I spent last week on meditation retreat in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I’ve been on retreat a lot this year and I’ve noticed that my life seems to wiggle a bit more while I’m away. As if in order to clear up any confusion about retreat being outside everyday life, the universe stirs things up, releasing thoughts and emotions that crawl around excavating truths and forcing me to open my heart, even as I sit with eyes closed. This retreat was no different: an old friend at a medical crossroads, a friend of a friend dead in a plane crash with his young children aboard, a cancer diagnosis for another friend’s dad, the eighth anniversary of my mom’s death.

I remember when my mom received her cancer diagnosis. The doctors gave her six months to live, which she did, nearly to the day. It all seemed so cut and dried. My mom wasn’t interested in fighting too much. I don’t think she believed that was her role. So we spent that time gathered as a family. We went on vacation to Mexico and took trips to the nursery looking at roses and ferns for my yard. One day, gathered in my living room, my daughter Nataly offered my mom a movie about the power of a plant-based diet in treating cancer. My mom smiled gently and politely declined, “I love you Nataly. But you have to let me do this my way.”

I knew my mom was going to die even before she refused to continue with chemo and settled in to spend her final months at home with her wife. She’d spent her life caring for others and wasn’t going to allow the tumor in her stomach to change that. It was sad, but it was somehow okay too. In her last days and nights I’d drink a bottle of wine, crawl into bed and stroke her hair with my fingertips and cry. Then I’d get up in the morning and get back to work … it’s all I had back then. I didn’t know how to help her, which made it easier in a way.

I’ve learned a bit since then, and developed some new tools. I started by watching that movie my daughter tried to give my mom. Then I watched more. Many more. I read books. I went to health conferences. I befriended the experts … I even married one. I became a vegan. I went to the Shaolin Temple. I’ve spent countless days on retreat, meditating, watching my mind. I get lost on summer afternoons amongst the redwoods looking for mushrooms and herbs for medicinal teas. I’ve built a practice around health, wellness, and spirituality that I share with my family and friends.

And people I love still get sick … and sometimes they die. And that’s hard, especially when I think I can help.

Prior to this retreat I spoke with a friend. We were reviewing something I’d written — the first draft of what became this piece. “It’s okay that our friends die, Jason,” he said. “It has to be.” That stuck with me as I sat this past week and received news of sick friends and funerals. I knew this already, of course, that my friends are allowed to have a life of their own. I know there’s no use arguing with reality. But I don’t like it much some days. I rather enjoy my friends and I’d prefer they live long healthy lives and not go away. When they do it hurts. I miss them like I miss my mom.

I’ve wondered this week, while meandering in the hidden corners of my mind, if perhaps all this learning I’ve done was part of a secret agenda I wasn’t sharing even with myself. A plan to save my friends — and myself — from all the suffering of life. As if, having watched my mom die, the little boy in me had a plan to stop the suffering of the world by getting really healthy and sharing what I learned. And maybe by doing so, somehow I’d save my mom, too. There’s a sweetness in that naiveté. It makes me smile because it reminds me of my mom, who was always looking to help. It’s a piece of her in me, a little insecurity, wanting you to know I love you, and wanting to know you love me too … sure if I help you’ll see just how good I’m not sure I really am.

I notice though as I think about saving the world, it all gets really small. As if the world were squished down and squeezed into my head, right between my eyes, burning a hole in my forehead as I try to out-scheme life, and death. I also notice when I sit openly with the way things are, when I turn towards my fear and look at my pain, the world opens up. When I think of my friends’ health and say “I’m afraid” I can feel in my heart how we’re connected. When I say, “I miss my mom” it feels more intimate than when I say I wish she didn’t die. When I think I have to have all the answers, my loved ones feel far away. And when I say “I don’t know” I notice how we all get to play together.

Another way of saying this is that it’s okay to live. Not just to be alive, but to actually live this life we have. In some ways that’s been the biggest lesson —that my life is worth fully living, worthy of investing the same time and attention I invested in my career. It was scary when I realized I was on the road to end up like my mom: dead at 58, my kids missing their dad. I knew I had to stop, but I was afraid. I didn’t know how. Who would I be? What would my life look like without all the stuff I’d masqueraded as an authentic expression of myself? Or as I said to my therapist at the time, “I’m afraid if I stop and look honestly at my life I’m going to realize I can’t do this any more. And that scares me.” I was right. When I looked honestly I didn’t like my life much. I realized I couldn’t do it any more. So I stopped. Or life stopped me. And that was terrifying. But I didn’t turn away. I knew deep down I had to keep looking. And I’m still looking today.

The more I practice the kinder my gaze becomes. My practice, once motivated by fear, is based now more in love — for myself, for life, for you. I understand that caring for my body is a worthwhile endeavor and that motivates my food choices, so I eat plant-based foods and supplement them with Chinese herbs. I know that my body works when energy and nutrition flow to my organs, so I stretch, take walks, and long, deep breaths. I’ve learned that watching my mind helps me understand and accept life; that’s why I meditate. I’ve experienced that sharing gives meaning to it all, so I write and connect with those in need.

On retreat I’ve been reminded of the okayness of life. It’s okay for our friends to die. It’s okay for my mom to be gone. It’s okay that all this sometimes seems too big for my tiny human heart. It’s okay that I’m afraid. It’s okay I sit and cry with the weight of it all. It’s okay to not have all the answers. It’s okay to wish I did. It’s okay even in all the darkness of the world to see the light. It’s okay to allow pain to be a portal. It’s okay to turn around. It’s okay to find a better way. It’s okay to live. It’s okay… it just is, this life, the one we have, yours and mine … it may not be fair, or even pretty, but it’s okay.

A few notes on okayness:

1) Okayness has a quality of self-compassion, holding our own hand in the dark. When life turns upside down this means accepting what’s hurting while lightening the load by supporting the parts of your life left standing upright. This might look like drinking extra green juice and taking long walks while in the midst of a divorce. Or going on meditation retreat after a cancer diagnosis. Or having a tea with someone you love after getting fired from your job. 2) Being okay doesn’t mean inviting struggle. There’s no inherent value in that. The value comes from finding our way in the dark when struggles present themselves — being okay with what we find in life. 3) Sometimes being okay means accepting that we’re not okay with what’s going on. It means meeting ourselves where we actually are. When facing uncertain health it may be too much to ask to be okay with a pending diagnosis, but we may be able to admit to being afraid and be okay with that. Sitting at a friend’s funeral we might find that we’re not ready to be okay with death, but can meet ourselves in our grief and be okay that this is one of life’s tough moments. Okayness isn’t fake or forced but a genuine place we discover we can face life and feel okay about it. 4) Okayness in the body is sometimes available even when mental or emotional okayness isn’t. Cellular joy comes in the form of deep breaths, superfood smoothies, nutrient-dense meals, a shot of wheatgrass as we hold our nose. This runs contrary to the conventional practice of numbing our pain with a beer or a pint of Haagen-Dazs. But caring for our bodies in the midst of mental or emotional anguish can send a message from the cells up that we’re safe, healthy, and okay. 5) In meditation okayness often comes from seeing that our problems aren’t quite as solid or solidly ours as we once thought. While sitting and observing we might notice thoughts of our problems arising and then disappearing on their own. We might see that things we once thought to be ours to solve aren’t really in our control — our son’s new girlfriend, a war on the other side of the world, my wife’s concern about a sick friend. In meditation we see these issues and face them, while also becoming aware of their slippery and transparent nature.

Here we are together. And it’s okay.

Big hugs of love,

Jason

  1. wendy stl john- devereaux says:

    this post came at just the right time for me—I’ve been floundering around a bit just lately, as I attempt to deal with all of the changes in my life—and this post just seems to confirm that my path is there, and it is all ok, and I can go onl
    thank you, Jason
    sending you huge hugs
    wendy

  2. Joe heitzler says:

    I am okay with your okayness and I am okay that there need be no fear of it just being okay just because that is the way it is. Are you okay with my okayness? Okay !! You are an amazing realist God has blessed you with special gifts on writing of things that matter and I get He is okay with you as you are. I love who you are and glad that you and Christy and your family were placed in my life. Amen

  3. Mauricio Mejia says:

    Jason, at what point does thoughts of looking back stop? At what point do the thoughts of moving foward start so that the past can be left in the past and so that you can be in the now.

    You’re in my thoughts and I hope to see you again one day so that we can talk. You been an inspiration both in the past with business and now with trying to find my purpose and direction.

    Mauricio

    • Hi Mauricio. I don’t think they ever really do. Thinking of the past and the future is something we do as humans. And that thinking brings up emotions, regrets, hopes and dreams. Usually what we mean by that question is something like “when will I feel okay?”

      Maybe a question to explore is “what if all that is okay?” What if you’re okay like this and so is your life. Try meeting yourself here versus trying to find a perfect place where everything in your head is peaceful. For me, meditation has been the training ground for this. You might start by just sitting down and noticing what it’s like to be you right now. What do you hear? What do you feel? And allowing that to be enough. Just noticing and breathing without making yourself or your life wrong.

      Big hugs of compassion. You’re not alone.

      – Jason

  4. So perfect for me today Jason, thank you. I’m not feeling well mentally and emotionally, crying over every sad thing I see, feeling like my connection to sourse is nil even though I do my morning lesson and meditate( as best I can, with emotional flooding and my monkey mind), something is just off and I can’t seem to fix it! After reading this, I will accept today that this is what’s happening, and just try to be okay with it. Just as in the rest of life, this will change, nothing is permanent. Thank you so much for being a conduit of love today. ❤️

    • Hi Susan. I’m glad this connected with you. I find sometimes that just letting go of the idea that I need to fix myself and instead accepting, “Here I am. I feel sad. This is what it’s like to be me today.” is (as you said) the conduit to love. Sending you big hugs, deep breaths, and the reminder that you’re not alone. – Jason

  5. Hi Jason,

    Thank you for the deep heartfelt writing. Acceptance and Surrender–they were the gifts that soothed my pain and struggles in the past. Thank you for sharing your stories. “It’s Okay” to feel our human Hearts to feel what it is and being present to it. It’s Okay. We are surrounded by Divine Love and Light. Big hugs of Compassion. In Oneness and Joy. Mina Joy

  6. Thank you for this honest, comforting piece, Jason. Since my son’s death in February, I sometimes don’t want to be here and it feels good to be ok with admitting that on those days. On good days I am grateful for many things and know the tough times will come again but I can sit with them and acknowledge them and be gentle in the pain

  7. Thank you Jason, I once asked a client (I am a therapist) if they were OK. ‘No’.
    Well then can you be OK with not being OK? ‘No’.
    How about OK with not being OK with not being OK?
    … She thought for a long time ‘Yes’.
    Perhaps there is an infinite regress here. Or perhaps there just comes a point where the different levels of non-OKness become so exhausting to get our heads around that we finally let go and just accept whatever is.
    Anyhow thanks for the blog.

    • Thank you Wyon. I love that. I’ve found in meditation that the entry point doesn’t matter much as long as I find a place of acceptance. Sometimes I sit and it’s just there. And others, as you illustrated, it’s a few levels out. But once I accept I’m there, regardless of where the there appeared to be. Big hugs – Jason

  8. Cathy Willdermood says:

    so much I can say but will leave it with gratitude. I’ve loss sight of self care. I’ve been enveloped in sadness and negative thinking. Tomorrow is a new day. Because of your post I will look through different eyes. Much love.

  9. Ray Khelawan says:

    Hi Jason! I love this message that you wrote. I am still trying to work on myself these days. I’m eating better, drinking shakes and taking chinese herbs. I’m trying to meditate but that proves to be a little harder. I’ve really started focusing on loving myself lately…..because I realized that I actually didn’t before. I thought I did, but I really didn’t. There have been a lot of things happening lately, but what I take away from this is that it’s okay to love myself. I’ve been trying to figure out how….I’ve been reading many books and online articles. And I think that I’m getting closer, especially with this. So I thank you for this!

    Big hugs of love
    Ray:)

  10. I’ve only just seen this Jason, but as ever thank you for sharing. There seems to be deep relief in okayness – almost like the pause between the out breath and the in breath and the peace in that space. The space where we can realise acceptance? In what seems like momentary stillness but perhaps where emptiness resides? Big hug to you. Carmen X

  11. “I’m afraid if I stop and look honestly at my life I’m going to realize I can’t do this any more. And that scares me.” Thank you for this i am not good with words but it helps me to verify that feeling of fear that i have now, even though i know that its going to be okay, when i read this article,its a reminder for me that it will be okay and i thank you for this. Thank you.

  12. Ray Khelawan says:

    Hi Jason! Happy New Year!! OMG 2017 was such a journey!! It was so difficult, but at the same time, it was very wonderful! I opened myself up to new things, I tried new things, I let go of a lot of things, I de-cluttered my life. And it felt so GOOD! Not to mention that my husband and I finally moved out, and it feels GREAT! There’s still a lot that I need to work on, but what is so reflective for me in this passage is that I’m starting to be okay with myself. I’m starting to be okay with my new life, as well as the loss of my dreams. This is my new normal and I’m okay with it! It feels great! Thank you!

    May divine love and light be with you always
    Ray:)

  13. Sometimes

    She said, sometimes
    it’s okay to just be okay.
    She feels His strength
    from her head to her toes.
    He removes her shackles
    and she lets go of her woes.
    Minus the heavy chains
    the wind kisses her hair.
    Hope is unrestrained
    deep breaths of cool air.
    She said, sometimes
    it’s okay to just be okay.
    Jeanne Marie

  14. Paul Van Der Walde says:

    Hi Jason and Christy-

    It is 2:56 am, on a random Tuesday night, and I have been struggling a lot with the concept of okayness for the past month or two. My life has been like a country song, one thing after another, after another. It reached the point of ridiculousness, recently, the place where the anxiety and fear usually kicks in, until I realized for some reason, that I was okay with everything. I don’t know what happened to finally turn on a mental switch that I have been trying unsuccessfully to switch on for years. I suddenly had an epiphany, things came into focus and I realized that I was okay. That each issue I was dealing with had a unique lesson to learn if I looked and contemplated hard enough. In being okay with everything, and learning some lessons about myself, I found courage, acceptance of the things beyond and within my control, and a new radically positive attitude given what has been happening in my life. In being okay, I came to the realization that I can change almost any outcome in a positive way if I let myself, be it learning that when a younger friend passed awy, that life is fragile and each day should be cherished, or that you quickly find out who your true friends and allies are when the chips are down, that adversity between two people can actually make them closer and that anger is a big waste of energy. Also, I recognized the the power to be okay with difficult things, with the trick for me trying to find something positive that can come from the negative – there’s almost always one if you look hard enough, and I’m okay with that!

    With love,

    PV

  15. Hello Jason,

    I was once taught that life happens and that’s something we just can’t fight against, just as time is the only thing we would like to have infinite but we can’t buy it no matters how much money we have.

    Thanks for all.

    PS: sorry for my english

  16. Just when I’m believing I’ve strayed too far, a message like yours comes thru and reminds me that support is everywhere and shows up perfectly. And that we share so much with those in our near vicinity without knowing (unless we open ourselves to it). Thank you, thank you, thank you.

  17. The timing of this piece is perfect My dad died 9 weeks ago today. I call myself a wonded healer, a social workee called to relieve the suffering of others because of their own healing wounds. I work in Geriatrics and Palliative Care so back at work 2 days after my dads death i have praticing “okayness”. Blessings and hugs as we are on this journey together. Thank you for putting into words how i have felt. This piece is beautiful!!

    Many hugs. Kim WR

  18. What a gift for your mom and you that you could spend those last days and nights with you stroking her hair…. And that she allowed to…
    My mom is 94 and terminally ill. She doesn’t allow closeness, isn’t able to. And I don’t what to do. Am caught in fear. As somehow I’ve always felt that when she died I would take mu own life. Not out of fondness or closeness, but out of desparation.
    I blame myself less than before, but okay with it, no. not yet.
    thanks for writing this beautiful post.

  19. Jason, how timely to have stumbled upon this piece. Currently, I’m losing my mother. She’s 98, tired and lonely as all her peers have long ago passed. I’m ok with her passing, however the thoughts of missing her is surely more difficult for me. I guess this is a Mother/Son thing.
    Thanks for the sharing our wisdom

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