Hi Mari! Congrats on the bigger-and-better step! I can't pay for now (un-officially-employed caretaker of special needs teen kids and 91yo mother) but I'm here for the content, as much as I can see. Things that are all up in my head (per your request for what's up with us): the pervasive creeping sense of a loss of control, as the pandemic persists and we are aging and I'm sandwiched between a fading parental unit and burgeoning but still very needy child-adults. I'm trying to meditate and find joy and at least for the last month, it's actually been bouncing from crisis to crisis and even when I take time to myself, it's empty, as opposed to refilling batteries. So yeah, I'm a ray of sunshine, aren't I? But that's were things stand here. Oh and if you could weigh in on friendships - I'm 57 and have patted myself on the back for maintaining friendships for decades, but my eyes are opening more (Trump, pandemic, life) about how poorly I've maintained them, really, and how in reality they don't fit current-me much at all. But there are not a lot of folks waiting in the wings to replace them. I'm less fun now, and I'm choosier. Not willing to put up with what I used to accept. Raising the bar. Fit your analogy here. Thanks for letting me ramble.
Hi, I’m from Singapore. I’m wondering if my food can stay in my stomach, if something can come out of my array of hobbies (my hobby is to have a hobby? Knit, garden, type, fountain pen… and then hoard hobbies…), if I can quiet my mind and sit with myself without being tired 🙏🏼
Hi Mari! Thank you for your wonderful weekly letters to us - I have loved reading about your unique take on life and its beautiful eccentricities, and feel you are such a relatable read! Congrats on this new adventure and I look forward to more Mari musings.
I'm a qualified immunologist who now teaches classical ballet for a living in Mumbai. My current mission in life is to explore my creativity deeply and express it authentically in every way that feels good to do. Reading your work sparks so many ideas for me and I'm really grateful that you put your work out there in an accessible way, as I hope to do too. Thank you and sending you love and light!
So excited to see you on Substack! Looking forward to the wonderings! Joining you from KCMO. I agree with EL Zeitgeist. My already delightful Substack inbox just got even better! 😍
Hi all! I'm Ariel (She/Hers/Her). I love Mari's work so much and I love reading her newsletter every week. I went to her Creating From The Soul Retreat at The Art of Living in Boone, NC in 2021 and I feel so grateful to have learned from her. I've always been a creative person! I'm based in NYC. Growing up, I was a violinist and I was the kid who begged her friends in elementary school to join the school newspaper and literary magazine. I started doing theatre, when I was eleven and starting taking dance classes and acting classes. These days, I'm still pursuing a performing career, while doing Social Media Management and Data Entry. I'm also a Freelance Writer and I mostly enjoy writing about Lifestyle, like Mari and Pop Culture. What matters to me right now is finding more joy in my day to day as I feel like I'm in a big transitional phase. I look forward to learning more about everyone!
Thank you for letting the light in! I came to a reading of yours in NYC years ago (Am I There Yet? era - your titles are now era-defining) and have been hooked ever since to your celestial musings. thank you for inviting us to your thanksgiving 💕I’m in London wondering about we humans can’t stop attaching moral weight to weather, why we can’t move away from the idea of predetermined destiny and be ok that things don’t happen for a reason, and why dogs sharing arrangements aren’t more of a thing.
I've only just found you, and already you seem like a warm and interesting person. I can't afford a subscription yet, but I'll eagerly lap up every word I can read!
I'm a writer who lives in the forest of Northern Ontario (Canada). I write ssays, fantasy novels & short stories and 2 of my own 'Stacks.
(Fantastical Library & Brace Yourself)
and I often wonder how other writers decide what to write about, how I can better navigate my aging parents decline, what do cats think about and other off-the-wall stuff.
I look forward to reading all of your writing that I can.
Mari! So delighted to come with you from the bulletins to this new space. I’m following along from Nashville.
I’ve been pondering lately-- what’s the best way to embrace the darkness that comes in the northern hemisphere this time of year, without letting it weigh you down? So far, I’ve been lighting a lot of candles.
MARI take all my money!!! I think it might've been just shy of 35 seconds between joyfully skimming this AMAZING NEWS and frantically grabbing my credit card. I've been dreaming about you slipping on over to Substack and now my world is allllllright. Welcome to the neighborhood, please this imaginary cheesy potato chip casserole, and I'm sure you'll find the perfect place for all your treasures and cat naps. xo ~AKA Katie Robleski
Hi Mari! Love your writing and your unique perspective on the world and life. I always look forward to your newsletters and the many insights they bring. Thank you for sharing your gifts with the world!
Hi Mari! Congrats on the move to Substack! I love your writing and reading through all these comments makes my heart feel so full, knowing that there is this lovely community of kindred spirits that you're nurturing. :) I'm a transnational millennial (born in Mumbai, grew up in Jakarta, moved to Iowa at 18, spent a hot second on the East Coast, and been in Chicago for the last 8 years) and I'm working through what it would mean to move yet again. A big question I'm sitting with: how do you balance a yearning for community and home and stability with an impatient heart that wants more from life and aches to grow in new ways?
Hi Mari....I just discovered your writing and am so glad I did. I moved to the Twin Cities a few months back to live near my son and his family and am about to leave for the winter in California with another branch of the family. I’m wondering a lot about becoming smaller, being less self-involved, taking up less space (figuratively) in order to allow more of the World in. My latest post on my Substack seventysomething ponders this question.
Hi Mari from Colombo, Sri Lanka :) Congratulations on the move! It seems timely because I am very anxious about an upcoming move too- to an entirely new country with my family- for the first time in my life, and am losing sleep over it. I have been a subscriber to your newsletter for a few months and it is my favourite. It's like a warm hug in e-form, and I want to thank you for that x
I always look forward to your newsletter in my inbox. Best wishes on your new direction- looking forward to seeing the new style content. It’s so important to find new ways to grow so well done!
I’m currently travelling around South East Asia after putting my work on hold. I’m blown away by how much has changed in my perspective and approach to life after just a few months. It has been a rollercoaster but in the best way.
I think I fell in love with a local guy in one of the destinations I spent time in, so I’m going back soon to explore whether there is something real between us. It’s the most soul inspired thing I think I’ve ever done. Given he lives on an island it feels crazy that I’m considering dropping my whole life for somebody who might be my forever person… we live in two very different worlds (income, lifestyles, cultures). Anyway I’m putting my situation out there in case anybody wants to weigh in 😆 x
Hi Mari! Congrats on the bigger-and-better step! I can't pay for now (un-officially-employed caretaker of special needs teen kids and 91yo mother) but I'm here for the content, as much as I can see. Things that are all up in my head (per your request for what's up with us): the pervasive creeping sense of a loss of control, as the pandemic persists and we are aging and I'm sandwiched between a fading parental unit and burgeoning but still very needy child-adults. I'm trying to meditate and find joy and at least for the last month, it's actually been bouncing from crisis to crisis and even when I take time to myself, it's empty, as opposed to refilling batteries. So yeah, I'm a ray of sunshine, aren't I? But that's were things stand here. Oh and if you could weigh in on friendships - I'm 57 and have patted myself on the back for maintaining friendships for decades, but my eyes are opening more (Trump, pandemic, life) about how poorly I've maintained them, really, and how in reality they don't fit current-me much at all. But there are not a lot of folks waiting in the wings to replace them. I'm less fun now, and I'm choosier. Not willing to put up with what I used to accept. Raising the bar. Fit your analogy here. Thanks for letting me ramble.
Hi, I’m from Singapore. I’m wondering if my food can stay in my stomach, if something can come out of my array of hobbies (my hobby is to have a hobby? Knit, garden, type, fountain pen… and then hoard hobbies…), if I can quiet my mind and sit with myself without being tired 🙏🏼
Hi Mari! Thank you for your wonderful weekly letters to us - I have loved reading about your unique take on life and its beautiful eccentricities, and feel you are such a relatable read! Congrats on this new adventure and I look forward to more Mari musings.
I'm a qualified immunologist who now teaches classical ballet for a living in Mumbai. My current mission in life is to explore my creativity deeply and express it authentically in every way that feels good to do. Reading your work sparks so many ideas for me and I'm really grateful that you put your work out there in an accessible way, as I hope to do too. Thank you and sending you love and light!
So excited to see you on Substack! Looking forward to the wonderings! Joining you from KCMO. I agree with EL Zeitgeist. My already delightful Substack inbox just got even better! 😍
Hi all! I'm Ariel (She/Hers/Her). I love Mari's work so much and I love reading her newsletter every week. I went to her Creating From The Soul Retreat at The Art of Living in Boone, NC in 2021 and I feel so grateful to have learned from her. I've always been a creative person! I'm based in NYC. Growing up, I was a violinist and I was the kid who begged her friends in elementary school to join the school newspaper and literary magazine. I started doing theatre, when I was eleven and starting taking dance classes and acting classes. These days, I'm still pursuing a performing career, while doing Social Media Management and Data Entry. I'm also a Freelance Writer and I mostly enjoy writing about Lifestyle, like Mari and Pop Culture. What matters to me right now is finding more joy in my day to day as I feel like I'm in a big transitional phase. I look forward to learning more about everyone!
Thank you for letting the light in! I came to a reading of yours in NYC years ago (Am I There Yet? era - your titles are now era-defining) and have been hooked ever since to your celestial musings. thank you for inviting us to your thanksgiving 💕I’m in London wondering about we humans can’t stop attaching moral weight to weather, why we can’t move away from the idea of predetermined destiny and be ok that things don’t happen for a reason, and why dogs sharing arrangements aren’t more of a thing.
I absolutely LOVE how you write. Your newsletters are a ray of sunshine and always make me think.
(written from dark, rainy London)
Hi Mari!
I've only just found you, and already you seem like a warm and interesting person. I can't afford a subscription yet, but I'll eagerly lap up every word I can read!
I'm a writer who lives in the forest of Northern Ontario (Canada). I write ssays, fantasy novels & short stories and 2 of my own 'Stacks.
(Fantastical Library & Brace Yourself)
and I often wonder how other writers decide what to write about, how I can better navigate my aging parents decline, what do cats think about and other off-the-wall stuff.
I look forward to reading all of your writing that I can.
Yay Mari! Always rooting for you! Your words are so powerful. I read every drop even the long ones 🙂
Mari! So delighted to come with you from the bulletins to this new space. I’m following along from Nashville.
I’ve been pondering lately-- what’s the best way to embrace the darkness that comes in the northern hemisphere this time of year, without letting it weigh you down? So far, I’ve been lighting a lot of candles.
MARI take all my money!!! I think it might've been just shy of 35 seconds between joyfully skimming this AMAZING NEWS and frantically grabbing my credit card. I've been dreaming about you slipping on over to Substack and now my world is allllllright. Welcome to the neighborhood, please this imaginary cheesy potato chip casserole, and I'm sure you'll find the perfect place for all your treasures and cat naps. xo ~AKA Katie Robleski
Hi Mari! Love your writing and your unique perspective on the world and life. I always look forward to your newsletters and the many insights they bring. Thank you for sharing your gifts with the world!
Hi Mari! Congrats on the move to Substack! I love your writing and reading through all these comments makes my heart feel so full, knowing that there is this lovely community of kindred spirits that you're nurturing. :) I'm a transnational millennial (born in Mumbai, grew up in Jakarta, moved to Iowa at 18, spent a hot second on the East Coast, and been in Chicago for the last 8 years) and I'm working through what it would mean to move yet again. A big question I'm sitting with: how do you balance a yearning for community and home and stability with an impatient heart that wants more from life and aches to grow in new ways?
Hi Mari....I just discovered your writing and am so glad I did. I moved to the Twin Cities a few months back to live near my son and his family and am about to leave for the winter in California with another branch of the family. I’m wondering a lot about becoming smaller, being less self-involved, taking up less space (figuratively) in order to allow more of the World in. My latest post on my Substack seventysomething ponders this question.
Hi Mari from Colombo, Sri Lanka :) Congratulations on the move! It seems timely because I am very anxious about an upcoming move too- to an entirely new country with my family- for the first time in my life, and am losing sleep over it. I have been a subscriber to your newsletter for a few months and it is my favourite. It's like a warm hug in e-form, and I want to thank you for that x
Hey Mari,
I always look forward to your newsletter in my inbox. Best wishes on your new direction- looking forward to seeing the new style content. It’s so important to find new ways to grow so well done!
I’m currently travelling around South East Asia after putting my work on hold. I’m blown away by how much has changed in my perspective and approach to life after just a few months. It has been a rollercoaster but in the best way.
I think I fell in love with a local guy in one of the destinations I spent time in, so I’m going back soon to explore whether there is something real between us. It’s the most soul inspired thing I think I’ve ever done. Given he lives on an island it feels crazy that I’m considering dropping my whole life for somebody who might be my forever person… we live in two very different worlds (income, lifestyles, cultures). Anyway I’m putting my situation out there in case anybody wants to weigh in 😆 x