One of my favorite pastimes is visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. I love to take my sketch book with me and get to know one or two pieces of art really well, or, as a former designer, to roam the halls looking for inspiration among the countless beautiful objects. On a recent trip, walking alone through the crowds, I had time to reflect on the major changes that are happening in my life this fall. As I walked, I could see echoes of past experiences as if they were happening in real time: My daughter posing in front of Degas’s Little Dancer of Fourteen when she was just seven (this month she is heading to Europe for a semester abroad). Sketching with my son years ago in the Temple of Dendur (this year he leaves for college to study archaeology). The countless times my parents ushered my brother and me around these same halls even when we were too young to really appreciate it. (On this trip I heard kids complain to their parents that their feet hurt and recalled when my brother and I used to catch “museum sickness.”)
As I walked I was caught up in a swirl of nostalgia—joy, yearning, grief, love—reliving these past moments, when suddenly I had a sense of overwhelming clarity:
I am here.
I stopped in my tracks to soak in the feeling. I am HERE. I am here in this moment, among the din of thousands of people. I am traveling on this journey and have tracked my footsteps on this planet, at this precise period in time. The joy, regrets, love, laughter…they are all part of this experience and they have all brought me to this moment.
In an instant, a layer of karmic skin was shed: I AM HERE.
And you are too.
As I move into this season, I’m working on staying rooted in this feeling. My presence is part of a bigger plan. I will love and adore these echoes of a million moments gone by and also recognize that right now is all there is. It’s the ultimate freedom. All things are possible from here.
In this issue, I’m grateful to explore this theme through the voices of our contributors. Cullie Poseria shares her process of deliberately creating the person she wanted to become [Becoming Your Future Self, p.12]. Joshua James speaks about the profound shifts and possibilities happening in the alcohol-free movement as we change the way people socialize and celebrate. [Spotlight on: Joshua James, p.22]. Peggi Cooney discusses how our choices ripple into the next generation [Our Kids Are Watching, p.20]. LP O’Brien highlights the cultures and people who have come before us in her new column [From The Source, p.34]. And Loren Edelstein explores our nightly sleep routines that allow us to begin anew each day [Lights Out, p.16]. You are here. Where will you go next?
With love and expansion, Nicole
