Living Daylight, Part 1

For Jamie

I think basic trust starts with What if. 

What if the world was alright, just the way it is? 
What if there was nothing wrong with me or anyone else? 
What if everything I needed was right here? 

I don’t think we can really start by asserting such things to be true. That way lies shame and self-deception. Uncertainty has to be a part of it. 

Because we don’t know. Maybe we find ourselves believing things are bad, wrong, scarce, brittle, dry, devoid of possibility. Maybe we have good reason. Acknowledge all the reasons. Pay them their tribute. Feel your anger. Your grief.

But then/also lean into the place of remembering that all conclusions are premature conclusions. There’s a line from a song I love, “Things That You Know” by the Wailin Jennys. If you have time, maybe listen to it.

You've seen more than they could ever know
No matter what they say
You've earned the right to be so bold
But this life it takes its toll on you
Every face around you looks so tired and so old

And you have not seen everything
You have not seen everything

And you have not seen everything. That is such a great line. All the reasons, and also, you have not seen everything. We don’t know everything yet. There is always more to the story. A whole world exists in that gap. Things can obviously seem one way, and yet turn out to be something different. Beautiful. 

The What If opens the space to the possibility of basic trust. It makes a crack for the light to come through and touch us. 

And all of a sudden, the minor key can become major in a seemless, beautiful turn that helps us makes sense out of what's sad and upsetting.