My Monday morning newsletters are an exercise in concision.

This morning felt brutal, so I am choosing to go on a bit in a blog post.

This past week, as I contemplated "Usefulness" my whole world still felt a bit ripped apart — days spent noticing misunderstandings, inversions, what I thought was true being untrue, people "winning" when I felt they might better be called out for their lack of ethics, and people going unnoticed who I felt should be heralded for their morality.

I was a mess, honestly.

Until I began turning toward Imagination. I realized that, really, I had a choice. I approached a crossroads, as it were, and could succumb to the world as it is (sucks) or make a genuine effort to create a world that doesn't suck so much.

Now. At this point, I heard Iain McGilchrist's words on the difference between fantasy and imagination. In the newsletter, I quoted a lovely woman named Jenny Mackness paraphrasing Iain McGilchrist because this dense book in audio form is a bit much for me — I have got to get the paperback.

As I contemplated the idea of imagination, rooted in reality, I felt a shift. I have been here before, I realized, and it hurts. It's painful. But the outcome is good.

What I needed to do was surround myself with nurturing people, things, food, habits so that this "compost" I found myself in could be one of growth and imagination and renewal and not a toxic sludge that leads to fantasy and numbing.

That, I believe, is the key.

In fact, I feel like things are really coming together.

What we need to do, if we would like our Orchidness to flourish, is carefully nourish the compost we find ourselves in. When we do this, we can use our imaginations to grow through trauma, grow through the s*** life hands us.

I am certain of this. If you are interested in this kind of flourishing, the kind that leads you not to riches, fashion sense, hipness, or beauty but a kind of Velveteen Rabbit "realness" subscribe to my newsletter, podcast, youtube channel, or these blog posts (coming soon...a way to subscribe to these blog posts...)