THAT MUST BE NICE

Apprenticeship to Love: The crooked path of marriage (June 12, 2026)

TODAY'S QUESTION

What feels good, right now? What do you know, in your bones, is right for you, right now? If nothing ever changed, what would still be so good you wouldn’t want it to change?

TODAY’S MEDITATION

And, as she sat across from me, her eyes filling with tears, I saw her radiance.

This. This is what I am here to receive.

Oh, let me slow myself. Let me drop everything that protects and shields me. Just let me receive this, and receiving it, receiving her, allowing her to be all that she is, trusting —knowing!— that I am enough to hold and protect and honour everything she is and everything she brings to me.

Yes, this and only this.

…

Loving you is easy. Becoming still enough to receive all of you, well… this can be hard. As one teacher of men's work pointed out, this receiving really is “the work.”

I am still in too much of a hurry, still tied up in my own intrigues.

…

She called yesterday morning. I’d only just sat down, here in my garden, a cocoon where I shelter from the demands of others and the brightness of light, subject only to sleeping dogs and bird song and mosquitos that hover but do not light, do not bite. I’d only just started to the world, and she called.

Is this a good time to talk?

Yes, I said. Yes, if you want me susceptible and vulnerable.

I don’t know if I want that.

Better that then the part of me that, when wide awake, is strategic and looking to convince you of things.

Yes, better that, she agreed.

We spent much of the day together. Ordinary things. And, delicious things.

…

Today she flies away.

I bought a painting once with the title, She Flies Away. I bought it days before she flew into my life. The painting is of her. Always in flight.

I try to woo her. I encourage her, perhaps less subtly than I imagine, to nest here. But I know that any nesting or resting is provisional.

Today she flies away and I won’t see her tear-filled tenderness, I won’t breathe the air she’s breathed, for several months. Not until Mexico.

…

I saw her radiance. Again. I felt her trust. Again.

She flies away and I remember her own susceptibility, her own vulnerability. And I am grateful.

TODAY’S INSPIRATIONS

🌀A communication that doesn’t require any words, silence is our first language. In this silence we learn to trust, as babies but also during the rest of our lives.
…Being silent doesn’t just mean you do not talk, it’s not a mechanical thing. Rather it is devotional, you turn attention to the One that is present in each and everyone and forget everything else. Silence is your communication with the Divine.
…being aware of [silence] infuses your communication with presence, awareness, compassion, and kindness. When your words come from the silence you no longer just talk but your communication reaches a whole new depth. (Kundalini Yoga School)

🌀Now be silent.
Let the One who creates the words speak.
He made the door.
He made the lock.
He also made the key. (Rumi)

🌀You’re not like that now. (My beloved, my oracle)

▶ PS. NO-CHARGE FOLLOW-UP ON RETREATS AND WORKSHOPS
I still have 2 free coaching spaces (available on a first come basis until June 20, 2026) for anyone who has participated in a workshop or retreat with me, and would like to do a 45-minute follow up check-in. Please use this code INTIMACY2026 to book a session. If you're having difficulties with the code, please email me at rev.hans@sacredbodies.ca