A sacred love affair

one year anniversary/guest post three from a wise and open heart.

Welcome to the Life Is In Love With Me newsletter if you’re new. If you’re a regular recipient of these reminders of love, welcome back! 🌹🥭🌹🥭🌹🥭

---

The final guest writer for this series is one of the first writers I came across when I joined Substack.

Ayanna Nicole

has been such a fierce and loving supporter from the beginning of this newsletter that I was so grateful when she was open to creating something for this series.

This post is a love letter. Ayanna reminds me and hopefully you of the reciprocity, the complexity, and the responsibility of being in relationship with life which is committing to love. In reading her submission, I’m reminded of the essay Ayanna wrote about starting a new chapter, and following an inner calling. I also loved her letter about turning 30 and a second childhood, how she is gifting herself grace and play. I have learned lots from Ayanna, always, and I’m deeply thankful she was open to being in this space.

It is enlivening to be writing about love on the internet. It is also often strange. This essay is a response from a writer and friend, urgently speaking life and reminding us all that this surrendering ‘will take bravery’, and that bravery is a calling not to be ignored or resisted.

To deepen the appreciation for aligned kinship, today marks exactly one year since I published my first letter on Life Is In Love With Me. There is no better way I’d like to celebrate this milestone than reading Ayanna’s words in this space. I hope you enjoy.

---

Credit: Kallen Mikel Art

Life whispers that she is in love with me, and that she will bring me unfathomable expansion and freedom if I choose to love her back. The act of surrendering to a higher consciousness of love will take bravery, she admits. Yet it is time to awaken to the infinite gifts she has to offer and to, in turn, step into sharing my own. Because what is love if not an echo of oneself? 

I accept her generous proposal, and lean into the art of listening and paying attention. I step out into the world knowing that I am loved and held, and I begin to see evidence of it everywhere: in the sun’s warmth, the gentle breeze that comforts, and the summer rain that nourishes the land I am a part of. This love is profoundly musical, too, and she beckons me to dance barefoot in the grass to the harmony of birds and cicadas, the trickling sound of the rivers, the thousands of leaves rustling in the wind. 

She is fascinating in her natural artistry, whimsical and colorful. There is always something to marvel at—green june beetles, a butterfly’s wings, waterfalls, how she paints the sky and sends love notes in the clouds. How could I ever grow tired of this romance? 

“What a life is ours! Doesn’t anybody in the world anymore want to get up in the middle of the night and sing?” ––Mary Oliver, Upstream

Each day opens like a prayer, like morning glory blossoms. It is true that the beginnings of a love affair are always intoxicating, and a glow emanates from everything. But of course, it will not always be a blissful dance in the sunshine. There will be storms, destructive ones, designed to create new pathways. I must trust in the process of life’s cycles and understand that they are ultimately leading me to experiencing the depths of love. 

Life extends herself fully to me, and I am emboldened to show up as my entire self in return. Because I am not a selfish lover; I will pay reverence, always, to life, and be a contagious vessel for her unbounded joy. 

There is a story behind every grand romance. When asked about mine, I will simply say life whispered that she is in love with me, and the rest is history. 

“The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver

Gratitude to

Ayanna Nicole

for this beautiful reminder. Subscribe for more writings from her newsletter Soul Remedies.

---

Prompts and Questions

What is a mantra you live by?

How do you honour your relationship with life’s love?

Ayanna shared one of my favourite Mary Oliver poems, and so I ask, what will you do with your one wild and precious life?

Feel free to comment and discuss with others in the community. I’ll join the conversation as I return.

---

Thank you, so much, for being here. Many thanks to my most recent paid subscribers, your support means so much. I’m so grateful. These love letters and travel memories remain free, always. This is an attempt to keep this space as an offering and resource for all. For a while, I’ve reduced annual paid subscriptions to $48.88 (from $88). I am preparing to show up with my paid readers in a new way and in the meantime, I’d love to grow and increase the paid support for this space. Paid readers receive 111 daily affirmations and a travel backstory upon subscription.

Workshop on Enoughness and Black Women’s Writings- Sunday 29th September

The next virtual workshop is ‘Lessons from Black Women’s Writings: Enoughness and Creation’ on Sunday 29th September. Join us in this workshop created to embrace enoughness and it’s role in feeling worthy and creative. We’ll write and discuss four Black women writer’s from around the world in this session. Everyone is welcome to join, writers and readers of all levels and all parts of their journey to feeling enough. Come and let the words of Black women guide and embolden you while writing in community. Find out more about the session below:

The Easeful Place Community

The Easeful Place is a newsletter and resource for joining mindfulness with creativity. I created it so that writers, artists, journalers, mindful life-livers will find themselves at home and in beautiful community. Join to receive free writing and journal prompts, global paid and creative opportunities, inspiration, artist interviews, discounts on workshops, and encouragement as you centre wellness in all that you create and do. So, consider this your invite.

Thank you, so much, for being here.

Love,

Amara Amaryah

Credit: Alex Azabache