Hello friends,
Much love to our Los Angeles brethren. Amidst the fragility of life in fire-prone regions and our collective grief, we still celebrate daily beauties. The simple pleasures that keep us going. I wrote this letter a week before Los Angeles caught fire, sipping tea a quiet morning before dawn. Can I still publish this? I now wonder. In the wake of such devastation, can we still enjoy our lives? Yes. We must. We can feel the deep dark feelings. Stretch out. Lie fallow. And, we must proceed. The seed coats that have melted from this fire will reveal shining seeds that one day sprout into something beautiful. But first, ashes. Take your time.
The Cottonwood (Populus spp.) buds are fat with hard resin, persisting through winter until spring’s solar radiance thaws them into dripping sacred resinous medicine. Baby Artemisia californica’s trident-tipped leafy fingers curl towards the sun. Elders (Sambucus spp.) are flowering and berrying, bees swooning, swarming, singing love-love-nectar-love to the azure infinite sky.
What signs of late winter or early spring do you see-hear-smell-feel-taste?
Spring comes early here in southern California1. Flowers, fruits, and the cutest baby leaves are out already. I’ve been documenting “Daily Beauty” through the darker colder months of December and January. Moodier weather makes me a moodier creature. My Daily Beauty lists and doodles have helped anchor me to the small miracles and micro-wonders of everyday’s profound mundane magnificence.
Make your own Daily Beauties list!
Open your journal to an empty 2-page spread. Draw a horizontal line across the center of the two pages. Then, draw a vertical line down the middle of each page. You now have 8 rectangles for 8 doodles— a grid for 8 days of Daily Beauty2.
Write on a different page than your grid. Each morning or night, write a stream-of-conscious list of Daily Beauties. For mornings, record yesterday’s beauties. For evenings, reflect on today’s beauties. These may be visual beauties (my current focus), or other sensory or experiential beauties.
What most struck you— in the moment, or while writing? If nothing leaps to mind, then read what you just wrote. Underline what moves you. Choose one beauty.
Doodle your top Beauty into one of the eight rectangles! Set a timer for ten minutes— draw for 10 minutes only. Keep it simple. Abstract shapes, colors, comics, and stick figures are all lovely. This is not gallery art; this is just for you to track, play— and turn recording beauty into a practice. In tracking beauty, we notice more beauty. The more we notice, the more we experience.
Keep going!
What are three beauties you notice around you right now?
Ventura Events
Come join us for two Ventura offerings this month!
Harmon Canyon Plant Walk with Ventura Land Trust, 2/9— Learn about the edible and medicinal properties, lore, and magic of plants as food, medicine, and kin. Hone sensory perception, learn plant family characteristics, and hangout with your human, botanical, and ecological local community! Free. Come hangout.
Seasonal Rhythms: Five Elements Lifestyle Medicine workshop with Lanny Kaufer, 2/23— Meet local medicinal plants on a plant walk with Lanny Kaufer, then explore the Five Elements of Chinese medicine with me via tea meditations, gentle movements, reflective journaling, and group discussion. Learn practices to rest, move, connect, nourish, and create in harmony with the seasons. 7 CEU for LAc
Fire Resources
Smoke, Fire & Stress Support Articles
Herbs for Fire Season Support, an old article (from me) that still holds true
Keeping our Bodies Healthy and our Spirits Strong in the Face of Fire, by Rosemary Gladstar
Smoke Inhalation and Herbal Medicine, by 7song
Herbs for Wildfire Smoke, by Rosalee de la Foret
Herbal Resilience: Nervines for the Apocalypse and Beyond, by Ingrid Bauer, MD
Podcast & Video Resources
Fire Care: Herbs for Lungs and Trauma video with jim mcdonald and Laura Ash
Herbs for Smoky Skies with Rosalee de la Foret on the HerbRally podcast, Part 1 and Part 2
Herbalism & Climate Change: Fires, on the Holistic Herbalism Podcast
How Herbalists Can Support Community Affected by Tragedy with Lupo Passero, on the HerbRally podcast
Ways to Support Communities Affected by LA Fires
LA Disaster Support Masterlist has abundant ideas
Mutual Aid list from Living Earth offers a more curated selection
Yo San University offers free clinics for affected folks, and ways for acupuncturists to get involved
Dream Center hosts emergency shelter for evacuees
CA Community Fund has a recovery fund for wildfire victims
Direct Relief provides medical resources to impacted communities
CA Fire Foundation provides resources to firefighters
Ema’s Herbs is offering free mini herb-kits for affected local folks, and I am also gathering herbal supplies for displaced folks in Ventura county. Please let me know other ways to serve! I am here to help.
❤️ May this be the best season of your life,
Jiling
Jiling Lin, L.Ac. • Acupuncturist, herbalist, artist • JilingLin.com
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this, then please
Hi! I’m Jiling, a Licensed Acupuncturist (L.Ac) and herbalist in Ventura, CA (USA). I provide integrative medicine and experiential education for thriving personal and ecological wellness with gentle acupuncture and herbs, accessible lifestyle medicine solutions, and empowering classes and retreats integrating nature, art, movement, and ritual. I’m writing my first book about these topics! Learn more about me here, join events here, get acupuncture here— and buy me a tea here if you wish (it’s my birthday). See you next month!
It’s planting time! Get organic medicinal seeds online from Richo at Strictly Medicinals. Ventura friends, join Lauren’s email newsletter for medicinal seedlings, check Ojai Valley Land Conservancy for a spring native plant sale soon, and find other Ventura resources here.
This Daily Beauties practice was inspired by one of Wendy MacNaughton’s Top 5 Drawing Exercises of 2024.
thank you, i needed these words today! 🤍