Welcome

“Welcome.”

This is always my greeting to folks who come toward me. Not “How are you?” Not “Hi.”

I want all those who come into our orbit to know they are welcome. That what we offer is a beautiful, tangible offering, but also a spiritual one.

Late Sunday Afternoon is so much more than a scarf.

I created this out of my own belief that we can live our lives as a legacy. When you think, Who am I? How will I spend my day? what often gets lost is the initial understanding that you are either choosing or reacting.

Life can be all over the place. But what we have is choice.

Even in our darkest moments.

This leads me to another question I have been asking myself:

Can I be the same me whether something good or bad is happening?

This question points directly to the welcoming quality of living your life as a legacy.

For me, I think about how many days I have spent being reprimanded by my inner critic. That voice telling me what I should have done, where I should have gone, or stayed away from, what I should have said.

You get my point.

That voice is not you.

That voice is the survival ego trying to prepare you for the worst-case scenario. It tells you that if you worry enough, somehow it will all be okay because at least you thought about it, to the point that you made yourself completely anxious.

And then, when the event finally comes, it often turns out that the critic was not only wrong, but that all the worrying was worse than what actually happened.

This is literally where so many people spend so much of their lives: enslaved to the inner critic. Changing who they are, almost unconsciously, in order to prepare for the worst.

I am guilty of it.

But the work for me has been to keep asking: Who is driving this narrative? What part of myself has forgotten how to validate me? How quickly have I forgotten all the times life worked out better than I could ever have dreamed?

What I am asking you now is: How can you reorient yourself toward the life you already have?

How quickly can you touch base with the authentic you, deep inside?

If you got lost in family life or work, if your body is swollen from neglect, if your heart is heavy from feeling like a victim—where can you meet yourself?

And what would you say if you could finally get there?

Our world is shaped by mystery.

Maybe it is due time for you to honor that mystery.

Say, “Welcome” to the mystery.

Because the Soul inside you is stronger and more curious than you could have ever imagined.

I am practicing that ritual right now with Late Sunday Afternoon as it grows outside my comfort zone. I have to be more present to my Soul, my body, my mind, and their needs than to the shackles I have allowed myself to become addicted to.

The worry. The fear. The stress. The anxiety.

They are the fast food of life.

They may fill you temporarily, but they will poison you over time.

So go.

Take this message as a sign and live.

Make mistakes. Heal wounds. Smile. Breathe.

Touch. Smell. Taste.

Take in all the riches that being alive has to offer.

And whatever comes toward you next—

Welcome it.