2025
Hello, friends.
Happy New Year.
I hope you have all had some time to rest, to ease back into yourselves, to rediscover the many ordinary extraordinaries that ground you, that bring you peace, joy, warmth. I hope you are still practicing, whatever kindness, patience, forgiveness you most need in this moment. Perhaps, trust. Perhaps, belief. Perhaps, emptiness.
Me, I’m sitting here, and I am moved to write.
The warm
fuzziness of just
sitting here.
Just sit. And exist for a moment.
How blessed.
I like making lists. I like reflecting, archiving. Making ‘sense’ of the many fulfilment. Categorizing, dating, to better understand the why, the how we continue to make meaning. To draw the linear timeline of our nonlinear stories.
What movies I loved. What books I read. Which recipes I mastered. How many concerts I played.
Funny. In writing an annual report, I realized - quantity wise, this year I performed over 50 concerts, compared to the 30 some in 2023. But that’s not why this past year has been all the more truthful, magical, honest to the way I vow to live. As always, the wonder, the awe, the astonishment - they lie in the margins, in between, in the tiny moments that we can almost grasp: like these lists - the daily meals I’ve taken care to make, the postcards I sent, the letters I wrote, the poems I listened and re-listened to.
I don’t usually make New Years resolutions. I think of them more as New Years renewals. Renewing my vows, my beliefs, my spells. Perhaps readjusting some, reprioritizing others, reframing based on the new welcomed loves and responsibilities and blessings in my life. I am less solitary, I am more open, more vulnerable, more courageous in my letting in of care, of love, of being loved. That’s incredible to me. Astonishing, every day.
But, back track. I do have a few asterisks on the new additions to my daily magical routines and mantras. Tiny moments gifted to myself, ourselves, to stop, sit, or walk in silence, and:
-memorize a poem, by reciting it and repeating it aloud
-identify more plants, even if just one a day, look, see, really look and see, and learn its identity by name
-improvise more in different styles
-learn songs on ukelele, and
Honouring the usual - reading, writing, journaling; making arts and crafts; cooking and baking; yoga, walk, move, dance; hike, sit.
And. Most and foremost:
Foster relationships. Nurture. Take care. Take care.
And.
Be kind. Be curious.
Same same.
Be soft. Be fluffy. Be silly.
That’s all.
Still simple. Simply profound. The warm fuzzy. Comes from the quietest, smallest places. Today, another. Perfect Day. I planted seeds, I walked with the person I love. We went on a lunch date. Laughed, cleaned, cooked. Read. Lounged. Sat in nothingness. Was cold, was warm. Had coffee. Watched anime. Sent emails. Memorized Emily Dickinson. Forgot Emily Dickinson. Had a bloody toe. About to play boardgames with friends. About to cry because -
Let it be known. That we have felt. Deeply.
Isn’t it so beautiful? Isn’t it so beautiful.
Dare you, to be happy.
Happy New Year.
More soon,
xoxo
Yours,
Skye.pianist
