things I found on my walks in the woods, another source of joy.  I’d comb that forest floor and the beach, as well, finding arrowheads and shells and stones. So many stones, which often felt as though they held magic.  I’d sit under our huge weeping willow tree with my grandmother, shelling peas or cleaning ears of corn, talking without words. I’d spend hours drawing, especially queens and sometimes fairies or mermaids, spinning stories in my head about them. And dreaming of Africa, always – day and night.

 As I grow older and have let my lens become far wider, as I walk with people through Big Things in their lives (and small ones, too), I have come to believe that we deprioritize joy as we age. Life gets busy, we add responsibilities and coping mechanisms along the way to help us keep up with our inhumane pace of life in this crazy world. We lose touch with the voice of our soul, with what lights us up.

I want to extend an invitation to you to pause and remember what you loved so dearly, what brought that broad smile to your face. And then? Please do that again, as much and as often as you can. 

 I can tell you it’s worth it, truly.

Somehow, I managed to get myself all the way across the world to this incredible place we call South Africa. I do all these things, both personally and professionally, in ways that bring joy to the world.  I collect and work with even more beautiful stones, I connect with ancestors and muthi, weaving bespoke ceremony to allow others to feel supported fully and well.  I have a light filled studio where I paint and draw and play with clay as often as I allow myself, often bringing izindlovukazi (or queens), mamas and mermaids to life.

 It is the very best gift life has brought, that I’ve given myself, to come full circle and allow myself that happiness once again.  I do hope you’ll find your way to this gift too. The world right now? It needs all the joy and hope we can create.  I am so sure that this is how we are meant to heal, for ourselves and each other. 

I’d love to hear what it brings to life for you.

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