Hello, my friend!
Do you ever feel like the universe is sending you messages? The same theme surfacing over and over until you can’t ignore it anymore. This week, mine has been about letting go, and I’m terrible at it. So let’s sit with that one together.
↓ In today’s email:
- This week’s inspiration: The impossible art of letting go
- Latest blog post: A cooler kind of summer eating
- What I’m reading: A $25 treasure (maybe)
This Week’s Inspiration: The Impossible Art of Letting Go
Do you ever feel that the universe is giving you messages? Many times a day, in a conversation or a podcast or a book, the same themes keep coming up, gently guiding you toward the awareness that something has to change. Sometimes the message comes from your own body, speaking to a mind that’s resistant to acknowledge what’s happening on a deeper level.
For me, this week, it’s about easing into the idea of letting go.
On a professional level, this is my job. Finding the stuck energy in the body and relieving its tension, so blood flows more smoothly and the chattering of the mind can quiet down. On a personal level, though, I’m a bit like a cobbler with holes in her shoes. I’m wedded to the idea that my constant attention to things is necessary — that if my vigilance lapses, bad things will happen.
Like so many of us, I grip tightly to what is and fear what could be. Neither one solves anything. If anything, the gripping just creates more problems.
This past Monday was a full moon, and in so many cultures the full moon is about releasing what no longer serves us. My body doesn’t seem to want to let go of its tension, and my mind isn’t far behind. So I’m not writing to you from the far side of this, with the lesson learned and tied up neatly. I’m right in the middle of it, same as you might be.
Maybe that’s enough for now: the two of us, resonating with the same wish. To loosen the grip a little, find some peace, and feel — even for a moment — grounded enough to trust that it will all work out.
Latest Blog Post
A Cooler Kind of Summer Eating: The Quiet Genius of Vegetables
It’s the height of a heat wave, and I have one small, wildly unfashionable piece of advice: eat your vegetables. I know how that sounds. But in Chinese medicine, most non-starchy vegetables are naturally cooling — the very thing your body wants when it’s trying not to combust. The catch is that cooling doesn’t mean cold; ice-cold food actually disrupts digestion. Room temperature, Sicilian-feast style, is the sweet spot. And there’s a lovely bonus: the phytonutrients in vegetables are tied to longer telomeres and lower cancer risk, which is to say they may quietly make you younger from the inside out.
What I’m Reading This Week
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer — by "Samuel Clemens"
Something unexpected happened this week. I think I may have stumbled onto a treasure.
At a second-hand store, tucked among the ordinary things, was an old copy of Tom Sawyer. Dark, worn cloth cover, pages gone the color of weak tea. Here’s the catcher: the name on the cover wasn’t Mark Twain. It was Samuel Clemens, his real name. I almost turned to the shop girl to ask if she knew what she had, but instead I just asked if it was for sale. Twenty-five dollars. I bought it on the spot.
You probably know that Mark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens. I nearly bought the book for a friend of mine, a Clemens himself and a descendant of the man. The book is dated 1876 and could be a collectable, so in what little spare time I have (I’m not convinced I have any), I’m going to visit a rare bookseller and find out whether I’ve found a treasure.
In the meantime, I’ve cracked it open and started reading. Last year I read James, Percival Everett’s Pulitzer-winning retelling of Huckleberry Finn from Jim’s point of view — outrageously good and painful in equal measure. Twain’s world has been on my mind ever since. This jaundiced little copy feels like it was waiting for me. I’ll let you know if it’s a genuine treasure.
I’ll be over here, trying to take my own advice.
Dr. Catherine