This year more than before, we may not like getting colds.

Yin Chiao has been my go-to cold vanisher, miracle healer for over two decades. It just WORKS, esp. if you take it as soon as your body tells you that it ran into a cold virus (we need to learn these early on little messages)

I used to go to Chinatown to get it but now we can find it online or even some health food stores. Be sure to get it organic.

I’m excited to share it with you because it truly is one of my best resources.

And the timing, of course, is perfect because three years ago today I was arriving in Rome and feeling super sick (during my six months of travel, it seems that each time I got to a new location I would get a cold). I did not have my magic pills with me and endeavored to trek all over Rome to find a Chinese pharmacy! Thats how much I trust in the stuff.

It took metros and many streets and twists and turns to finally find it. So I had to reward myself with a cannolo from what I had read was one of the best pastry shops in the city. ❤️

Here you go - from my precious pharmacy to you.

note: I initially wrote this exclusively for my online HappyU community but then decided to share it more widely. For some good conversation, inspiration, as well as some of my best tips and tools, consider meeting me there. It’s free and it’s good.
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Almost 3 years ago, I was sitting in a van on our way to a refugee camp. When we arrived, the door opened and an impressive amount of people tumbled in.

Within seconds I was squeezed between the window and a large man. There may have been twenty of us in that van and I prepared myself for what I imagined could be a long and uncomfortable trip.

The door was barely shut that the man next to me turned in my direction, looked me in the eye and asked me my name. He told me that his name was Daniel and then asked me “what I believed in.”

Not where I was from, how old I was nor if I had kids.

What I believed in.

Whew.

The rest of the trip, which was less than thirty minutes, flew by as he proceeded to make sure I wasn’t giving him any light answers. While he shared his heart with me, he figuratively held my hand as I got closer and closer to my own truth - and thus shared my heart with him.

When we arrived, someone opened the van door and many bodies spilled out.

Daniel kissed my cheek goodbye (Congo and France apparently share this sweet practice) and I never saw him again.

These minutes of depth and intimate connection stuck with me. They are made especially vibrant by the contrast of the physical situation. Time was not “set aside” for us to have this conversation. Also, it existed all on its own with no past history and no vision of a joint future.

It stood alone, strong and powerful.

This is the kind of stuff that for me, makes life richly, deeply delicious.

Like a dark, sweetly fragrant crumbly compost that nourishes all it touches and invites us to grow deeper roots wherever we are.

The real thing. The most important.

Daniel, wherever you are today, I hope that you continue your sacred work and that Life is seeing you - and loving you back.

I love you.

I love you for where you’ve been.
For what you’ve tried.
For what you’ve built and what you’ve destroyed.
For the ways you’ve grown and the nights you’ve cried.
For your hunger and your hope.
Your laughter and your fears.

I love you for today.
Your ways, your smells, your sighs, your desilusions, your convictions and your chocolate chip cookies.
For your mind that keeps inventing and your hands that choose to keep up.
I love you for being, for surviving and for remembering. For forgetting, too.

I love you for tomorrow.
For making the decisions you don’t yet know have to be made.
For your feet in new sands and your lips on new words.
For your dance, your grace, your modesty and your boldness, your deep friendship with Life.
For what will be, which could only be because of your vow to live it.