August 15, 2023

Pressure and movement

Hello, friends!

I don't know about you, but I have found these little illustrated newsletters to be quite a lot of fun. I haven't doodled seriously in years, and I wouldn't consider these 'serious doodles,' but I'm enjoying experimenting with the length, the medium, the refinement of them.

Today's was particularly fun to work on. I've always wanted to get a little better at illustrating with pencils, and the drawing on the third page of this newsletter was especially fun to work on.

Let's get on with it, shall we?

Pressure and movement. I didn't set out to find a nice metaphor within Felicia's developing shiatsu practice, but there it was, just served right up on a platter by Wikipedia. Is there any better way to recover from a setback than by applying a little bit of healthy pressure to a wound, than by stretching and moving the body?

I am grateful daily for my family. For Felicia especially, who so gently supports me on the rough days I've described recently. I've never felt closer to her than I do right now. She shared this with me recently:

Everything heals and grows when it is loved well.

People, too.

—Brianna Wiest

Which I really like, because, though the last month has often been very hard, it has also been the most loved and treasured I've ever felt.

I also liked this excerpt from Yung Pueblo's upcoming new book, The Way Forward:

it is only heavy
because you are deciding over and over again
to carry it

embrace change,
loosen up your sense of identity,
let yourself walk a new path

you do not have to ignore
or erase the past,
you just have to wholeheartedly
embrace the present and move on

I can't tell you how gently that landed on me when I saw it. Every day I wake up trying not to carry something, and more days than not now I think I'm doing okay. It helps to hear something like this for those days when it's a little harder.

For a newsletter about the writing life, I know I've been a bit short on writing content lately. I hope that's cool with you; we'll swing back around to the writing before too long, I am confident.

In the meantime, I hope your days are filled with joy and your nights with peace. Thank you, as always, for reading!

✏️Until next time,

Jg

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