Just as important as it is to build the confidence that it takes to follow our dreams, there's also a grace to learning to let things go.
Because ultimately yes, we decide our destiny, our life, we create our journey, but a lot of it is also not up to us.
We can do as much as we can here, but at the end of the day, nature will run its course and things will happen as they must.
But sometimes we can't force those answers.
There are times where they must come to us, and that waiting period, that patience, learning to let go, I think it's necessary.
I know it's necessary.
Hi everyone and welcome back to another episode of Flowering Philosophies.
You might be able to hear this rushing waterfall sitting right next to us.
I'm not sure how distracting or peaceful it sounds, but it's very immersive in setting the scene for where I'm really at right now.
I am in the midst of a beautiful forest here in the Pacific Northwest, in the beautiful woods and mountains right near Portland.
I have some wonderful family who lives over here.
I feel understandably very at peace here with all the nature and these incredible mountains waterfalls beaches, forests.
The Oregon coast is here.
It's just like absolutely incredible sights.
Maybe I haven't seen all of my country, all of the United States yet, but out of everything I have seen, The Pacific Northwest is the most beautiful part of this country in my eyes.
I know I'm probably going to get some arguments with that one, but in my opinion it's what I've witnessed and decided so far.
It is avaricious to escape the natural order of things.
This is the quote that has been going in my head over and over again today, and this is a quote by a wonderful poet named Carissa Love.
You know what's crazy?
When you start reciting poetry by your friends, you know you've made it.
When your favorite poets are your friends,
Yeah, Carissa has a poem titled, I Will Not Go to Mars With You.
And it's one of my favorite poems of all time.
And she has a line in there where she says, it's avaricious to escape the natural order of things.
For some reason on my hike this morning, it kept coming into my mind over and over again.
It's because I'm reflecting on letting things go.
Learning to let things go is not easy.
They say, wanting to reach your goals or your desires.
The best thing that you can do, and what I've learned, is to, of course, know what it is that you want.
Imagine it, picture it, feel it, know that you can have that.
But one of the most important steps in getting what it is that we desire is learning to also let it go.
You have to be able to detach.
The more that we try to grab onto things and hold onto them for our own security or safety or validation.
That's when we suffocate the things that we're saying we want.
And naturally, energetically, I just don't think that really works very well.
There's quite a few hikers taking a look at our flowering philosophies, set up with our tripod, here in the waterfall.
The nature of life, I've learned, is not balanced when we are holding so tightly and suffocating the things that we're saying we want.
I find that those things come to us and into our experience and we attract them.
Those resources, those opportunities, those moments, that right place at the right time.
It's much easier to find that and for it to come to us when we're not so desperately clinging and holding on.
That's something that I think we must make a distinction between is drive and ambition, and having a goal and being set on it, versus being attached to that outcome and that it has to happen this exact specific way and not being able to sort of let go in the process, because ultimately yes, we decide our destiny, our life, we create our journey, but a lot of it is also not up to us.
We can do as much as we can here, but at the end of the day, nature will run its course and things will happen as they must.
I'm watching a big, big yellow leaf fall from this big green tree, and that is one of the first little inklings of autumn, i believe.
I mean we're in september now just watching these little leaves fall.
It's the same thing like imagine if they held so tightly to some sort of fate of staying green all year.
They can't do such a thing.
They can't do that.
They must fall and die.
And that is the natural cycle of things.
It's amazing to know what we want, what we desire, to go after that.
I'll never tell you to give up on a dream, but letting things go.
In order to achieve that dream, in order to move towards what we want more freely, we must let go of some of that weight and that baggage clinging on to something for some idea of certainty, you know, I think, accepting that we will never have full certainty and that we are just a part in this natural cycle in this life.
And we have a say, but only to a certain extent, which is a control.
It makes me feel safe, I think.
And I was actually just staying with my friend in San Diego this past weekend.
And she sort of was pointing out that I always like to get to the bottom of things and that I always like to have an understanding of some sort.
And I've literally I've made a My life, my feelings, my own personal philosophies, and the poetry I write is all a product of me attempting to understand myself as the world around me.
But sometimes we can't force those answers.
There are times where they must come to us, and that waiting period, that patience, learning to let go, I think it's necessary.
I know it's necessary.
But there are things in my life that I have clung onto because they guarantee familiarity, and familiarity is what gave me a sense of safety.
I've actually just released a poetry collection.
You guys have asked where you can read or listen to or view my writing, and you can listen to it.
It's an immersive spoken word poetry collection that you can listen to on Spotify, Apple Music.
You can order it as a CD and read along.
There's a booklet inside with all of the text and all of the visual world of photography, so I'm beyond excited about this project being out into the world for you to consume.
It's called A Pearlescent Promise.
A Pearlescent Promise is all about stepping into the unknown and just how scary it can be to let go of that sense of familiarity, whether that's moving to a new city or making a decision to follow your dreams, and the periods of isolation that might follow, or the periods of excitement or new discovery, or the breaking of generational patterns and trauma, to start anew and to step into something we never have before.
Learning to let things go is not easy, and I think this is why Carissa's quote keeps popping into my head.
It is avaricious to escape the natural order of things.
We must accept the natural order of things.
Looking at nature as a symbol and representation of that.
It's my biggest healing force and comfort to watch the natural cycles around us do what they must do, because it shows me that i can do the same.
I know i can do it.
I know you can do it as well, and the trees around us are doing it right now as we step into autumn and move away from summer.
Just as important as it is to build the confidence that it takes to follow our dreams,
There's also a grace to learning to let things go.
It helps keep us a little bit lighter on our way if we can let go some of the weight i put.
I tend to put a lot of pressure on my dreams.
I say to myself okay it's, it's gonna happen this way and i have this exact plan.
And you know that saying of when you make plans, god laughs.
Like i said, there's only so much that's up to us.
But that clinging to something for that false sense of certainty nothing is ever certain.
But having some sort of plan, feeling reassured in that it can feel comfortable.
And yeah, you know, of course i have dreams and a plan, but not really like i don't really know what i'm doing at the end of the day, and that's why it's scary to let go of certain things that i've always known.
I wrote in my journal here learn to let it go.
We can get so caught up on the past or even an idea of the future.
It's easier to romanticize something than actually bring it to fruition, because that means change and that means loss of what once was.
I have gotten so caught up in romanticizing the future that I'm not present, and it's a lot easier to romanticize the future than doing what it takes to get to the place that you're daydreaming about.
I wrote a poem about that exact thing actually on my poetry collection called Ruby in the Night.
It's about how it's a lot easier to romanticize a dream than taking the kind of humbling, scary steps to bring that dream to fruition.
When you watch somebody else living your dreams, it's a lot easier to just kind of compare ourselves to that instead of believing that we can do that ourselves.
It's a lot easier to project our wishes onto somebody else or somewhere else instead of finding them within us and building the reality that we actually want.
It's easier to say, oh well, it can only happen if i'm in this place or if i was like this, like it's so much easier to just prolong our dreams, to long for something instead of live it.
Sometimes we don't want to.
Sometimes we don't want to let things go.
Sometimes we want to just wish for it to happen or romanticize an idea.
But it's all about being present, learning to let things go that must go and let things in that must come in.
You know.
We can't let new things into our experience if we're not also making room and letting other things go.
I'm reflecting on my summer as a whole as it comes to an end.
I kept having this thought of August was like ripening.
I don't remember what I wrote about it, but I said something about how like August, what did I say?
I wrote.
As August ripens in the middle, I watched the once thick forest thirst itself into a brown crisp.
Did we all forget in the summer heat together as the days got longer and promised more?
A lion moon, I'm holding my own body tonight.
I was getting used to the feeling of how you begin to act when everything's alright.
My heart is skipping a beat out of place and I don't even know you.
I'm about to start my sub stack.
So all these random poems, diary entries ideas, my philosophies that i flower here on the podcast, they all start in the pages of my journal and i want to show you more writing and let you in on more like dedicated pieces.
So look out for that sub stack coming very soon.
I'll announce it to you when it's here, but just know that it's in the works right now.
As August ripened in the middle, I watched the once thick forest thirst itself into a brown crisp.
The natural order of things.
I moved into my new apartment this summer, when things were so green and beautiful and deer were being born in my backyard, literally.
And watching it all kind of thirst down into a brown crisp. crisp.
It's time to learn to let go and I can't help but think about the beginning of my summer.
I am so grateful for my beautiful best friends.
I've had wonderful moments with them throughout the past few years.
You can catch all those vlogs on my YouTube channel.
I'm.
We captured many beautiful moments together, but we were celebrating my friend Juna's birthday back in June.
Juna, June, beginning of summer, glorious times.
Yeah, we went to the spring sort of outside of our city and just explored together.
And it just felt like little girls again.
You know like there's a poem on my poetry album, my spoken word collection.
It's the seventh poem and it's called Water Fairies.
The reason I love poetry so much man, is because it is born as one thing and its life grows into so many things that you didn't know it could be yet.
Like I wrote Water Fairies years ago.
I came up with the concept years ago and i finished it last year and now it's definitely like a fan favorite on the collection and i just wasn't expecting that.
To see it take so many new forms and meanings and shapes is surreal.
It's so cool and i never want to rob anyone of the meaning that they create with the art they consume.
So don't let this insight take away from any meaning that you've created to the poem itself.
But Water Fairies was written originally about that magic that I've stumbled upon between me and my friends from when we were so little to the friends that I'm making now in my life.
That magic you feel when you're with somebody that you just love and trust and you can tell your secrets to, and you can explore this earth together and have fun.
I don't know what I would do without my water fairies.
That's almost what I've, you know, started to call my friends because that's what it's about.
I have a wonderful friend named Gigi Juliana.
We've been best friends since we were three years old, and she's the one who initially inspired this poem, because we grew up playing pretend when we were little little girls.
And a few years ago we were swimming in the ocean and there were sea grapes all around us and I had never seen sea grapes before and there was a rainbow over us and it was just a surreal moment and we were just pretending that we were water fairies.
It was just that.
It was just that simple magic that never dies, no matter how old you are.
It's just that relationship that can sort of garner that magic again and keep it alive.
And I found that so much so with my friends in this time of life when we're learning to let things go and we're accepting new things, new chapters, new ways of life.
You need your water fairies, man.
And if you don't feel like you have your water fairies, I promise you they are all around you.
And you... What does this video turn into?
I'm like, you are a water fairy.
But you... are that magic.
And whatever magic you cultivate within yourself, your life, your dreams you will attract like-minded individuals.
The more that you go out into the world with that intention, with who you are, exactly who you are, you will attract the people that coincide with you and your journey.
And Water Fairies is a dedication to that and the magic that exists within those friendships.
I would love for you to go listen and stream the poetry album the collection on spotify, apple music, anywhere that you listen to your music, but i also just want to share it with you now if you haven't heard it yet.
This is water fairies.
There's some places I've been meaning to go.
Would you like to join me?
Cicada Symphony, reconcile and rock me to sleep.
As I curl into the lush bed of summer, blades of green underneath.
I believe in the ones beside me smiling and shooting stars, or the fireflies in live oak trees, aiding me patiently as we fantasize in the forest on the dense nature of our dreams, through the grandest of chapters and everything in between.
Playing with the planets as we recite our problems little star signs, big green eyes casting consciousness from imagination.
Swimming among the sea grapes and pretending we're water fairies.
Our tears spilled like liquid chrome on our beds, sifting through to find gold in each other's heads.
As our wishes begin to bud flower, then shed from the trees, feeling the rush from the man on the screen feeding the fire unapologetically and exiling our expectations like ash into the sky.
On my way across the world.
I see them pass by, these sacred pockets of time, forever embellished inside the fabric of my life.
I can't climb this mountain tonight, but I can float in the sea.
There's some places I've been meaning to go.
Would you like to join me?
It does.
I feel like I'm in an Arizona tea ad.
Oh, there's so much where.
Oh, right there and on the other side of your book just all around, should we not?
Well, we can careful, what about this way?
What is this?
There looks like there might be a little crossing over there.
Oh yeah, something waiting for you to come see it.
Yeah, and it's like well, you think you own it.
Or like yeah yeah, everything that you see you own.
Yeah, it's just like capitalism in your brain.
Look at that.
Michael.
Thank you.
Hey, you want a piece of fruit?
I got an apple in my hand.
Thank you.
Oh, you illuminated my hand.
Cows slept all day.
They sleep with each other in the shade during the day when it's too hot.
Now they're all woke up from their night hungry.
Oh no, she scared me.
Wait, where?
Right here.
Oh.
He smells it.
31.
I hope you enjoyed that, that little sneak peek into the beginning of the summer, and for sitting with me here at the end.
I haven't done things perfectly and I've learned a lot of lessons this summer.
We must learn how to accept the natural order of things, how to let things go, how to let things in.
If we're saying that we want something, let's not get in our own way of it.
There are some grand things that I'm asking for and I know that it means I gotta let go.
We can't always have our cake and eat it too.
There is a push and a pull.
If you're reflecting on some of these same things what you want and what you might need to let go of to get there, and the magic that exists in between, I'm right here with you.
I am on this journey with you and that's why I'm making this video to show you that we're on this journey together.
You're never alone.
I hope that you are having a wonderful morning afternoon evening, wherever you are, whatever it is that you're doing.
I wish you the best.
I couldn't be more grateful for you guys.
Thank you for tuning in.
Thank you for being here.
And I will talk to you very soon.
Thank you.
Love you guys.
Bye.
