Mid-Level Grit And The Need to Remember who I Am

Jan 11

I’ve been wading in mid-level grit for the past 20+ years. What’s mid-level grit? Slogging on the subways with its assault of regurgitated late night reveries, the residue of homeless people living on the E line, caked-on body secretions at stations.

It finally caught up with me and I’m wondering how I get through the remainder of my time here in NYC. I eat the menu, right? I choose to cultivate experiences only captured here while creating a routine of gratitude.

“Beyond all thoughts,
Beyond all emotions and physical form,
In the stillness of the silence,
We discover who we really are.
Life is the ceremony.
How we live it is the sacred ritual.”

— Wind Hughes

Instead of writing down a list of goals, I thought I’d start a ritual for what I want to add to my life; this year incorporating self-care, creativity and connections. I believe everything else I’m thinking about will flow out of these overarching themes.

Creativity

At the end of last year I came across Adinkra symbols from Ghana and have been obsessed with them ever since. I’ve been wearing the Bese Saka pendant I created last October. It represents abundance and power. I paid off all my debt by Jan 1, 2022. Yeah, I’m designing 5 more!

I’m also thinking about a pendant based on Jungian psychology’s assertion that the consciousness /subconsciousness must be equal to create The Self: open conflict and open collaboration represented by the hammer and anvil. Between them, through heat and repeated hammering, the individual Self is formed. Love it!