Dear Earth, my word for 2020 is…

Gentle.

The gentle of my cat’s soft paw when he places it on my cheek in the mornings, patting me awake.

The gentle of tucking a sweet-pea seedling into the duvet of the earth.

The gentle of receiving sharp anger, hot jealousy and abysmal mistakes with sweet tenderness.

You know gentle, darling Earth. You know how to cosset baby birds in yolk, and how to decorate spiderwebs with gems. You know how to keep ecosystems in precise, delicate balance. You know how to grow the soft silver fur on pussy willow buds.

I want to keep learning from you. I want to recognise when parts of me shove the rest of me along – for good reasons, and with a cost. I want to keep greeting my foolishness with compassion. I want to be brutally realistic about my limits, and meet them with kindness.

I will carry this word with me like a charm as I venture into 2020. I’ll need it, dear Earth, as I speak up for you with a fiercer love than ever.

(Reader – what will your word be?)

Much love, Satya <3

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Gratitude for the photo by Anthony from Pexels