On Love and Plans

Hello friends,

How often are we approaching our lives with a sense of love? How often do we think on the world around us with compassion? Do we make plans out of this sense of love and compassion, or do we make plans filled with impatience or a sense of punishment?

On one of my walks, I encountered a pair of heart shaped sunglasses with one lens broken out. Someone had stuck the glasses into a wood utility pole, with the other heart shaped lens spiked into the wood below. I could see a city street reflected in the first heart, the one still attached to the glasses.

And that image is what spurred these thoughts. We all know the world is drowning and on fire. We know the suffering, caused by the few, and affecting the many. There are things we can do to help alleviate some of this global suffering, and I hope we are all finding how we fit into this process.

And.

The best recourse I’ve found for moving through the world with love—even in anger—is through direct help. How am I treating my neighbors, my friends, my family, and the local shop workers? Am I helping out local families and organizations? Am I feeding people? Carrying Narcan? Protesting? Sharing money or time? Am I using my creative spark to spread some hope in the world?

And how about my plans? Do they include compassion toward myself and others? Do they include working for justice?

I wrote an essay at the end of the Gregorian calendar year of 2023 for my Patreon people: Creativity Has a Plan. It is all about how I plan for the calendar year, including prioritizing creativity and the importance of flexibility. But in that essay, I forgot to include this lens of compassion and love.

So I’m writing about it now.

When we re-center our lives on bringing our vision of love into action, we help ourselves, and we help the world.

Wishing you access to the love you need.

Thanks for being here — Thorn

Good news! After much research, I found a substitute for Substack! I’m in the midst of setting up the new portal on beehiiv and should have us all moved over by next week. I was in a meeting with one of the founders of beehiiv and they assured us that they will not platform Nazis or transphobes. Don’t worry, there’s nothing you need to do! I’ll get us transferred. Thanks for sticking with me.