The only natural thing to do...

Poetry Oracle: 11/18/2024

Welcome back to the Self Love Confidential Poetry Oracle, where the universe sends you the message you need to hear right now by way of a poem by me.

If you’re not sure how to embrace change, today’s Oracle is for you.

It happened today: the first day cold enough to require turning on the heater in our home. The season has finally changed from summer to fall in Los Angeles. I both anticipate and dread this day. I love the feeling a heater creates in the home, the coziness, the warmth. But at the same time, I worry that this will be the year our 30+ year old HVAC system gives out and we have to replace it (I get the chills even expressing this worry to you in writing, lest this become a manifestation). The truth is, whether I am excited for it or dreading it, tomorrow always comes, seasons always change, and I… I must change along with them.

METAMORPHOSIS

I watch the leaves
sacrifice themselves
at the altar of fall.
Branches lay themselves
bare each winter.
Buds cast themselves
open in spring and
birds ground themselves
to nest for summer.
When change is so abundant
all around me,
how silly of me to think
it is my right to stay the same.

Melody Godfred
MOON GARDEN: Poetry for Manifestation

For everyone I know, regardless of their politics, last week signified a seismic change. The kind of change that takes everything that was before and overnight makes it new — for better or worse. This is precisely the kind of change that not so long ago would have left me reeling. I distinctly remember learning about climate change as a high school student and coming home pale-faced and somber. The knowledge alone had changed me, and then the worry crushed me: the worry about what might unfold down the road activated the fight or flight response that it is at the very core of my being. How would we ever be okay, when things were so clearly not okay?

But that was then, and this is now. Now I notice the bees, and the birds, and the sun, and the moon — oh the moon. I SEE the moon. And for all of these things, change is the only natural order. Am I so different than the moon? I like to think we are the same. And so if the moon is willing to embrace change over and over again, maybe I can, too. Because it is what we were both born to do.

There are very real reasons to worry, perhaps now more than ever. To endure the changes coming our way, perhaps the only thing we can do is carry each other. I’ll hold space for your worry, if you hold space for mine. Together let’s remember we’re not so different than the birds, who are willing to migrate if necessary, but never do it alone. I love you.

My books in the wild…

Everyone should have a best friend like mine. Jessica, pictured here, is not only the founder and CEO of Honeybee, a Time 100 online pharmacy that is transforming access to healthcare (shameless, proud friend plug), she’s the kind of friend who Facetimes you every time she looks for and finds your books in the wild, this time at Urban Outfitters in San Diego, CA. If you ever spot my books in the wild, please send me a picture. Nothing makes me happier, and it never stops being a pinch me dream come true. <3

What I love about the Urban Outfitters special editions of my books, Self Love Poetry: for Thinkers & Feelers and The Shift: Poetry for a New Perspective, is that each includes ten additional brand new poems you won’t find in the originals, and each also has a special color story for the cover. If you’re starting to think about holiday gifts, these special edition books are extra special. Check out your local Urban Outfitters, or shop The Shift on sale today online (Self Love Poetry is already sold out online - if that’s the one you want please email Urban Outfitters and ask them to order more <3 ).

Want a reminder to embrace change daily? Save the image below and use it as your phone’s lock screen.