What brought you joy this week?

Noticing and seeing joy is our birthright; and an act of self-care and resistance

Contemplations

What brought you joy this week?

Did you take a moment to let the joy be in your body?

How can you share that joy with others?

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It’s been a chaotic, nonstop week. I’ve been grateful to my practice in these moments where it feels like life is moving faster than I can keep up. One of the ways I’ve stay grounded is centering the joy in my life. It has been a refuge for me to not only stay rooted in the present moment but also reminds me that no matter what might be happening in my life, I can still focus on the light that is shining, sometimes softly, sometimes right in front of me. It can be so easy to look past it or forget that it’s even there. Just the act of noticing and seeing that joy is always there for us, that it’s our birthright, a radical act of self-care and resistance is a practice of presence, of mindfulness, of connecting with the self and the world around us.

So here’s what brought me joy this week:

Lunar New Year!

I wrote about how vital it is for me to uphold the tradition of celebrating Lunar New Year last week, but it was great to truly be present on the holiday this year at the monastery. It was incredibly nourishing, being able to connect to myself and the community and to reset for the Year of the Dragon! Not to mention I stuffed my face with delicious foods; and most importantly, I was able to honor my ancestors at my altar for the first time 🙏

Honoring my familial and spiritual ancestors at my altar: My maternal and paternal grandparents and Thầy, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Above is a video of a lion dance at the Lunar New Year celebration at Blue Cliff Monastery.

Beyoncé dropping a country album

A few years back when The Chicks joined Beyoncé for a rendition of Daddy Lessons at the CMAs, I almost imploded, seeing two of my favorite artists come together in such a radical way — cross genre, cross platform, cross race. So when I saw the Renaissance: Act II music drop (Texas Hold ‘Em is a bop, honey!), little cowgirl Kim went wild. I’m honestly still processing the brilliance of this, both from an artistic perspective and one of reclamation for Black country roots. This is something I explored on my own when I was learning how to play the banjo a few years ago, so I’m particularly THRILLED to see Grammy Award-winning Musician, MacArthur recipient and Pulitzer Prize winner Rhiannon Giddens 🪕 collab with Qween Bey for a wider audience! Her multi-racial identity brings searing truth to her music, as she blends country, folks, blues through fiddle, banjo and her haunting voice. Her performance with Yo-Yo Ma a few years back was a spiritual experience for me, not to mention her collaboration with other Black female artists to form the album Songs of Our Native Daughters, an album filled with poems and songs about the suffering, triumphs and resilience of Black women from slavery to now, was phenomenal.

Photo by Mason Poole

Joni Mitchell and Tracy Chapman performing at the Grammys

I know I’m a little late to this but it’s still been present in my consciousness so I wanted to add this to the list. I’m not much for awards shows anymore, but tears came streaming down my face when I watched Joni Mitchell make her Grammy debut, singing 🎤 “Both Sides Now” with such wisdom and glory at 80. Her poignant performance told us so much, and she was able to captivate the stage in a way that made all the theatrics and showmanship from the other pop stars that night seem like child’s play. And Tracy Chapman! Watching Luke Combs fangirl all over Tracy was one of the sweetest and most endearing things I’ve seen in awhile in the celeb world in awhile. To see a big ‘ol country boy appreciate this Black Queer woman’s artistry makes my heart very happy. Since then, I’ve been revisiting her music and am in such awe of her groundbreaking storytelling and transfixing voice. Talk about a revolutionary!

Photo credits: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP; JOHN SHEARER/GETTY IMAGES

People are tired of selling themselves

This VOX article Everyone’s a sellout now made me feel validated that social media is over because everyone is tired of these platforms turning us into automated marketing robots. It really breaks down the nuances of how this algorithm, automated-machine-learning process has forced so many creatives (really, anyone) to run in the never-ending hamster wheel of self-promotion. Thank you

Carla Zanoni

for sharing it with me and making me feel seen. This is something I have struggled with for awhile now, but particularly for the last few months as I continue to look at my relationship with social media — asking myself what it means to be on these platforms, and how much it’s adding to my life, versus how much it takes away. This has been a quiet trend that has been emerging as more artists, writers, teachers and creatives are speaking up about the mental and spiritual drain it’s taken and have decided to get off social to explore more authentic connections. Seeing this covered on a larger platform makes me hopeful that maybe we can start having a wider discussion about it instead of just getting trapped in the Internet abyss. I yearn for a day when we can stop being personal brands and start being humans again.

Eleni Kalorkoti for Vox

New reads, from wonderful humans

Speaking of Carla, she and my dear teachers Kaira Jewel and Dr. Marisela Gomez and Valerie Brown have a new book out 📚 Check out Carla’s beautiful book Knowing/ Saber, a bilingual book of poetry so powerful and delicate I won’t do it justice here. So just do yourself the favor of giving yourself the gift of words (in English and Español), heart and deep wisdom and go buy her book!

And of course reflecting on deep wisdom brings me to my dear teachers Kaira Jewel Lingo and Dr. Marisela Gomez who have collaborated with Valerie Brown to write Healing Our Way Home: Black Buddhist Teachings on Ancestors, Joy and Liberation. All three of these insightful teachers come from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village tradition. I’ve learned so much from them this past year, particularly when it comes to connecting to my ancestors and centering joy. Definitely feels apt to include them in this week’s newsletter where I’m looking deeply at the joy in my life. I’ll be covering both books more in-depth right here in Everyday Magic for you but wanted to mention them both here because it made my heart swell this week to see so many people I love and admire putting more of their work and wisdom out into the world. We are all better for it. I hope you take a minute to bring them into your homes.

So let me know in the comments:

What brought you joy this week?

Did you take a moment to let the joy be in your body?

How can you share that joy with others?