2025 PARAPHERNALIA (alternatively named: ADVICE TO MY SELF #1: PRACTICE) 

practice believing yourself.  

even if it means you have to put your self into the spaces between the words.  

the space is there for you to rest; to breathe, to practice 

and the practice is there to help with the believing in yourself  

with less defense or explanation.     

practice the power of vibration:

(I know you don’t love play, but you could lean in a little here) (just a little) 

while driving your audibly curious kids down a congested highway 

practice filling your white-knuckled, porous body with a lighthearted–receiving-energy- do it for no other reason than just because you can

practice not counting things so much. it all counts but not all of it matters. 

practice owning that this entire heart-splittingly beautiful thing, belongs to you – that you had both hands in creating it.  

practice remembering that those kids love you.  

and perhaps more importantly, they trust you. 

let up a little here so you can rest a bit in that too. 

practice not believing the worst is going to happen.  

the worst happened; you survived it. 

do not allow it to continue stealing time and connection  

from the family you do have, while you have them, now.

practice hearing what your heart & intuition have to say 

listen with curiosity, not conviction.

act swiftly on the intuition stuff.  

practice a loving pause on the heart stuff. 

this will be hard, you will struggle, you will hurt people, practice anyway 

don’t be afraid to get it wrong.  

there isn’t anything wrong with you.     

practice remembering the highest (hidden) good; 

there is so much you don’t know.  

practice recognizing your heart  

as that soft, throat-lodged rock, rolling upward to your eye holes. 

practice recognizing your intuition as that inescapable feeling of a tuning fork pitched & coursing both beneath & beyond your skin. 

Do Not Dismiss or Diminish this! THIS is it. 

practice believing you won’t die with the magic still inside of you, like she did- you aren’t her, remember that. 

practice putting yourself out there with less fear and agenda;  

more abandon (this too might be is a tough word/concept, but I promise, no one cares or at least not in the ways you think they do).  

practice the extraordinary work of resisting ancestral and worldly desires to minimize yourself and your life.  

trust that there is no final destination, no place to get too 

and that more than likely it is your grandchildren’s grandchildren who will reap the ripest, richest fruits of your labor-

that perhaps their practices, their lives will be lighter, because of you; because of what you spent your time and your energy, your life  

practicing.  

about this writing

new year, same ol’ santos but hopefully a more integrated & practiced version- any practices you’re continuing or taking in 2025? I’d love to hear about them, xo, s.

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