I’m grateful for a bright summer morning. I’m grateful for being able to see people as teachers and grateful for the lessons I’ve learned. I’m grateful for being willing to believe that this is all going in the right direction. I’m grateful to watch the honeybees in the balcony garden. I’m grateful for really excellent office products. I’m grateful to be sober today.
Today is July 20th! This is significant to me for two reasons: (1) The first Apollo moon landing was on July 20, 1969 and (2) It’s my brother’s birthday! I remember watching the moon landing at my grandparent’s house in Moline, Illinois. I would have been six years old and can remember watching the grainy images on a television and seeing my grandfather’s face just locked in amazement. I don’t remember anyone talking, all of us just staring at the tv. I remember walking out on the porch and looking up at the moon and wondering if I’d be able to see the astronauts walking on it. That’s why I think July 20th is kind of a cool day.
One of the best newsletters I’ve discovered here on Substack is Sarah Miller’s Can We Read?1:
I loved reading to my kids and will tell you that as a young lawyer one of the things that decorated the wall of my office were these pages from Where the Wild Things Are2:
In yesterday’s gratitude list, I wrote about the process of letting go and how it was connected to being present and willingness. Sarah wrote something really excellent and I wanted to share it:
The concept of letting go -- and the actual letting go itself -- is so freaking hard. I've struggled with it for years; I still struggle with it. I've found that the more I think about the "how," the harder I seem to hang on -- too much brain, too much thinking in it, for me. So I show up to meetings and I say, "I am having a hell of a time letting go" and then I get in my body through meditation and exercise (for me, much of meditation happens *while* exercising). The answer will just come from nowhere -- my higher power speaking to me while I'm lying on the floor, trying to calm my mind, or during the 40th lap of the pool, when I've sufficiently out-thought myself and everything is just blank inside, in the very best way. I'd do anything to take a "letting go" pill that just magically MAKES it happen, but alas, all I have are the tools of my program and the faith that I can learn to let go again and again and again, because I've done it before.
I think this is it exactly. I think in addition to being present, the only other requirement is a willingness to believe in those answers when they magically appear. Thank you, Sarah3!
Thanks for Letting Me Share
Two things: (1) Do I love that the title of her newsletter includes the proper punctuation? Yes, I do. (2) I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I push this Substack stuff pretty hard and I guess at some point, it’s natural to wonder if there will eventually be some swag?
Of course, there is a long story attached to this. Another time. I do love that it’s “Max’s private boat.”
You should subscribe to her newsletter. I did.
I'm grateful for Substack, I'm grateful for this newsletter, I'm grateful for how you help me remember the little things -- which are also the big things -- that center me every day.
Thank you so much for the gracious shoutout 💛