I am prompted to acknowledge first the ache and tightness I presently feel in my heart space. I am sensitive to a collective, pounding heart in the world right now.
My thoughts on current events trace back to my most popular post to date: Contrast.
In case you’re curious, 2nd place goes to: Less is More.
I also realized my post last week, Bridge Under Water, was a new flavor of the same vision I had in: Wheelbarrow on a Tightrope.
There you go- your party favors! A bundle of three posts from the Seeing Upside Down archive, hand selected by yours truly.
Yes, I said party favors!
While our home here on Earth is suffering the aches and pains of war, it still nourishes itself with currents of love.
I sit here at my keyboard overflowing with waves of these currents. If I can send one thing out into the world, it is love. If I can send another thing, it is peace. It is shalom. Shalom to all people who are forever intended to be a free people.
I am grateful to live a life in which I feel free. I celebrate what I have been able to explore and discover as a free person.
I found Substack by reading other people’s work- people who felt free enough to express themselves. It inspired me to do the same.
And now we’re here, all gathered around for Seeing Upside Down.
It has been one year.
I look around the room with a melty grin and teary eyes. I lock eyes with my sister first. Love you, sis. You are my hero. Then, standing behind her with his hands on her shoulders, I see my big brother with a goofy ass grin on his face too. I have to look away before he makes me bust up laughing. Mom and Dad save the day and make me melt back into a puddle. They have given me the whole world. I close my eyes for a moment to reconnect with my breath. I look up at Dominick. We have traversed the Ring of Fire. That journey is the only reason we know about the fireproof nature of our partnership. I keep slowly scanning the room. I see you, my family, my friends. I raise my glass to you.
And I see you, my Substack community. I can make halfway eye contact with
because he has one of his favorite color sunglasses on. Matt writes a substack called , and I love every single piece of writing he puts out. Then there is , my kindred spirit. Kara writes , and it makes me feel warm and happy, truly. It gives me that kind of laugh when I’m reading and just smile and blow air out my nose toward the phone. We can’t leave out , the one who I’m bound to get into trouble with at this party. Meg writes , and it’s an absolute blast over there. When she and I get into trouble, we’ll blame it on . He started it over at his brilliant and ballsy substack called . would not be afraid to call me out and tell me to drink some water if I get a little crazy at this party. He has the disciplined, balanced, honest voice that comes through in his writing in . would bring me flowers and braid my hair, making things beautiful like she does in her substack . I think will attract people outside to the patio with her comforting stories for the soul, like you’ll find in her substack . I can’t wait to give a big hug to . I like to think I’d feel the magical spirit of her daughter Laura, who has passed on from her human journey and who Susan writes about so beautifully in . is hard to track down because she can talk at length about practically anything with anybody! If you don’t believe me, check out her substack . is helping me stay down to earth, the same way I always feel grounded when I read her substack called . I’ll make my over to , so I can attempt to gush in a calm, cool way about how much she inspires me through everything she generously shares in . Oh yes, and I want to sit and gab with . Going through the The Artist’s Way together via her space, is likely one of the biggest success factors of Seeing Upside Down this year.There are more of you. I don’t want this to feel like some sort of in-crowd that anyone unnamed is not a part of. Please know that each of you who has ever connected here in any way has been such a special part of my experience.
So what now, gang?
I guess I won’t be an infant anymore.
One year was birth and then a safe place to be supported and held. It became a curious yet timid crawl.
Now, I suppose I begin to walk.
My sight is becoming clearer. Things are coming into focus.
And you know me.
I like to see things upside down. I like to consider the inversion, or look at it from the other side, or through a mirror. Will you let me see? Will you let me see what you see?
Will you share one thing you have found here in the last year, or maybe even something you hope for in the coming months?
That’s how I want to celebrate Seeing Upside Down.
I don’t know what the future holds.
I just want to enjoy this moment with you.
That’s how we stick together.
We stay in this moment.
We give ourselves to it.
Explosions in the night from a war inside oneself or inside one’s world.
Explosions in the night from a celebration.
Both are happening at the same time.
Love is still here.
We are here.
I love you.
The Joke, Brandi Carlile
Don't ever let them steal your joy
And your gentle ways
To keep 'em from running wild
They can kick dirt in your face
Dress you down, and tell you that your place
Is in the middle, when they hate the way you shine
I see you tugging on your shirt
Trying to hide inside of it
And hide how much it hurts
Let 'em laugh while they can
Let 'em spin, let 'em scatter in the wind
I have been to the movies, I've seen how it ends
And the joke's on them
Happy Substackiversary, Jeannie! And what a beautiful way to be mentioned in this post. That party WOULD be amazing, and it absolutely WOULD be Loudt's fault if we got into trouble. Love you and what you're making here at Seeing Upside Down. Stick with it and I'll stick, too! 💜💜💜
Excellent, Jeannie!! And happy Substackiversary. Thanks for the kindly mention, and for exposing me to a bunch of other writers lurking the Substack-o-system.
They say writing is like a mirror. Which makes sense. Somehow, your ability to see upside down let’s us, your readers, see right side up. Onwards and upwards !!