Embrace Your Wild and Precious Life

I keep returning to Mary Oliver’s poem, The Summer Day. Especially that final question, many of us know by heart:

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

Estrella, my youngest child, opened her high school graduation speech with that line. Every time I revisit this poem, I’m reminded that life isn’t about doing more—it’s about being more present in the things we are doing, about paying attention to the world unfolding around us, like the grasshopper in the poem. It’s not about going on more elaborate adventures but about immersing ourselves in the ordinary moments that nourish us. 

Ms. Oliver, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, offers us a guide: slow down, do less, and do it more deeply. That’s the energy I’m carrying into midsummer.

But first, we need to ask a follow-up question: What would you like to explore more deeply?

For me, cooking is at the top of my list.

Yes, cooking provides my body with nourishment, and it serves as a vehicle for my environmental activism. But it is also a powerful teacher in the art of living. Cooking urges us to slow down and do less; otherwise, you’ll burn the rice (I’ve burned my share of food). 

Yesterday, I stepped away from the computer screen earlier than usual to work on dinner. It was my turn to host my writers’ group. On the menu was a homemade pesto inspired by the basil from the farmers’ market and dry-farmed walnuts I keep stored in a large Mason jar. I baked oatmeal pistachio, raisin cookies with orange zest. 

No rushing. 

I took out the ingredients one by one. I enjoyed the fragrance of fresh orange peel in the cookie dough, and the bright smell of basil as I plucked each deep green leaf off the stem. It was fine that I wasn’t finished with the cooking when the first writer arrived, or the second, and third… They participated in setting the table and assisted me with the final cooking tasks.

This summer, I’ll be doing the following more deeply:

• Cooking and gathering around the table with my family and friends
• Gardening
• Writing
• Deepening in favorite movements of Flamenco and yoga
• Learning and growing at Rio Farm, a Regenerative Farm owned and operated by the Rio Elementary School District (reply to this email if you want to volunteer)

I want your kitchen to make you feel at ease, each time you step into it.