Choose the places and the people who make you shine

Choose the places and the people who make you shine ✨

Sometimes I scroll social media mindlessly, all of the pain and suffering humans inflict on each other makes me feel heart broken, anxious and apathetic.

But when I’m not doing that, I can’t believe just how beautiful this blue planet is and how lucky we are to be here.

Melibe Leonina (hooded nudibranchs) aggregate in huge numbers in the waters of British Columbia climbing (or swimming) onto kelp to catch tasty tidbits floating in the current with their oral hood. You can see this individual combing the water for its next meal.

I visited this aggregation on a perfect, sparkling winter day. The visibility was crisp (as was the 4°C water temp) the kelp was golden in the sunlight and these little non-binary, hermaphrodite sea slugs transformed into perfect prisms, refracting their rainbows into the Pacific Ocean.

If only humans could be better at reflecting rainbows towards each other.

I read this passage in a book and it really resonated with me about choosing the environment, the pursuit and the people you spend time with:

Think of how many times you’ve fallen in love down there…. It’s a place we shine. We’re the happiest in our lives. We’re vibrant. We’re just so full of life, and not only does that put you in the mood for love, it sets you up for it. People are really drawn to people who are shining, who feel so happy with where they are and who they are and what they’re doing and who they’re doing it with.
- Martha Clark, Breaking into the Current

• Not all of us can always choose where we get to be on this planet, but there are always pockets of beauty. Go to those places, spend time in them.

• Not all of us can choose who we spend time with, but when you can go to the people who reflect rainbows. Go to the people who reflect your shine and amplify it. Become somebody who reflects the light of others and amplifies it.