free my sol

free my sol is a phrase I’ve had rumbling around in my mind for a long time. It works on so many levels: free my soul (unleash, set free the spirit/ being/true self/let your true self be seen); free my sole (untether/release/set free the self from a situation, context, state of being, or more literally, run the world, surf the world, travel the world); and free my sol (the Spanish word for sun), as in let your inner light and joy shine, warming you and others.

My good friend came over for dinner. “Bring two of your favorite tea bags,” I said, when she asked what she could bring. She brought over Egyptian licorice, which was spicy and delicious. And on my tea bag, at the top, on the little piece of paper you drape over the rim of the mug were these words: May your light become a living universal light.

Can it really be that simple? I asked myself. And I’m leaning towards yes.

I’ve often wondered if that’s enough—if it’s enough to simply be happy and shining, and at the end of the day, I think it is. Those words captured that, as do the words of the late great Sharon Jones: I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I am free., as well as the Anne Franks’ simple and striking observation: Whoever is happy, will make others happy too. Our thoughts and our energy are two of our most valuable resources.

There’s no end to the dreams I have, and the things I want to do, and the experiences I want to have and share in this life with the people I love. And I’ll do all of them, or some of them, and I can’t wait. But most importantly is that I’m simply shining and dwelling in gratitude and vibrating at the highest frequency, remembering the core which is ever-drumming, ever calling, and remembering what Mary Oliver always remembered, that we all have a place in the family of things.

How beautiful, how reassuring, how magical is that?