Don’t argue with yourself. “A house divided cannot stand.” There will be many battles with raised voices, debates that last into the night with weary pauses in-between. There will be conflict and misunderstandings. Let these come to you from external forces, from loved ones with good enough intentions, from bosses and reared children, from well-meaning friends who will never learn to keep their noses in their own rose gardens. But don’t argue with yourself. Do not toss and turn through the night, do not draw images of crosses in your mind with dividing pros and cons listed on each side. Do not disassemble the pieces or apologize for the contradictions.

To be human is to be conflicted, complex, duplicitous. Do not draw a weapon upon your own soul, do not fear the shadow side of the moon, the double edged sword you carry in your hand. Feel, and never look back. Err, and do not retrace those steps. Stumble, and bear your scars with pride. Don’t dumb it down, don’t separate mind from heart, organism from organ, disease from cure. Integrate yourself like skeleton leaves, like carpeted blades of grass, like the sky full of dead stars still shining bravely.

Chicago, Illinois 2015

Follow your highest emotion, the most courageous cry, the hope whispering hallelujah in the dead of night. Follow the corner of your mouth curled in a hesitant smile. Give in to the embrace that catches you off balance, lean into the one touching your cheek. Learn to cry more often with gladness. Drink your fill of troubled waters and transform the pain into a fountain of joy. Cut your hair, but do not wound your own spirit.

Chicago, Illinois 2015

Ask for healing, ask for peace. Stand firm in mountain pose until you become the rock and the sky. Caress the roughness of the bark, stretch your arms around its girth and lie on your back, gazing at the sky through barren branches waiting for Spring. Never forget the sliver of moonlight is only an illusion. The absence of light means only that the earth has turned her back for a moment. The light will return, the rotation will complete and turn upon itself. You are whole, just like the moon. You are not splinters or fractions. You are not an ink blot.

Chicago, Illinois 2015

You are the web and the dew. You are the wind and the spider, weaving in harmony patterns of life.