Dear ,

Lately I've been suffering. It's been a lot. Watching the continued Gaza genocide. Finding out COVID and high blood pressure killed my brother, when he was so young. Attending death cafe and crying in the car on the way home. Having a week go by and not remembering what I even did. A lot of good things are going on in my life too, believe me. It's just hard right now.  

Here are 4 quotes on suffering that help me, and maybe they will help you too. 

🌻  The mind has to transmute its recollection of the various earth-stages it has lived through into a possession; that which was once joy and sorrow should now become knowledge.”   -Burckhardt, Welthistoriche Betrachtungen 

🌺 Nietzsche – “He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how.”

🌸 Spinoza -“Affectus, qui passio est, desinit esse passio similaque eius claran et distinctam formanus ideam” ” Emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it.”

🍃 “Tears are no shame-because that means you have the greatest of courage- the courage to suffer.” -Frankl

 If you like Victor Frankl there are more quotes here.

This pain won't last forever. 

I'm going to grow a garden for the first time this year. Are you going to grow a garden too? I bought seeds, and I can't wait to plant them. 

Every day the sun comes back just a little more. These little things comfort me. 

I hope these quotes can be a comfort to you, if you're suffering. You're not alone. 

Mazarine

p.s. My word of the year is SOFTNESS. 

This is an inflection and reflection point. Learning what to do, and what not to do this year. 

The softness leaves space for more grief than I ever thought I could hold. But I float on the surface, and dive under when it's time. 

Right now I'm rewriting my website, learning to redefine who I am and what I do, and you'll be seeing some new ways of working with me soon. 

Feel free to write back with what gives you a little hope these days.