Dear Los Angeles

Not many people know that Bear the cat is actually an Angeleno, born and raised in Los Angeles.

Both Toast and I called Los Angeles our home for well over 20 years and these past weeks have been heart-wrenching as we text, call, check-in with loved ones, popping our heads up every now and then to see yet another place that held our memories up in flames.

I was born and raised on the island of Oʻahu and will always call Honolulu my true home. But in my 20s I packed up my dreams and my two cats, Cumin and Maslow, and flew to Los Angeles. Much like the call to move to Portland, Oregon, I had only been to Los Angeles one time before deciding to move there.

I remember minutes before the plane landed, in a moment that was quiet and dark, I slowly slid up the window shade and gasped a bit as a blanket of lights below winked at me. I smiled, then welled up, overcome with the vastness of possibility and hope.

And then I heard the captain say,
“Welcome to Los Angeles.”

What makes Los Angeles so special is that it is the Keeper of Hopes and Dreams.

Countless souls flock there to nest and nurture their hearts' wishes.

And what’s incredible about spaces and places is that we each leave a part of ourselves there, whether we visit, or call it home.

And the Land holds all of it Sacred.

Los Angeles is infused with a long lineage of dreams,
dreamers, hopes and ultimately, Love. 

Nature/Spirit/God/Goddess/All there Is (whatever name you have for it) will never abandon us, despite all the ways that humanity errs.

And even if the Land, like the tree in Shel Silverstein’s book The Giving Tree, has seemingly nothing left to give, it will still be there holding us up.

It’s times like these that bring out the best (and worst) in us but I’ve always believed whole-heartedly that there is more good in us, and in this world, than anything else.

I know it can feel overwhelming to decide how to help, when to help, where and who to help and it’s exacerbated if you’re an HSP or an empath.

So when I start to feel this way,
I take a moment, place my hands on my heart
and take a few deep heart-breaths,
breathing in and out from my heart center.

I’m then reminded that I’m one person and as one person,
I can certainly help one other person.

And this is enough. You are enough.

Think of ways you can help just one person and do that.

Dear Los Angeles,

Never forget who you are.

You are the City of Angels, the Keeper of Hopes and Dreams.

And we are here and will be here to remind you of this as every flame is put to rest, as the people and the animals come together to hug, to grieve, to cry, to love. And we will be there holding space for when it’s time for new dreams and hopes to be planted.

We love you.

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