Anthony once said to me, “when you do something and are truly into it, you enter a state of timelessness where time and space dissolve. It becomes a kind of meditation, a moment of oneness. You and the thing you’re doing become one”

Recently, I watched Dan perform at his gig. Seeing him on stage, I couldn’t help but feel that this, not the stage itself, but the music is where he truly belongs. When the lights dimmed, the crowd fell silent, when Dan began a song on his guitar, he became someone else or perhaps more himself. Looking into Dan’s eyes that night, I could almost see that same oneness in him. Dan laughed in awe as I said “you’re like a totally different person up there, did you know that?”

Maybe that’s why I love observing people in their element. There’s something quietly beautiful about it. For me, that feeling shows up when I write. When I create something with my hands. When I’m among the trees. There’s a deep stillness and presence in those moments. A remembering, perhaps.

So much has happened over the past year (24.05 – 25.05). It has been a year of going inward, of shedding my old ways of doing and thinking. A year of grief, doubt, and fear. But also one of growth, joy and stillness.

I still remember sometime last year when Dan and I went for a walk, I told him about how I felt watching my little garden change with the seasons. Dan turned to me and asked, “So what is the season within you now?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Perhaps the season of stillness. My heart is so open, Dan. I think I’m in love with life. I’m more accepting now. I’m no longer holding onto things the way I used to or running away from my fears and discomfort”

I’m still learning. I’m still struggling. But I know now the season within me is shifting again… And even as vulnerable as it may seem, in this new season I’ve decided to write more, create more and share more of what’s been living inside me. As Linh said, “We need more of this, thuy.”

~ thuy

p.s “the empty heart” is a poem I wrote last year during a moment of stillness.