{*Did you know you can write on Elephant? Here’s how—big changes: How to Write & Make Money or at least Be of Benefit on Elephant. ~ Waylon}

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I hope that you remember to go easy on yourself today, just like the way you tell others to do the same.

I hope that as you pull back the covers of the bed sheets that you take a moment to absorb the feeling of the cotton against your skin. And that moment of touch reminds you that the little things matter, as much as the big ones do.

I hope that the tears that run down your face while you are in the shower serve as a reminder to let your sadness wash over you, just like the water running down your body down into the drain.

I hope the tears that follow later when you are dry are laced with bitter-sweetness. Like a bite of chocolate taken after a sip of coffee, a sweetness that tastes better with contrast.

I hope that in the darkest moments you can find it in your heart to keep on taking tiny steps, even when those tiny steps look like they are taking you in the wrong direction.

I hope in those dark moments that instead of reaching for the bottle or the pills you are able to wrap your hands around a paint brush or pencil instead. I hope you can put your hands together in prayer, thrum the strings of a guitar, or chime the notes of a piano. I hope you can create something beautiful using your sadness as a vessel for creativity instead of numbing it out.

And if you aren’t able to do that and you do reach for the bottle or the pills or whatever numbing agent is at your disposal, I hope you can find it within you to extend yourself the kind of compassion as you would do to your friend or neighbour.

I hope a stranger smiles at you today while you are walking down the street and you let that smile carry you through your afternoon.

I hope you get to pet an animal today, feeling its soft fur as you cradle its head in your hands.

I hope you remember to feel the weight of the earth holding you up when you feel like everything around you is crumbling.

I hope that you are able to dig deep to access whatever it is you need to get you through this day, today. Not tomorrow, not the next, but today. It is only ever one day at a time.

I hope that you stop to smell the roses. Metaphorical or otherwise. I hope you allow yourself a moment of stillness in amongst the rush of the busyness.

I hope that you remember that how you do any one thing is also how you do all the things. And what all the things look like in the everyday-ness during difficult times count much more compared to the easy times.

I hope that at some point in the future you look back and remember all the conditioning you are doing now. I hope you remember how hard you had to fight for your right to experience joy.

I hope you let yourself experience all the joy when it does indeed arrive.

I hope that in a world that feels so unkind, you seek to use conjecture more than the “evidence” you see in front of you.

I hope that when it is time to go to bed, you allow yourself to escape to the realm of dreams. You too are allowed a break from reality.

I hope you are able to see the love that permeates all things, not just the love that is obvious and states itself upfront. The love that is understated and inconspicuous.

I hope that you can remember that all things pass, and this sad era will one day come to an end and you will understand that the learnings, however painful, were just a thing that happened and not something that needs to define you or your future.

I hope that when you can’t find the comfort within yourself, you remember the comfort that words provide. And when you don’t have your own words, you remember to rely on the words of others—they are there to serve you in this moment of darkness.

I hope you remember to stand on the shoulders of the ones who have come before, the ones who are there to hold your weight.

More than anything, I hope you know you are not alone. Even though I know you feel the alone-ness so viscerally. I hope that in these moments you can extend your imagination to a future that is beyond. I hope that when hope is not accessible to you, you lean on others to hope on your behalf.

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