Empty the cup

I empty 
my cup, filled with decaying answers
recycled
the dead nurtures

I empty 
my cup, held by its vacancy
revered
the unknown opens

we empty 
our cups, sharing fullness
received
the grip loosens

shattered in symphony
cups transform
become
us, vessels

so we empty 
again and again
replenished
life rejoices 

In my mother tongue, we use classifiers to go with most nouns. For example, rain is just rain in English. In Chinese, rain takes up space: it’s always a field of rain. 2022 feels like a field of heavy summer rain: rapid, invigorating, releasing, opening up to a forgotten feeling: smells of lush greens and softened earth, a sense of cleanse and renewal.

I am grateful for my rain dance adventures and its successful conjuring, as well as how much the rain field of 2022 had acted on my: the space it opened, the energy it gifted, and the offloading it helped.

Much gratitude to be expressed, perhaps the little poem above says more than lengthy paragraphs.

Communities

This is a continued theme from last year’s revelation. I am grateful for continuously encountering with beautiful souls in new contexts and places.

• Sound Observer
  My partner Adrian and I have been facilitating sound meditations for two years now. Building a living community have illuminated much internal confidence and faith which I didn’t see. I’ve learned to feel the texture of togetherness and allow it take on its own form. I relish the practice of facilitation and how it enables the process of unfolding our interconnectedness and collective beauty.

• The Nearness
  This 8-week online peer-run program had opened some new frequencies for me to listen, to hum, and to learn how to harmonize in a non-hierarchical setting. I teamed up with four other wonderful new friends. Every Sunday night we hold space together and share our spiritual life. Much gratitude for this nurturing journey together.

• Evening sculpture class at New York Studio School
  I signed up for the class on a whim. I ended up with a bunch of terra cotta figures, many Monday evening laughters, and the sense of descending into a deep bed where touching is the primary sense. I loved my classmates coming from various backgrounds: consultancy, finance, yoga, editorial. It reminds me that although we might have certain roles to play in our life, we have access to creation at any time.

Top books of 2022

• Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (Memoir)

• The Nightingale by Sam Lee (Nature Writing)

• The Way of the Rose by Clark Strand and Perdita Finn (Spirituality)

• Karma by Sadguru (Spirituality)

• In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté (Psychology)

Top media of 2022

• Irma Vep (TV Series)
  This is an interesting one which you can see it from many angles. For me, it’s a poetic exploration between film and TV making. Many moments brought me back to my teenage years watching foreign indie films. This show reminded me why I loved cinema and how interesting it is to watch a form of media changing over time.

• Extraordinary Attorney Woo (TV Series)
  It’s a very touching show, if you could drop your prejudice against Korean legal drama and the over-exaggerated post-production style.

• Inu-Oh (Film)
  I watched this animation in theater. Great metaphor around how artist transmute their trauma into beauty by listening and offering.

Other top things

• 1:1 voice sessions with Yvonne de Bruijn from Pansori Living Sound (Practice)

• Granulated watercolors (Material)

• Hobonichi planner (Tool)

• Daily drawing group - 狂野的速写 (Practice)

• Breathwork in the morning at Prospect Park during summer (Practice)

• Morning pages (Practice)

till next time,
.y