Thinking about
On the Future of Hope. Pádraig Ó Tuama wrote his most recent newsletter about hope. He asks what some of our thoughts on hope are. Hope is one of my highest values.
Paying attention. What it looks like to pay close attention to my dreams. My grandma recently told me about a prophetic dream she had about my child. Her dream was amazingly detailed (she knew my child’s name, hair and eye color, persona) and I long for that kind of magic in my life. After talking with a few people and reading about dreams, I have started recording my dreams every morning when I wake up. When I awake, there is always somewhere there. Before I started doing this, there usually weren’t any dreams or details I would remember. It seems the main difference is me paying attention. Through me paying attention to my dreams, I’m reminded to think about people, have become more aware of unconscious feelings, and came up with new ideas (such as bringing baked goods to my new neighbors in Baltimore).
I’m also reminded to pay attention and evoke tenderness in every moment. Balancing tenderness with my own boundaries. Holding people close, but also supporting myself.
Learning
You can lick certain batteries to tell if they still have charge - they’ll give you a little 'zing!
My mom is a force for change in her desire to revolutionize (peri)menopause care for people with uteruses. She is a listener and an advocate. Lauren Streicher has been part of this revolution. I have learned so much through my mom about the severe dearth of evidence-based resources for people entering menopause (and women’s health in general). My mom is also teaching me so much about what motivational interviewing (MI) looks like in practice. I’ve learned about MI through my work on an anonymous supporter text line, but it is so much harder to implement. My mom talks about how MI requires generous listening and true acceptance of where the person is at that moment. I think my challenge with MI has always been wanting to improve, challenge, change and in MI, I have to give up the control that I so desperately want. What would it look like if we met each person, including ourselves, exactly where they were?
Asking
What is your ideal reading experience? (when, where, what, how)
When and how have you experienced culture shock? What was it like?
What does your relationship with hope look like?
What questions are you hoping people ask you?
What are the gatherings you wish existed in this world?
Reading
Currently Trust (Hernan Diaz)
Mothers: Twenty Stories of Contemporary Motherhood (edited by Katrina Kenison and Kathleen Hirsch)
I’m not a mom, but loved reading these stories. Unfortunately, there is a significant lack of representation in these 20 stories/authors and not excusing this, but it is kind of a portal into what thought looked like in the 90s and before.
Crazy - as I was reading, I realized that Kathleen (one of the editors) is the professor of a different section of a writing course I loved this past year and I had been in communication with her about helping with one of workshops. The world is small.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Junot DÃaz)
The 1619 Project: Born on the Water (Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson)
An illustrated story I picked up at family’s home where I babysit
namaste,
anna