Letter To My Younger Self

Tempest Bradford and Nisi Shawl’s “Writing The Other” workshop just ended, and with it, another opportunity to share energy and enthusiasms with young writers. I love that. One of the questions asked how my hobbies and life informed my work, and my answer was much shorter than many of he others. Basically, everything fits together, that’s all.

But that’s not fair. Maybe. Even though in a “psycho-tensegrity” sense its true. Each major aspect of my life supports and is supported by the others.

And if I could reach back into the past and talk to my own younger self, I’d probably speak of the interaction of the Hero’s Journey and the Chakras, the Three Energy Centers, aned the Three Gates.

What point in my life might be the most important to receive such a message? Well…I’m thinking my middle 20’s, when I was trapped in an endless loop of practicing martial arts, running away from the schools, then feeling irresistibly pulled back, just to fail again. The specific day I drove up La Brea avenue, tears streaming down my face, asking God: “Why???”

That would have been the day that getting a letter from the future might have made all the difference. So.,..here it is. That younger part of me is still within me, as the earliest rings stay within the oldest redwood.

It still needs to hear.

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Dear Stevie:

I see your pain and fear and confusion, and know that you don’t know if the endless loop you…