🌑 Mid-summer defiance, mid-summer santosa 🌕 RN

 

Dear Ones,   It was a December night last year, and I was walking towards the terrace on the high, rocky coast of Sorrento, overlooking the pitch-dark sea.   I felt rising in my chest a sense of attraction towards that blue petrol void, that empty space, that unknown dimension. It was a strange and new feeling for me, and the attitude towards that dark nothingness, was of defiance, insolence, excitement. Like you would have had enough of the old ways, of the old fears, and finally decide to dive into them head first.    A few months later, all that you know happened. And that sensation of defiance in the face of unknown came back, then materialized in some shared, real, actual situation.    And now, in the middle of August – midsummer here in Italy – as a deep uncertainty still grabs us by the wrist, I keep taking all things as they come, with the same sense of irreverence, stubbornness. I’m open to new things, different things, or maybe the same old things, with a new twist.   These days I’m delving into Zen - having found some interesting books in the library of my uncle Jo. I'm reading a koan a day and bringing it with me throughout from dawn to dusk. I am still practicing my yoga and meditation, and sporadically having fun with a bo staff whenever I can find it. I’m finally learning some little things about sailing, after having hanged around dinghies on and off in my youth, and never been interested a slight bit to the technique. Until today.    As for my comics, this short and sweet episode of Fronn 'e Limon is set in the countryside, and takes of a different feeling from the one I have just described to you. This is santosa or santosha, and is part of the Eight Limbs of Yoga, and it roughly translates as contentment. It is particularly useful and life-enhancing during these times.   Here you have it:       A final update on the new episode of the new episode of Desire For Victory. I have just finished the English translation of the prequel, called “Virgin of the Rocks, Virgin of the Sand” (in Italian “Vince chi Dimentica: Vergine delle Rocce, Vergine della Rena). The book will be available internationally on Amazon  in September – keep checking your inbox and my instagram page for updates!   Yours Truly Red, Naima