Scott Stabile

I can__ tell you anything about yourself you don__ already know_WAIT_unless you don__ know you__e an incredibly freaking amazing person with boundless gifts to share_then I can tell you that.

Everywhere I look I see people doing their best to make sense of this overwhelming reality, and to be kind, authentic human beings despite the many invitations we all receive to be phony, unkind assholes. Sometimes their best doesn__ look like much to me, and I remind myself that my best doesn__ look like much a lot of the time, too. I empathize. We__e all human, and we__e all struggling. Every single one of us, every single day. It__ not my job to police the paths of others, not when it takes so much effort to light my own.

Here's the thing about meditation, as I try once again to make it a habit... Even when I close my eyes to meditate for five minutes, body fidgeting, mind racing and worrying and busying itself with everything but the present moment, I still feel quieter, more relaxed when I open my eyes. Maybe it's just the simple act of giving myself five dedicated minutes of attention (no matter how they play out) to the calm, knowing soul that smiles from within at all of my mental nonsense. We are beings of peace after all. And of love. So much goodness, so much understanding and compassion lives inside each of us, like wide-eyed children, always ready to come out and play.

Today is the perfect day to do something daring. Like just be yourself, for instance.

Be free, my friend.Cry, scream, rage, collapse.Your pain is not too much for us.And though it__ hard to believe right now,your pain is not too much for you, either.Fall apart into a thousand frightened pieces,question everything you__e always trusted,grieve however you need to grieve.We__l still be here. So will you.Yes, you will survive this.Changed but stronger.Wounded but alive.Seen, and loved. So very loved.

Who are you not to be yourself?

and then there was that time you sucked down your fear, breathed into it, faced it with a courage that moves mountains, and you stepped right into that thing, that situation, that experience moments and forever before had crippled and controlled you, and had you believing you could never rise up to meet it. but you did, because you could. and you will again, because you can. yes, you can.

We can't really know what relationships will last or not last in our lives, romantic and otherwise. What we can do is give the best we've got to the relationships we've chosen for ourselves. We can show up with an open heart and mind, be grateful for the exchange of love, and trust in however these relationships evolve. We can also be grateful for the relationships that have ended, trusting that we received from them something important that has helped to move us farther along our paths.

If you can__ forget about all the great pains you__e endured, as many of us can__, at least take some time to celebrate the fact that you__e somehow kept going, in spite of it all. And you__e certainly kept growing, because of it all.

Be a person who gives a shit about other people.

As much as I love to see the sun setting behind a city skyline,and to feel the pure majesty of a wild river or soaring mountain,and to fade, then disappear into a transcendent book, song or film,I am always most astounded, moved and transported by the warmthand kindness of a loving person. Always.

If people aren't able to see your magnificence that's their loss, not yours.

I__ super fucking sensitive. I love this about myself only slightly more than I can__ stand it. Sometimes I wish I were an unfeeling stone who didn__ take everything so personally and didn__ need so much space all the time. Feeling can get exhausting fast. Mostly, though, I know my sensitivity is a superpower, perhaps my greatest, and it__ the thing that keeps me loving our world in a profound way, when I__ not too busy hiding from it, that is.

Today, I choose not to take my life for granted. I choose not to look upon the fact that I am healthy, have food in my refrigerator and have clean water to drink as givens. They are not givens for so many people in our world. The fact that I am safe and (relatively) sane are not givens. That I was born into a family who loves me and into a country not ravaged by war are not givens. It is impossible to name all of the circumstances in my life I__e taken for granted. All of the basic needs I__e had met, all of the friendships and job opportunities and financial blessings and the list, truly, goes on and on. The fact that I am breathing is a miracle, one I too rarely stop to appreciate. I__ stopping, right now, to be grateful for everything I am and everything I__e been given. I__ stopping, right now, to be grateful for every pleasure and every pain that has contributed to the me who sits here and writes these words. I am thankful for my life. This moment is a blessing. Each breath a gift. That I__e been able to take so much for granted is a gift, too. But it__ not how I want to live__ot when gratitude is an option, now when wonder and awe are choices. I choose gratitude. I choose wonder. I choose awe. I choose everything that suggest I__ opening myself to the miraculous reality of simply being alive for one moment more.

If you believe in God,then you__e a child of God.As such, you__e as worthy of loveas anyone who has ever lived. If you don__ believe in God,then you__e a child of Nature.As such, you__e as worthy of loveas anyone who has ever lived.Nothing you can do will make youany more or any less worthy of lovethan you already are, and always have been.You__e as worthy as they come, my friend.Please try not to forget that.

You change our world for the better by changing our world for the better.

Aren__ you tired of shutting up? Aren__ you sick of choking down your truth?Aren__ you over nodding yes when you mean no?Then stop__hutting and choking and nodding.You have not come this far to stay silent.You have not endured so much to give up now.You have not awakened just to go back to sleep.Right now is the time to announce yourself. Who are you? What do we need to know?Only you make claim to who you are.Only you decide what__ right, and not, for you.Only you choose how you want to shine.You__nly you__et to create your singular life.

To all the friends out there struggling while so many are celebrating right now, please know that you are not alone, and you are so loved. I hold you in my heart and send you extra support and love these days, and all the light I know how to muster. I love you.