Amongst the greatest joys I have ever known in the few precious decades I have had on this planet, at the top interleaved are these priceless few — finding beauty, experiencing the grandeur of nature, building relationships, discovering new layers of depth and complexity in the world, encountering the boundless will of the human spirit and generosity of others, adapting to intense strain, immersive learning, executing hard-earned skills, tasting exhilaration, savoring the fruit of seeds sown, successfully teaching, being of service to something or someone you believe in, and deep, meaningful connection with other sentient beings of every kind in all conceivable ways. Relationships and experience that bend time.

It feels to me the most pressing of duties we must hold to as fellow humans, to show up for one another with continuous compassion and accountability in good faith, with a fierce resilience amidst life’s inevitable turbulence. Striving with unbending will to uncover light where there is darkness, and face the dark head-on. To fight to protect this planet, and the abundance of extraordinary life within it. To reach for the greater good in the face of all cynicism, working at long length to alleviate suffering where it arises. To wrestle with paradox. And to learn along the way, that these things are most vital and consequential when they are hard.

Every so often, with labor upon labor and unending work to glimpse insight, when I get something right, it feels I may have found something true, and beautiful. It is among my highest hopes herein to shed light on such momentary phenomena, and transcend through the hardest lessons I’ve ever learned in the process of trying — always amidst trials and tribulations in the arena that we humans call life. And amongst such hopes, in those rarest of moments, to encounter and encapsulate what feels like magic.