Guten Tag, Reader,

I don’t have time to journal this morning. No time to greet the trees, either.* No time to meditate, do Qi Gong, or call my sister.

My brain tries to convince me that those statements are true every single morning. And sometimes my brain succeeds. A few almost-empty Daily Pages serve as evidence.

And sometimes, my brain is even correct. Sometimes I do not have time to do everything I like in the morning.

Most mornings, though, my brain is lying. Not consciously, perhaps. It truly believes that time is scarce and that the little we have must be spent doing, well, important things.

Even after all these years of (almost) daily practice, my brain doesn’t fully comprehend that journaling, meditating, and greeting the trees ARE the important things.

For me.

I need to make time for these things to become the wild, joy-spreading forest witch I want to become.

And, actually, for society, too. At least the kind of society that I want to build.

Listen, our brains have been indoctrinated to be productive, efficient, making money.** In our culture, all those principles signal safety. Whereas speaking with trees and doing Qi Gong Shakes at sunrise signal, well, weirdness.

And weird is not a word that your brain files under “safe.”

So what now?

Well, here are a few things you could try to make some time*** and space for the weird, spiritual, goofy, child-ish parts inside of you:

There is the philosophical, grand question, of course: What do you want to do with your wild, and precious life? Or, in the words of Howard Thurman: “What makes you come alive?”

Once you know your answer, setting priorities becomes a little easier.

When your brain is trying to convince you that there is no time for joy, or meaning, or rest – pause. Then ask: Is that true? Or are other forces at play?

Is your busyness a flight response? Protecting you from criticism of your weirdness?

Is your perfectionism a freeze response? Preventing you from finishing a creative project?

And if it is true, if time is scarce, if today is really full of doctors’ appointments, work deadlines, grocery runs… is there a little time?

• Ten minutes to make an imperfect drawing of your daily tarot card?
• Four minutes to dance to your favorite song (here is mine from yesterday)?
• Three minutes to stand outside facing the sunrise while your coffee brews?

Can you wrangle those minutes back from your phone?*****

Can you trust that these moments ARE important? That they DO move you toward a more alive life? And that your aliveness is needed in the world?

Bonus tip: If, at the end of the day, your joy/weird page is still blank (literally or metaphorically), don’t make it mean too much and try again tomorrow.

Thank you for making time to read this letter. It means a lot.

Always on your side, truly,

P.S. What’s one thing you’ve been telling yourself you don’t have time for lately? Hit reply and tell me—I’ll share a simple trick to make space for it, even on busy mornings.

* Inspired by an Indigenous Learning Course I have been taking for the last two seasons, I added a new routine to my morning: Once the coffee is brewed, I go outside and walk around my backyard, greeting and thanking each tree in the language of the Salish, whose land our house is built on (hello, good day: a, x̣est sx̣lx̣alt. Thank you: lemlmtš).

** In the English language, making money is often referred to as “making a living.” Proving my above point about indoctrination.

***Because, as Liz Gilbert said in an episode of her Magic Lessons podcast, you don’t find some random unused piece of time in your closet. You have to make time with intention and conviction.

**** I have recently started to brick my phone in the mornings, and it has filled many a journaling page. Use this affiliate link to get your own Brick at a 10% discount (I also get 10%).

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