the personal ozone layer

in order to live in flow with the world, it is most crucial to have a personal ozone layer — to care for the inner ecosystem of the self.

I’m calling it a personal ozone layer — because it’s like a layer of magical energy which cocoons our innermost, essential self. the layer protects, insulates, grounds, and centers us. it allows us to be a self-sustaining, self-nourishing system so that we can interact with the world without being thrown off balance.

when the personal ozone layer is healthy and well, we’re in a state of abundance and fullness, and don’t need to go outside to look for love, validation, or answers. we can choose to respond to things, rather than to impulsively react. to give and to ask, rather than to need.

after weeks and months of having lost my center, circling in the dark places of my mind, I realized that the purpose of my daily wellbeing practices is to form my own cocoon around my being. it is like pumping oxygen for my soul. my inner ecosystem is so specific, sensitive, and delicate that only I can create the kind of atmosphere and air that I need. only I can give myself soul water. only I can save myself from suffocating to death, or dehydrating into nothingness. no one else can save me, except me.

that is what meditation, yoga, writing, journaling, and making art means for me — all of these are daily practices that help me breathe in this world. they are not optional. they are my oxygen and water. it is a practice in cocooning myself, nourishing myself — so that I can be in flow with the environment; living in a state of abundance, rather than scarcity. in love, rather than in lack.