Ahhhh! Summertime. Think back to your childhood summers. Oh, in the ‘60s or ‘70s, or maybe even the ‘50s. If anyone ever mentioned the Year of Our Ford, 2024, we’d have looked off into the distance somewhere and pictured ourselves in some robotic age. Did we even want to LIVE in such a time? Well, compared to the alternative, probably yes. But now here we are, still alive, probably with quite a few loved ones and friends who didn’t quite make it to 2024. 

 

But WE did make it to this strange new era. Strangeness, like the Normal, is something we get used to. Look around at 90-year-olds glued to a phone screen at the coffee shop. It has happened. But also, much to our relief, so is it still the case that we need each other. We need to talk and tell stories. We need to hear what the other thinks on occasion. Or maybe we mostly just need to be present with each other and laugh together. 

 

Can you sit with your friends and say nothing? I can. I’m grateful for that. Nothing is more of a sign of being at home with somebody than the conversation coming to a pause simply because blue jays are squawking and we’ve turned our attention on them. Or a sudden rustle through the leaves above, which captures the ancient thing in us which has always, since the beginning of us, caused a little flutter of delight in the sound of leaves making music, leaves whispering, leaves warning of the coming storm or laughing in delight at the feel of cool rain falling upon them. 

 

It is true that we face uncountable challenges in this world. Some that are so far beyond our comprehension that we haven’t even noticed them yet. But at the same time, we are who we are. We are thinking, feeling, reasoning beings. And we did not come here to be alone, to withdraw and live our lives without human connection. That is part of what has been left out of all the talk of doom and change and chaos and loss. We have our own hearts and minds and our unlimited brilliant imaginations. 

 

I believe deeply that we are living in this time because we are capable of navigating these predicaments. And I also believe the greatest chance we have to do it well is with our hearts and minds open. It always makes us feel better to unclench. Whether that be a fist or a heart. To unclench is to trust, to be willingly vulnerable. To be open to being guided by Love. 

 

This is at the core of my life. Not perfectly at the core. Not every second at my highest level of presence. But more and more and more it is my state of being. As is true for millions of people. There is no other thing which will guide us better and help us to have a dependable knowing about what we can trust and where to go next, than to pause and be able to breathe into our hearts and bravely take a step in the direction of Love. 

 

You may have a much better way of saying it than I do. Or a clearer loving vision. Please follow that. And share your sense of it with your friends and neighbors. This is how we go from here. We acknowledge that we are not All Knowing. But we also accept that We Can Know Some Things, Some Times. And we place our trust in this love and seek to live lives that do not harm, with good will toward each other and All Living Things. Can we do this? Yes, of course we can.

 

Your friend on a cool sunny summer day ~ Michael Tomlinson

 

TWO MORE THINGS: 

 

1. Breathing Into Your Life ~ Every Thursday at 6pm Pacific, I host a small gathering on Zoom in which we Breath and Meditate, but also, I sing and we talk and laugh. I began this to help us through Covid. But it continues because it makes our lives better. You can always read about it and register right here on this site.

 

2. I’m close to launching a bi-weekly online publication on Substack, the amazing website which has given a home and forum to thousands of writers from around the world. Paid subscribers support us and in my case, I will write stories, essays, memoirs, humor — and include songs and videos and audio every month. 

 

For a time it will be free to all. Then after a few months there will be two versions, one for paid subscribers, which includes much more writing, entertainment, perks, etc. And a smaller version for free to those who aren’t ready to subscribe. 

 

If you’re on my email list, you’ll receive yours when I launch. It will come into your email in-box twice a month. One will be chock full of writing, stories, humor, inspiring essays and contributions from other writers and creatives. The other issue will be mostly video/audio. Including some short pieces I will read to you, meant to put you in a quiet restful space before bedtime.