This October is our 6 month anniversary of launching The Parsley Way! We first want to thank our readers for their support and second to ask you—How do you engage with life?

We’ve been sharing our passionate enthusiasms with you and illustrating how we integrate them into the general fabric of our lives. I hope you’ve found some new ideas here, reconnected with practices gone fallow or begun noticing your surroundings with new eyes.

When you find a passion it delights your heart and you invest more than you realize. Time, effort, energy, you don’t notice the outlay until afterwards. It doesn’t matter if you are single minded or eclectic. You may be a purist preferring to specialize or enjoy variety. You may crave action or nesting, company or solitude. Maybe it depends on circumstances. However we get there it’s important to honor and nurture all aspects of ourselves.

In my community the premature loss this month of two women who each in their own way took on the role of civic leader has gotten me thinking about what it means to do my best work. I’m looking more closely to identify when it is I am whole-heartedly engaged. The good example of these women and others like them has long been my guide. They inspired me by their passionate engagement with supporting the educational and cultural life of all.

Finding mentors and supporters who lead and also draw out the participation of others is a key component for identifying your personal passion, your source of insight and inspiration. The thread of connection between learning and passing on knowledge, sitting together in meditation and sharing in activity, allows us all to touch the past and anticipate the future. It’s not only how we invest in ourselves, it’s how we weave the fabric of community.

Garnish with love
Savor the stillness
Give when you need

Collograph and Photos by Claire Mauro