GOOD VIBRATIONS 〰️ OCTOBER
TABLE OF CONTENTS
• OCTOBER FEELS
• #follow
• READING LIST
• PLAYLIST
• PODCASTS
• IN THE STARS
• SALAD
• MANTRA
OCTOBER FEELS
VINTAGE, PRIM, PRIMITIVE, GOLDEN, MAGICAL
That’s a mouthful of many feels, but here’s an attempt at explaining it all.
October, to me, is like a precocious kid on a playground standing/straddling the pivot point of a see-saw. There’s Summer over on one seat, catapulting high to the sky with primitive abandon as her wild cascade of sun-bleached waves flows weightlessly through the air. Winter is seated opposite her: prim, pristine, buttoned-up in tweed, and desiring measured, methodical sways up and down… October is side-eyeing both vibes, but honoring her place in-between.
A few examples of how I’m managing this middle: Currently wearing shorts with a plaid blazer…bare legs and cowboy boots. On Sunday afternoon, I jumped in a swimming pool after going apple-picking. On Friday night, my hot-temp aperitif (Negroni) took a dark and spicy turn (Boulevardier). There are summertime pleasures and there are cold-weather conceits, and now we’re in this intriguing chapter of crazy/sexy/cool compromise.
This time of year seems to marry exhilaration for new sensations with sweet surrender into vintage comforts. I want to discover new hiking trails under changing leaves and seek out concerts of new-to-me bands. But I also want to live in the leather jacket I got in sophomore year of high school and listen to crackling vinyl albums by Muddy Waters and Tom Petty.
Maybe this month feels all over the place for you, too, but maybe that’s the point! Life is never all-at-once pristine nor a full-on hot mess. We are sparkly yet tarnished souls. We wear fresh undies under our ragged Levi’s. We live for a breathtakingly golden sun after a heartbreakingly dark night.
☾
☼
We might not know it or admit it, but at all times
we are it all
we have it all
…or we have it all within our grasp.
Patience; the realization will come.
↷
#follow
READING LIST
PLAYLIST
This one is longer than usual…just means MORE GOODIES FOR YOUR GROOVING PLEASURE. New stuff & some weird throwbacks! Yippee!
PODCASTS
IN THE STARS
Just look up. There is a LOT going on. Literally, the sky = infinity. Therefore, what it holds for us are infinite possibilities!
Here are everyone’s favorite astrobabes figuring it all out for us because, like all those stars, they’re hot damn brilliant.
GUIDE TO KEY COSMIC EVENTS by Bess Matassa, The Numinous
TAROTSCOPES by Melinda Lee Holm, The Numinous
TAROT FOR THE WILD SOUL: MONTHLY MEDICINE PODCAST by Lindsay Mack (October is: The Garden)
SALAD
I’ve previously called this section “MAKE THINGS,” but I’m here to keep it real, and the reality is that I mostly MAKE SALAD. Some Supreme Court nominees really “like beer,” and I really f*ing like salad...
So, from here on out, I’m sharing my honest testimony of salad adoration. Be it a particular recipe (very often sourced by Healthyish) or recommending a restaurant with consistently creative offerings (I’ve never not loved whatever veggie thing is on the ever-unique menu at Diner in Williamsburg, Brooklyn).
Image by Diner
This month, in light of the current preposterous nature of our government, I’m voting in
SALAD FOR PRESIDENT.
This is the brainchild of Julia Sherman, which tosses together (ba dum bum) “food, art, and everyday obsessions.” She essentially seeks out her favorite artists, writes a feature on their life/work, and makes a salad with them. An example of delicious simplicity. It’s creative collaboration and fundamental goodness we can all get behind.
Image by Atelier Dore via Salad for President
MANTRA
KEEP LOOKING
(Inspired by @atticuspoetry’s caption of the photo shown in this month’s #follow section.)
So, aside from a few short-term relationships, I’ve been fundamentally single for my entire adult life. I kept a motto that “I don’t put up with riff-raff.” Therefore, if a man didn’t treat me well: peace out. I held up super high standards and was actually very happy being single…for the most part. I went through bouts of massive loneliness, for sure, and certainly succumbed to weakness in the form of late-night texting/answering texts from/flocking to old flames. But, more often than not, I reminded myself that I shouldn’t yearn for being with someone just because they’re someone.
In past months’ newsletters I’ve put out the challenge for us to fall in love with ourselves, first and foremost. Now I’m going to dare us to keep looking. Look at your singledom or your partner and do a deep audit on the happiness vs. lack that you feel on three levels: body, thought, and soul. If you’re swimming in the juicy waters of your current status, then good on ya, babe! Linger in that love lake.
But, if you’re riding a rollercoaster of emotions…not getting as much as you give…feeling exhausted…or under-adored…being outrightly harmed…accepting anything less than you know you are worth or capable of having (and let me remind you now that you’re worth BIG STUFF):
KEEP
KEEP
KEEP
LOOKING.
Love you.
You’re wonderful.
Stay healthy and happy.
Feel good with being everything all at once.
X’s until November!
Mercedes
