January, 2023
“I believe we each carry true wilderness, and thanks to that wildness, our lives need not be determined by our biological inheritance or our prior experience. Perhaps our lives are most creative and fulfilling when we have accessed and embodied that wildness, our deepest individual potentials and destines for which we were born…our souls.”
– Bill Plotkin, “Nature and the Human Soul”
Happy New Year, friends! How have you been?! I took a year of sabbatical with this newsletter – miss you all and hope you have been well!
Coming out of the isolation of the pandemic in 2022, I needed to reengage with life in the physical world and spend less time digitally. Revenge travel was a term I learned that describes people who travel extensively due to the sense of confinement during the pandemic years. And revenge travel I did in 2022 – I hiked in Yosemite, climbed a tree net in a cloud forest of Costa Rica, journeyed to the volcanos and virgin forests of the Pacific Northwest, and walked on the glaciers of Alaska. It felt like a renewal – of the body, mind, and spirit – to reconnect with the natural world, mountains and waterfalls, plants and animals, and fellow human beings. It made me deeply appreciate this privilege and luxury, to connect with others and the world in this way.
For teaching, I spent the year focusing on creating a local climate resilience yearlong course, where we met monthly in person in local parks, urban farms, and go on hikes. We learned how different urban farms, in the middle of a crowded city like New York, found inspiring ways to grow food, keep bees, and create compost. Reenvisioning our neighborhoods is possible.
When I looked ahead to 2023 at year-end, I sat and asked questions. What is arising and alive right now, at this moment? What rings true and close to my heart? What would bring joy and deepen understanding? And these two themes emerged. First, I want to deepen and share my roots in Chinese culture. Second, as I am approaching mid-40s and talking to friends, midlife is a rich life stage. As every life stage brings its own challenges and gifts, I would like to explore what they are and what they mean for those of us who are in this life stage. So here are my offerings for the first half of the year.
What is arising and what is alive for you right now? What lights you up and tugs your heart? Hope you find your own ways to explore these questions, and may the journey of exploration illuminate you as much as the answers.
Wishing you all much happiness, peace and fulfillment in 2023!
Blessings and love,
Lin
Photo: Climate Resilience Yearlong Class – from left: Brooklyn Grange Farm (largest rooftop urban farm in NYC), Hike to Black Rock Forest, Hike to Minnewaska State Park Preserve (New Paltz)