The world needs your medicine

✨On using what we’ve got and offering what we can

Last week I got an email from an old friend I haven’t seen in a long time. She had been on the Bakerloo Line on London’s Underground, and the man opposite her had been reading my book Wabi Sabi. It made her think of me, so she snapped a sneaky photo and sent it over. It was a thoughtful thing to do, and I was glad to reconnect. It also made me realise how there has been a pattern over the years since Wabi Sabi came out back in 2018, that every time there is some kind of crisis in the world, it seems to appear in all kinds of places, and I am suddenly tagged over and over by people on social media sharing it. I find this fascinating, but when you think that life teaches us about impermanence over and over again, sometimes in the most brutal of ways, perhaps it makes sense.

Although there is no official definition in the Japanese language for the term ‘wabi sabi’, it can be described in a roundabout way as representing an acceptance and appreciation of the impermanent, imperfect and incomplete nature of everything. Perhaps even more than that, it is a state of the heart - a deep in-breath and a slow exhale, which is always a good idea. Wabi Sabi was not necessarily intended as a book that people would reach for when things feel hard, and yet it seems that is what it has become, as a reminder that nothing lasts forever.

Photos by Holly Bobbins. Page from Japan: Season by Season by Sandrine Bailly

Over the past many years of writing books and offering writing classes (read to the end for the chance to win one!), I have come to see that words are one vital form of medicine that we humans can offer to each other* - individual to individual - although not the only one.

Tell me, what is your medicine and how will you offer it to the world today, this year, this lifetime?

Your medicine could be your story, shared to help someone else see that they are not alone.

It could be your manner, or the things you whisper, or speak aloud.

It could be your company, offered quietly as you sit beside someone when the world is rushing past, or caving in.

It could be your passion, one that you paint on a placard or speak aloud to motivate others into action.

It could be your art, because we all need art.

It could be your forgiveness, your acceptance, your grace.

It could be your attention to the world, and your offering up of the details to remind others of the beauty all around us.

It could be your presence, as an anchor in the storm.

It could be your teaching, based on your knowledge and life experience.

It could be your words, offered in any form – a note or a letter, an essay or a post, a book perhaps. Words that offer shelter, inspiration, motivation, advice, solace, support, or hope, perhaps.

It is only recently I have realised that we can offer ourselves this medicine, as well as offering it to others.

How will you administer your own medicine and take care of yourself, and the world, today?

If you aren’t sure of your medicine, take a look around. There are clues everywhere.

Go back in time and remember what you used to love doing as a child. Hover in the present and consider what kind of life you are trying to cultivate. Leap forward in time and consider what kind of legacy you want to leave.

Look outwards and think about the role and presence of your friends and family, and your community, in your life and work.

Look inwards and explore your personal geography, mapping the places and ideas you are drawn to.

Look down and consider your role in the natural world.

Look up and consider your inspiration, faith and wildest ideas.

Then ask yourself how you want to feel in your life, and about your life, and see how that fits in.

Give yourself time to sit with all this information, swirling around until it starts to settle into the outline of a dream. And then think about what needs to change to make that dream a possibility. Once you have figured that out, start working on that dream today, administering your medicine one action, one sentence, one hug, one placard at a time.

Beth

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INK + FLAME GIVEAWAY

*********************THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED*********************

Huge thanks to everyone who entered. The winner, chosen at random is:

Tanmeet Sethi, MD

Congratulations Tanmeet! Please email hello@bethkempton.com to get your complimentary place on Ink + Flame! I hope it will help you administer more of your medicine. Xx

******************************************************************************************

I believe that anyone who spills what is in their head and heart onto the page, and expresses the human experience in words, is a writer, and that the world needs all of our medicine. This year I am offering a brand new LIVE writing + Substack immersion called Ink + Flame, as an in-depth training into spilling, shaping and sharing your words, in a way which changes your life, and can change the lives of others. This class is almost sold out, but I have reserved ONE place to the winner of this special giveaway. Details below. Good luck!

✨The prize: One place on my upcoming immersion Ink + Flame (starts Feb 24)

✨The deadline: 4pm UK time on Monday 3 February, 2025

✨To enter: Simply restack this post with your answer to the question ‘What is your medicine and how will you offer it to the world today, this year, this lifetime?’ IMPORTANT NOTE: If you would rather not speak this aloud, feel free to just make a comment about the essay or restack it without a comment – that will still count as an entry - but please do take a moment to answer the question yourself, perhaps in your journal. It’s a powerful one.

The small print:

- No purchase is necessary.

- This competition is open to anyone anywhere in the world over the age of 18.

- One person who has restacked or left a comment on this post by the deadline answering the question asked above will be chosen at random to win the stated prize. The winner will be announced here shortly after the deadline.

- The choice of winner is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

- There is no cash alternative. However, if the winner has already registered for Ink + Flame, they will be offered a voucher to take a class of equivalent value offered at dowhatyouloveforlife.com anytime in the next eighteen months.

Photos: Holly Bobbins Photography

*I am grateful to speaking coach Gail Larsen for her teaching on this, specifically that “We come to this earth with gifts and talents nowhere else duplicated, and if we don’t express these gifts, they are lost to the world for all time.”