“Joy is an act of defiance,’ said the Khan. ‘With joy, we win, even if we lose. To have lived well is a victory all its own, for we all die. Death is unimportant to the laughing warrior. A poet makes tragedy glorious. That is why.” 

― Guy Haley

With joy we win. With joy we win. With joy we win. Let that sink in. Amid the questionable binaries of victory and defeat, life and death, light and dark, happy and sad, begin and end, with joy we win.

Think of a flower’s blossom. A blossom is absolute joy. A blossom happens at the perfect time, in the exact perfect way, as a perfect process of bees and flowers and sunshine. Think of a symphony. A symphony is absolute joy. A symphony happens in perfect harmony and dissonance, with the exact perfect instruments and musicians, as a string of perfect notes and melody. Think of a poem. (I think this is what Haley points out when he says a poet makes tragedy glorious.) A poem is absolute joy. A poem happens in perfect precision and grace, with the perfect task of describing the indescribable or naming the unnamable or capturing the uncapturable, as a collection of the exact perfect words.

Joy’s win relies on creation and imagination and desire. Joy’s win relies on abundance and attention and time. Joy’s win requires all things soft and malleable and effervescent. All that is defiance — a strict refusal to succumb to the hard edges that diminish hope, the clenched fists that prevent reaching out, and the cruelty that makes waking up a chore. Joy wins when we become laughing warriors on love’s path.

What I Keep Learning

It’s Gonna Be Alright

if I could sing/ you would hear me and I would tell you/ it’s gonna be alright/ it’s gonna be alright/ it’s gonna be alright it would be something like that  — Juan Felipe Herrera

As storms rain down and flowers grow. it’s gonna be alright. As things fall apart and back together. it’s gonna be alright. As things bend and break and mend. it’s gonna be alright. As morning becomes night until morning comes again. it’s gonna be alright. As joy becomes sorrow and tears become laughter. it’s gonna be alright. As praise becomes lamentation and glory returns. it’s gonna be alright. As we are wounded and those wounds heal. it’s gonna be alright. As stars shine and their light lives for millenia. it’s gonna be alright. As we tell the truth. it’s gonna be alright. As we stay soft and courageous. it’s gonna be alright.

I need to hear this 800 hundred times.

Cento Between the Ending and the End

Oh/ friends, my friends—/ bloom how you must, wild/ until we are free — Cameron Awkward-Rich

If I could, I would make a patchwork quilt of life. It would, of course, include poems. It would include lyrics from songs. It would include pictures of places I have been and want to travel. It would include letters from people I love. It would include favorite recipes and china that has been passed down. It would include precious to me stones from my favorite rings and necklaces and pins.

Read more here.

Understanding Equanimity

One of my favorite yoga teachers uses the word equanimity to describe warrior pose.

In yoga, warrior pose is a standing posture rooted in presence. I love warrior. I feel powerful in warrior. In warrior, my soft stare fixes my focus between steel and horizon. I ease into a powerful bend that allows my legs and core energy to hold my body and my toes to grasp the earth. I know what it means to be sure-footed in warrior. When I fall, I get back up. My arms flex with strength and grace. The overwhelming power of the gaze, the breath, the calm, the beauty, and the silence overtakes the space. There is a fierce softness in warrior that is part dance and part conversation. It is the physical manifestation of true balance.

Paying Attention

Juan Felipe Herrera “Song Out Here“

Cameron Awkward-Rich “Cento Between the Ending and the End“

Warrior Pose

Three Dog Night, “Joy to the World“

Tending Joy and Practicing Delight” Ross Gay, on 10 Percent Happier Podcast