THE RED ORNAMENT OF TRUTH

Happy New Year! As I re-read my holiday message from last year, I reflected on my 2021 word, MIRACLES. In addition to countless, daily, small blessings, there were so many poignant MIRACLES this past year. I would like to share a few of those with you.

As I work on my next book, Paddling with Thoreau: Reflections from the Red Kayak, scheduled to publish in 2022, I continued my immersion into Thoreau’s life. I went to Concord, MA, where he lived and I paddled his 3 rivers – the Concord, Assabet and Sudbury – which form a confluence at Egg Rock. It was a glorious, miraculous day to kayak there, and have lunch on the Sudbury in front of the house where he grew up. I took a trip to Castine, Maine, the destination of Thoreau’s first sea voyage, to do a bioluminescent kayak outing at night. Magical and miraculous with a universe of stars and the Milky Way above, and plankton lighting up like sparklers on the water below. I also paddled on the Connecticut River, where I witnessed the glorious migration of 500,000 tree swallows, and kayaked to a little lake in northern Wisconsin to be present in the delight of 50 honking, trumpeter swans. I resonated deeply with the MIRACLES of nature. I attended the Salty Quill Women’s Writer’s Retreat on an island in Maine and am loving my connection to my new writers group. MIRACLES.

As I pondered my word for 2022, I was touched by a 60-Minutes story of the Ritchie Boys, many of them German speaking immigrants who fled Nazi persecution. They enlisted as a special unit of military intelligence for the US during World War II, interrogating prisoners on the front lines. With their intimate knowledge of the German language and culture, they were able to pick up on subtle cues from the prisoners, and they saved countless American lives. When one member was asked why, as Germans, they chose to enlist with the US to fight against Germany, he said it was something visceral, a deep conviction of an inherent truth of the right thing to do.

I thought my 2022 word would be visceral. It touched me. I loved its depth. But it is quite a mouthful. To simplify, I decided upon TRUTH. For that is what visceral feelings lead us to – the deep-rooted knowing of what is true for each one of us. It’s about authenticity and being honest with ourselves. In the brokenness of our world today, our healing can begin with the acknowledgement of our own TRUTHS. Thoreau said, “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me TRUTH.” As we begin the new year, I find it is a good time to reflect and ponder my TRUTHS. In a tender way, I find that things that make me cry, touch that visceral space of TRUTH within.

In addition to a word, I create a phrase as my guidepost to rhyme with the year. In keeping with my word TRUTH, I have chosen a line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “To thine own self be true”… in 2022. This popular phrase was spoken by Polonius, a chief minister who was giving advice to his son. He prefaced it by saying, “This above all,” emphasizing the importance of being true to yourself. Not in a selfish way, but in a manner which gives meaning to being honest in our thoughts and actions, and always doing the right thing. A TRUTH which encourages us to help others. A TRUTH that answers a question I love, “If you don’t know who you are, how do you know where you are going?” A universal mantra for us all.

Please join me on the path of truthfulness this coming year. Let’s all begin together, to trust those deeper, visceral feelings. When you take the red ornament off your tree, let it remind you of your TRUTH, the importance of sincerity and the value of being beautiful authentic you! The world needs us. All of life’s very best to you in 2022.

Stay healthy and as always, trust the journey and keep paddlin’ on…

Mar

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