13 Comments
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Amy Alpert's avatar

tail-wagging enthusiasm is my new mantra!

Julia Fehrenbacher's avatar

@Amy Alpert , hello! I love seeing you here. And I love that “tail-wagging enthusiasm” is your new mantra. Big love to beautiful you. xo

Dragoneye's avatar

Really nice!

Also seems like a good plan.

Julie Potiker's avatar

Oh - also - I needed to remove my name and only use initials for a post I was commenting on under an article in The Free Press regarding mental health issues, so now I’m JJP instead of Julie Potiker. I think if I change it back, it will change it in prior comments. 😂

Julia Fehrenbacher's avatar

Good to know, @Julie Potiker. Big big love to beautiful you.

Julie Potiker's avatar

Happy healthy new year, beautiful Julia! I’ve got the flu, so not an auspicious way to ring in the new year, but maybe it’s like the plane hitting the roof in The World According to Garp - I’m getting the illness out of the way now for a year of health! I love this poem of yours, it’s like a warm hug.

Julia Fehrenbacher's avatar

I so hope you are feeling better, @Julie Potiker. Ugh, the flu is a very good thing to get out of the way! I am sending you a ton of love and wishes for a year full of FRESH & NEW & BEAUTIFUL. xo

Jenna Whittaker's avatar

Oh how I love this poem--especially these lines:

"to choose to follow only

what feels like tail-wagging enthusiasm, like firefly’s

warm, sure glow. Like love sprouting roots

from the bottom of bare feet."

I am so grateful to hold this poem close as we step into the New Year. This reminder feels deeply, deeply important:

"if it doesn’t grow the flame

warmer, truer, brighter, if it doesn’t

feel like a deep dive into this boundless

breath of now, it’s not meant for you."

Julia, thank you for so generously sharing the gift of your poetry. It matters so much. It is needed in this world. BIG love to you, dear friend.

Julia Fehrenbacher's avatar

I love you so, beautiful Jenna. Forever thankful for you, friend. xo

Annette Skye's avatar

This resonates deeply with me.

I was first introduced to your writing by Shell Fischer, whose meditation retreats I attend. Your words always land gently and never fail to move me. This was the first ‘must subscribe’ for me. I am so glad I did.

Julia Fehrenbacher's avatar

Annette, I just love Shell & I am so moved to know that my words move you. How beautiful. Thank you (so so much) for taking the time to connect today...it matters so much. Blessings galore to you.

Elizabeth Beggins's avatar

Tears, Julia. This poem will always be my very favorite of yours, and it deserves to be read again and again.

My first introduction to you was from a friend who shared this very poem to her Facebook page on January 28, 2022. By August of that year, at 38, she died by suicide. Much as I miss her presence in this world, and the world misses her unique and brilliant light, the only way I've been able to reconcile the loss is by trusting that she needed to be free to spread even more goodness than she had been able to do in her human form.

Thank you for sharing this today.

Julia Fehrenbacher's avatar

Elizabeth...my gosh, your words have landed in my heart today, moved me so very deeply. It hurts my heart to know that you lost your friend through suicide and yes, my goodness, may we imagine her free free free. Thank you for reaching out today, dear Elizabeth, my spirit was in deep need of some real connection. I send you so much love on the second day of this new year.