I wonder when it became cool or “normal” to talk about what we hate. Was it always that way?
I wish, instead, that we talked more about what we LOVE.
Today, let me go first. I think it’s time I said something out loud.
I believe in God. I always have and I always will.
What I call God - you may call the universe, nature, love, spirit.
You may not believe in God. Or you might not be sure.
Perhaps you strongly dislike the word “God.” Or you reject what the word represents to you. Or what it is associated with.
I accept and support whatever you believe. 1000 percent.
But I need to tell you what I believe and what I love - because it is part of who I am. And how I live.
If I never tell you about my meditation practice, or how that when I’m done meditating - I pray… how will you know?
If I don’t go first - how can we connect - if this is a way you want to connect?
Maybe you want to talk about meditation or God in class. Maybe you want to write prayers or sing gospel in English. Maybe you want to talk about how yoga or tai chi changed your life in the past. Maybe you want to try those practices to feel better now.
If that’s the case, please let me know. If it’s not, tell me that, too!
I just think that talking (and writing) about what we love is one of the best ways to work on our English. It’s one of the easiest ways to connect with others in English. It allows us to use English as the tool it is - to understand one another and to share what we see.
To connect through what we are learning and what we know.
Let us use our English to talk about what we love and what helps us. What heals us. What nourishes us.
Let us learn how by trying.
Let us begin.
And now let us write!
What makes you feel held, nourished, and supported?
What lights you up? What brings you joy?
What practices bring you closer to feeling those things?
Share your thoughts on paper, in your phone, or in a voice memo. Keep your ideas to yourself or post them below.
I love the sound of the water, the conversational walk between our bare feet and the shore.
I love others’ smiles, and the visual approval before a hi.
I embrace the rest of us, along with all the quirks refused offhand.
The scent of wood, the sense of care.
I also beg for forgiveness after the storm, and kneel for the passion of the song.
I vent screaming at the mirror in solitude, to coddle the flowers afterwards.
And because there’s no god to quench my thirst, I feed on sunlight and banal lies.
I am not sure from where it comes
when love comes sweeping down
Some say it is of God and others say
the muse's whispering words we hear profound
But I would say love starts like the smallest water drop
and collects the others, rolling hard to stop
it then with all the others forms the rivers and the seas
and then is carried off as mist and starts again unseen
maybe love then circles, wearing down
the weary grind of hate and war
to melt the hardest hearts
to shed its light once more.