The Inlet is growing—because of you, along with you. We’re growing together.
I know it’s deep winter, and about one degree outside as I write this. When I look at the trees, they’re bare and still. The grass is flattened, snow-dusted. But underneath it all, molecule by molecule, the wildness of new wisdom quietly rocks its own cradle.
I’ve chosen a theme for the year. It’s a year of growth. Your growth. My growth. The miraculous growth of trees as they stand still. Of flowers unfurling in spring. Of eggs hatching and foxes slinking stealthily in tall grasses. Growth that leads to change. Challenge. Perhaps even a new way of seeing oneself. Even the world we’re in. Despite the world we’re in.
After my brother’s sudden death this past September, leaves flared vermillion and began to fall. All the plants in my garden slowly dwindled and hunkered down for the freeze of winter.
At times I too wanted to drop all color, dwindle, and stop doing much of anything. But everything around me kept happening. The election and its shockwaves. The storms in North Carolina. The fires now raging in Los Angeles.
Some days it feels as if my brother’s death heralded this cascade of apocalypses. Others days, I feel facing his death has helped me endure them. And last night, I lay awake to a pair of owls hooting, feeling as if he was there with me, listening, nudging me toward life, renewal.
In you, in this deep midwinter, renewal may be growing, too. An idea may be growing. Insights about your work. Images. Courageous language. Your dreams may be informing your creative life under the surface—or right before your eyes.
The last conversation I had with my brother, who passionately loved music, we talked about how important listening was to him. But not just listening to music. Listening to everything from beloved music to podcasts to those creative stirrings within.
So I leave you with that sentiment, too: listen. Listen to what’s going on outside yourself. Listen inward. And let what you hear—or simply listening itself—help you grow.
If you’d like some help tuning in, join the Inlet this winter. We can be part of each other’s growth. We can support each other. Be part of something greater than ourselves—and connect more fully to the greatness that is already within us—together.