It’s strange to be here.

Previously posted on TinyLetter

Snowy Souls,

Before logging on, I felt a deep sense of dread to see when I last sent out a tiny letter. The dread was eased when I realized it was the first of January. I was sure it was November. Which kind of alarms me and begs the question, “What is time?!”

Speaking of time and all things philosophical, I recently heard the shortest summary of existence:

“It’s strange to be here.”

I audibly laughed when this was said. The big impact from such few words felt like the kind of calm wave that brings you to shore. John O’Donohue – Irish poet, theologian, philosopher – summed this up by saying,

“I mean, when you think about language and you think about consciousness, it’s just incredible to think that we can make any sounds that can reach over across to each other at all, because, I mean — I think the beauty of being human is that we are incredibly, intimately near each other, we know about each other, but yet we do not know or never can know what it’s like inside another person. And it’s amazing, you know? Here am I, sitting in front of you now, looking at your face, you’re looking at mine, and yet neither of us have ever seen our own faces, and that in some way, thought is the face that we put on the meaning that we feel and that we struggle with, and that the world is always larger and more intense and stranger than our best thought will ever reach.”

It’s this notion that even being human and relating to one another feels other-worldly or strange. But here we are, relating as best as we can with only a glimpse through eyes, body language, and touch. 

I think this hit the way it did is, at this time and place in my life, I am so heavily involved in the day-to-day lives of people. Due to a role change within my company, I have an opportunity to really be with people again. Remote work is lovely, and I absolutely love the flexibility, but I did not realize how much I missed being with people. I have found a true fullness in what I do for work. Even recognizing that I spend less and less time on social media – which is even more odd for me!

There has been something so special to do what O’Donohue speaks about – full attentive, face-to-face conversation of relating. Sometimes there is depth and other times it is just scratching the surface. No matter what, though, I find it all meaningful, and also sense that philosophical strangeness. 

My hope for you in this very wintry, very slow time of our outer and inner lives, we can sit with the words of John O’Donohue and find solace. With ourselves and with one another. With the strangeness of our existence. 

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Namaste & Remember to File Your Taxes
xo bre