Welcome to a love letter, a monthly publication from artist, writer and yoga teacher Colby Mackenzie featuring stories of my loving practices and support for yours. Thanks for being here.
Hello loves!
How are you?
How was your summer?! Tell us!
I think of September as the start of a new year. My birthday, the end of August, is my new year. I started this love letter 3(!!) Augusts ago. And I’m sharing now 34 things I did this past year of life, 34 things I’m grateful for, a listicle of 34 things that does nothing to translate the soul-shaking experience of the past 12 months, but I offer it anyway (in no particular order):
Got my first tattoo (in Asheville, NC).
Co-parented a bunch of puppers.
Taught yoga at a corporate meeting, a country club and a public library.
Created my first on-demand yoga program.
Made new friends (Korin! Erin! Aimee! Vicky! Puggy! Cristina! Paul! Jackie! Braulio!)
Drove cross-country and passed through 12? states.
Gawked at a rainbow in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Lived and hiked in new places like Moab, Taos, and Sedona.
Worked in a beautiful retail store on Main Street in Park City, Utah (and sold jewelry to the one the only Jason Mamoa!).
Finished my first book proposal and met with my first developmental editor.
Started treatment (talk therapy, medication, etc) for PTSD and C-PTSD and making SO MUCH PROGRESS!!!!!
Lived in an RV.
Held a bunch of baby chicks (they like to stay together!).
Stood next to a Sonoran cactus.
Learned how to surf and snowboard (in Costa Rica and Park City of all places).
Created a badass business offering.
Had my first business coaching sessions.
Started a memoir documenting our nomadic adventures.
Began collecting recipes and collaborators for a forthcoming cookbook.
Celebrated my dear sister and her fiancé’s engagement.
Went swimming in the Atlantic ocean.
Wrote my daily morning pages.
Grew in loving relationship to myself.
Grew in loving relationship to my partner.
Met all sorts of wild animals (coyotes! tarantula! spotted lizards and toads! silly quails! big horn sheep! a stray pitbull I named Moo!).
Saw crazy-cool lightning storms.
Ate a picnic with my beloved on the top of a rock in Arches National Park.
Saw a hummingbird with a magenta throat.
Was inspired at Jimmy Santiago Baca’s June Writers Retreat.
Picked and ate tomatoes fresh off the vine.
Popped a free bottle of champagne on my birthday with my teachers and friends new and old.
Steamed and cracked open fresh lobster and ate it with my bare hands.
Started doing pilates to ease my back pain and grow in strength.
Was able to do malasana without a prop - my yoga goal for the past 2 years!
And so many more. There is so much in a year. In a day. In a life.
When I take stock, I pinch myself.
To be sure, I credit these miracles small and large with the good work of paying attention, with the hard work of taking risks, and with the hardest work of setting goals for oneself and meeting them. (plus a heavy dose of privilege, fortune, etc etc).
So, what are you proud of this year my dear friend?
What will you acknowledge?
What would it be like to bring a gratitude practice into your life?
I wish you, and myself, ease and joy in this coming year, one that starts at the dawn of fall and sees us through until the next rich summer.
And I say thank you, thank you, to all of you, my dearest people. You are where the work goes and you are what keeps me working <3.
All love,
Colby
Woah! Jason Mamoa!
What a summer!