Zhi Yin

Several of us gather around the table for a third night, each a person with whom I have a unique connection. Our focus is on things that matter, things seen and understood with the rational mind…and those that are not. As three of these women live far away, we’ve also had individual sit~downs: two breakfasts and an hour~long talk over steaming mugs of tea.

And all of this after facilitating a weekend Retreat for nine women, and having meaningful ongoing contact with clients and dear friends, near and far. Quite a month for an introvert with some rather pronounced hermit~like tendencies! And it has been a scrumptious multi~course meal for the soul. 

So as I was finishing my current fantasy trilogy, The Infernal Devicesby Cassandra Clare, the following words glowed golden and danced before my eyes. “Our hearts, they need a mirror,” Jem Carstairs says to Tessa. “We see our better selves in the eyes of those who love us.”

We humans are social creatures, even the shyest, most reticent of us. It is said that we come into this world primed for social engagement, knowing we cannot survive on our own. Jem’s words, however, speak of something more than simple survival needs or a general sense of well~being necessary for optimal health and functioning.

In soulcraft, that venerable art of becoming all we can be, we need others to reflect back to us, not only an accurate image of who we are now, but of who we could become…or perhaps who we might already be in our core.

This human life can be as difficult as it is glorious, with a particular stretch of choppy water often blinding us to the beauty of the sea itself. At such times, we fear sinking beneath the waves, and may believe ourselves beyond redemption as we accept as true the false conclusions we draw about ourselves from the events swirling around us.

It is in these moments that we are most in need of Grace. And though Grace may surround us always, we humans can often best perceive it, as Ringo sung so many years ago, with a little help from our friends.

In The Dark Artifices, another trilogy by the same author, Jem reappears many fictional years later and shares more wisdom through a term from his native Mandarin, zhi yin, which refers to “one who understands your music”. Sure enough, internet research confirms that zhi means “to know” while yin means “sound born from the heart”. We all need those who can relish the music of our hearts, especially when we can’t quite hear that music ourselves.

May you choose those who hear and cherish your heart’s sweet song. And may that gift embolden you to sing that melody with your whole being, heart and soul combined and in perfect harmony, radiant and true.

Sing on, dear ones! Much love,

Leia

An addendum...I’ve shared before that I adore fantasy fiction, also termed Young Adult literature. Many have strong female characters living in worlds intriguingly different from our own. While the books noted above are not my all~time favorites, they might grow on you, as they did me, if you allow them time to mature a bit, with the characters moving past an initial adolescent feel. I think Clare’s Mortal Instrument series is her best. But checkout the Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy for a blue~haired beauty of a heroine who'll knock your socks off, and angels and demons galore.