Not more. Not less.

My body’s been recalibrating for the new year, it seems.

The last few nights’ sleep leading up to it have been disjointed.

But I finally slept through last night, and woke up hearing this:

Not more.

Not more answers, but kindness.

Not more results, but trust.

Not more solutions, but love.

Not more pleasure, but enjoyment.

Not more pain, but surrender.

Not more perfection, but permission.

Not more.

Not less, either.

I’m noticing that there’s no fear around things ending anymore.

Because there is always equilibrium.

That’s what I have learned to trust this year.

When something goes now, rather than tightening in fear, I wonder, “What new and exciting thing is coming to replace it?”

Evolution requires shedding. If a child grows they need new shoes to keep walking so their feet don’t hurt. Trying to cram into the same shoes we’ve outgrown is what’s so uncomfortable.

I’ve been considering that if I were to look at life from a birdseye view it’s like a circle. Only so much can fit into it. And happiness, or how we experience it, depends on what’s in this circle.

The process of “cultivating happiness” is taking an honest look at what needs to be removed, what needs to be added. And that adding requires removal.

It’s easy to mistake what we want. It’s easy to get confused. Before we know it, we’re chasing something out of habit. We’re doing more than we’re feeling. We forget in the doing the feeling we were after in the first place.

If I were to sum up the two biggest lessons I’ve learned this year, it is to not go searching for happiness in all the wrong places.

And, I only want what wants me.

May every day this year, and every year, be the exact present that you need.

May joy find you exactly as you are.

With love,

Vera