A Useful Fear?

Of all life's truths — its brevity, its preciousness, its unrelenting impermanence — I'm always wrestling with that last one. 

Before a recent trip to NYC, I was doing a pre-flight fear panic scroll, looking for something to calm me down. Instead, I stumbled on a video of Pema Chödrön on her 80th birthday, talking about how getting comfortable with life's immense groundlessness is the secret to freedom.

Something about it clicked for me. The idea that the moment when fear catches in your throat is also when life opens up. So when our plane lifted off and my stomach dropped, I thought, 'Okay, I'm literally practicing groundlessness right now.' I was still scared, but it felt like I wasn't just enduring the fear but maybe learning something from it. Useful fear, if that makes any sense?

Are there any places of useful fear you can lean into this week?

Best scented wishes,
Emx
PS find us in NYC at the incredible (and only one outside Italy) Luisa Via Roma