Be[ing] Present

​At the start of this year (2018), I returned to a simple line that's been a useful guide during challenging moments of life:

Be present. Lead to prosper and prevent unnecessary suffering with joy, truth, and love.

I resolved to be present [...and the other things which I’ll get to here later]

Showing up is among the simplest and more challenging things to do when you're constantly working to amend, rebuild, and advance faith in yourself.

To me, that would also mean if I felt a certain way, I would choose to sit with it, don't necessarily let the emotion run me, but try to explore what it signals, how it can fuel an expression, and what can be learned from attempting to acknowledge and embrace it.

And resolution has been more about self-persuasion aligned with commitment than words like motivation and inspiration.

Another thing I was able to deepen my appreciation for is a special sense of community that comes from people who

in Detroit, where the communities are majority black (approx. 85%, and then another 3-4% other non-caucasian ethinicities), it

Since we're in the midst of Kwanzaa with today's principal being Kuumba--creativity--it's a resolution to "always do as much as we can, in a way that we can in order to leave our community more beautiful and benefcial than we inherited it."

create as much as we can in a way that

and it's more challenging to live with as a commitment than most

so there were other parts of the statemennt:

Lead and prosper to prevent unnecessary suffering.

There are so many people I am grateful for in ways that can't be expressed on an online post

but some of the finest moments of this year didn't come from professional advancement, it's from the camaraderie that comes from celebrating basic needs in challenging places, or the deep family-like familiarity and understanding of being able to share experiences wwith with people who’ve supported you even when they’re going through the same challenges or worse.
2017: “camping” in my own car, rejoicing  when the portajohn me and a friend used was cleaned

2018:
Visiting a former house and realizing that people who I didn’t think I spoke with very often were glad to see me back

A friend shares a grape soda with me as I eat a peanut butter sandwich

Later, it’s cooking up a mix of macaroni and cheese with spaghetti, baked beans, and a hot mexican ranch dressing and how happy we were to find it all working well as a meal .

Or when a friend figures out how to use a rotisserie oven and giant flags as curtains to keep his room warm without centralized heating.

Being able to appreciate fresh food from the gardens of friends just as I've run out.