April 8, 2025 • 29 mins
How might simplifying your focus create space for what truly matters to flourish in your life this spring?
A delightful spring energy infuses this conversation as co-host Omar Brownson shares his transformative experience with the Ubuntu Climate Initiative in South Carolina's Gullah Geechee lowcountry. His beautiful poem "Purple Sarongs" captures the essence of gathering on historically significant land where Dr. King dreamed his "I Have a Dream" speech—a powerful setting for visioning 150 years into our collective future.
The synchronicity of simplicity emerges as an unexpected through-line when co-host Belinda Liu reflects on her annual community spring equinox experience in Mount Shasta. She picked the simplicity card in the opening ritual when exploring the threads between money, resources and exchanging in community.
Dr. Paul Wang, our special guest for this season, illuminates Daoist cosmology's approach to seasonal change, explaining how April serves as an intentional transitional month and rite of passage towards flowering through the process of budding. This cycle is an ideal time for us to reconnect with our values and honor what's shifting within and around us. He describes spring's budding energy as concentrated potential—focused rather than dispersed—and offers a powerful three-step simplification process: 1) essentialize core values, 2) eliminate what doesn't align, and 3) embrace what remains by braiding it into unity.
When they collectively choose the Gratitude Blooming card represented by the Nasturtium flower with its theme of friendship, the conversation deepens around how self-friendship forms the foundation for authentic community connection. Omar visualizes this as a vessel—a "friendship" carrying us forward together through periods of growth and change. They reflect on how trust accelerates transformation, noting that "change moves at the speed of trust," and how the clearer we can envision possibilities beyond current challenges, the more effectively we can practice that world today.
Join us for our first Gratitude Blooming retreats in Mt. Shasta and on the Big Island. Use this promo code to get 20% off your retreat ticket >> BIGTHANKS
Whether you're seeking to navigate personal transitions, deepen your connection with natural cycles, or find community in uncertain times, our podcast and in-personal gatherings offer practical wisdom for concentrating your energy where it matters most.
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Create an intentional practice with your own Gratitude Blooming card deck, notecards, candle and much much more at our shop at www.gratitudeblooming.com.
Learn more about our co-hosts and special guest for Season 4:
Co-host Belinda Liu | Hestia Retreat Centers
Co-host Omar Brownson | Trickster's Guide to Immortality on Substack
Special Guest Dr. Paul Wang | The Dao Center
If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to leave us a 5-star rating and review. Your feedback is valuable to us and helps us grow.
Share your thoughts and comments by emailing us at hello@gratitudeblooming.com. We love hearing from our listeners!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Omar Brownson (00:06):
Hello Belinda.
Belinda Liu (00:09):
Hey Omar.
Omar Brownson (00:11):
I can't believe spring is already here.
It is in the air, and eventhough you and I didn't get to
celebrate the spring equinoxtogether, I feel like we were
both on the land and really kindof just tuning into this new
season.
Belinda Liu (00:31):
Yeah, it's funny to go from the dormancy of our
caves in the winter and nowwe're kind of fully into the
budding energy of spring and Ican't wait to hear from you what
emerged on your retreat.
Omar Brownson (00:46):
I'm so glad that we have a podcast so that we can
swap land story.
And you know I was in SouthCarolina with the Ubuntu Climate
Initiative and about 30movement leaders, wisdom guides,
creators, musicians, artists.
We were gathering in GullahGeechee Lowcountry Gullah
(01:09):
Geechee are theAfrican-Americans have been
there since almost right afterslavery, and so a lot of the
culture has been kept intact,and we really just had an
opportunity to reset andre-envision the next 150 years.
That was really the intentionof like how do we reimagine the
(01:31):
public comment 150 years fromnow?
And like what do we need to dotoday in order to make that
happen?
And then, on the flight back,this poem just emerged for me,
which I would love to share.
Belinda Liu (01:44):
Yes, please do, let's hear it.
Omar Brownson (01:47):
All right.
So the name of the poem iscalled Purple Sorongs and it
goes like this the elder foundher purpose around a fire,
feeling the spirits of change,in a circle of movement leaders,
wisdom guides and culturekeepers who, on the spring
(02:07):
equinox, accepted her call.
Ubuntu, she said.
I am because we are one all onhallowed ground of Gullah
Geechee low country, where DrKing dreamed an impossible dream
, where Harriet Tubman built adifferent kind of road, where we
now gathered, speaking intoexistence a seven generation on
(02:30):
the long horizon, where thecommons was not tragic but
sacred space and magic.
We knew this place was truebecause we shared sexy poems,
with purple sarongs hanging onlampshades and kisses flew on
the wings of freedom.
We knew this was more than afantasy because we filled our
(02:50):
bellies with fried fish, collard, green stewed, lima beans and,
of course, peach cobbler, thekind that warms your soul.
We knew this horizon waspossible because we sprinted
through designs, feeling intothe enoughness that breaks the
chains of fear, of scarcity, ofdoubting whether or not you
belong with your chosen kin inyour own skin.
(03:12):
All is not ease, making asocial disease obsolete.
My cup overflowed, overwhelmed,escaping to the sound of a hum.
The sea, island waters remindedme to ebb and flow.
To ebb and flow under the trees, dripping spanish moss.
(03:32):
A healer spoke prayers with aflower awash over my body.
Throat released the unsaid anda breath low and slow.
Low and slow guided me home.
Home is love, home is you, homeis Ubuntu.
Wholeness to wholeness.
We dared to practice, throughfull laughs and tired tears.
(03:54):
Emergence revealedinexhaustible abundance.
The oracle of simplicity calledus beyond sunsetting willpower
and ego depletion to a power ofregeneration of each one.
Teach one, one step at a time,gathering steam from a kind of
heartfelt presence thatsupersedes bounded overthinking
(04:15):
until the inevitable beloved isbelieved.
This was not a passing of thebaton.
This was the rising tide ofancestral, guided permission, of
mutuality.
On a Wow podcast on replay, soI could hear this a few more
times with your voice, omar, Imean you brought me back to a
(04:51):
couple things.
Belinda Liu (04:52):
One is, you know, most of my American cultural
experience was in.
North Carolina.
So just even the nourishmentthat you described it reminds me
a lot of my younger years inNorth Carolina and the food that
I learned to eat and love, andI also felt like there's a lot
of hope in the possibility ofwhat can come.
And right now in particular, itfeels like every day there's
(05:14):
some heaviness that's in the airand it feels almost impossible
to escape.
And in your poem, in yourexperience, it sounds like there
was light.
Omar Brownson (05:27):
I mean, it was pretty amazing to be on land,
literally I was sleeping stepsaway from where Dr King wrote
his I have a Dream speech andthis is one of the stops on the
Underground Railroad thatHarriet Tubman built.
And so it's just.
You feel that ancestral powerwhere people dream that
(05:47):
impossible dream and progresshas been made, even though you
know they were arguably incircumstances way worse than we
are in today.
Belinda Liu (05:56):
I'm curious for you what did you see when you
visioned out 150 years from now?
Omar Brownson (06:03):
You know I'm so focused on a farm in the next
few years and I think that youknow part of it was.
I just finished reading Parableof the Sowers by Octavia Butler
, which is so fortuitous becauseit takes place in this year of
2026.
And she talks about fires andshe talks about things falling
(06:26):
apart, and so you know it's thisjourney outward and you know, I
just got some books around likehow to identify edible wild
plants, how to sort of live andsurvive in the woods, and I
think there is some of that justreally knowing how to resource
ourselves more directly rightnow.
(06:48):
You know, I think that's what'sso interesting is that people
have this conversation aroundtariffs, which is really a
conversation around supply chain, which is really around a
conversation about, like, wheredo things come from?
And so I think, hopefully, inthat time period, we really know
where things come from, right,and there's like a deeper
(07:09):
connection to that.
Belinda Liu (07:11):
I love that how you frame things, Because I feel
like what's beautiful is we seethe world differently in similar
essences, but the words andwhat we use to frame that
reality is very different, andso I like that our listeners get
to hear different ways ofseeing and perceiving.
(07:31):
And it's interesting because Igot to sink back into the land
in Mount Shasta for the springequinox and community with Dr
Paul, our guest here on thepodcast, and it was just such a
beautiful reminder of.
You know, this is what ourancestors did for so long was
return back to the land togetherand honor these shifts in
(07:55):
nature and really kind of lookforward.
And I think our ancestors wereprobably more dependent on their
you, on their survival with theland.
And more recently I've beenkind of sitting with the
community around just what do weneed money for?
This is a tool to give us thephysical things that we need to
(08:20):
live well, and so what if westopped fixating on the numbers
game with money as the currencyand more like what do we need
the money to give us?
How can that shift, even subtly, how we exchange as a community
or even how we cultivate thingsfor the future.
So I love that you're on thefarm track because I'm very much
(08:43):
now a mother of 3,000 coffeeplants and trying to learn how
that works on the big island ofHawaii.
Because you know, what do I needmoney for?
It's that organic coffee.
So let me just go straight tothe coffee.
Omar Brownson (09:01):
Now definitely.
I can't wait for Hestia coffeeto be in the world.
Belinda Liu (09:06):
Well, before we go into our gratu blooming practice
of setting an intention andpicking a card, I'd love to hear
from you, Dr Paul, just alittle bit around this idea of
budding into the springtime.
Dr. Paul Wang (09:21):
Yeah, well, nature has this great diversity
right, but it doesn't getcomplicated because in a way,
quote unquote remembers thesimplicity which is a presence
of essence, it's an intelligence, let's say, that we can connect
to, and it's great that we havethe opportunity to do that
together, like Belinda or Omar,in our own ways on the land, as
(09:41):
a connection, a communion withthe great teacher that nature is
, and in the sort of naturalseasonal calendar that the
Chinese culture has observed formillennia.
We're here around April, whichis a transition month, so each
of the seasons are three months.
(10:02):
So each of the seasons arethree months and you could say
the first two are the polarityof the element of the season.
So, for instance, spring is yinand yang, wood as the main
symbol, which is sort of morelinear, one-dimensional,
sprouting, germinating, and thensummer is moving into another
(10:24):
dimension where the flowers kindof spread their petals more in
a planar rather than lineardimension, expansion, and so
that happens in the seasonalsort of the archetypal seasons
of may and june.
So that's coming up.
So we're here in thistransition and it's great that
this system builds in timing fortransition and then kind of
checking in what are the mainprinciples and values that you
want to reflect on from the lastseason and then also invoke for
(10:48):
the next season.
And I think simplicity is agreat one, because there's so
many sort of chaotic,complicated things happening in
the world.
So the image of spring is thatsprout and then the rite of
passage into flowerhood, if youwill, is that stage of a bud,
and the plant doesn't maybe knowwhat it's going to look like
(11:10):
yet, but it's concentrating,it's kind of focusing its energy
in these nodes, and so this isa good time for that.
Omar Brownson (11:29):
And I forgot that Dr Paul also pulled, or at
least spoke about simplicity inour Nagong class, which was also
on Monday.
So all three of us invoked, orwere invoked, simplicity,
invoked in us the same theme,which is pretty amazing to have
all three of us align aroundthis idea of simplicity.
And so, you know, I kind ofwonder, when we go to the grad
two booming card deck, now, whatdo we want to name in a way?
(11:54):
And I think you know I've beenthinking a lot lately about this
trickster voice that isemerging in me.
Or maybe, you know, am Iinvoking the tricksters, the
trickster invoking me?
I'm not quite sure, but I'vethought about it some more and I
think part of it is.
I have a great t-shirt thatsomeone bought me and I was like
, let me overthink this.
(12:15):
And so there's a part of me,you know, growing up, you know,
particularly with, I had afairly strict Asian American
uncle, who's mathematician, sovery logical, and he would
always tell me Omar, thinkbefore you talk, think before
you talk.
And so it like had this verylike admonishment tone on me and
so it sort of pulled me inward.
(12:37):
And then I have this other sideof me is like F it, let's just
do it Right.
And so the trickster is likecan I balance?
You know this tendency to maybeoveranalyze versus just like
jump all in, and so, naming thistransition, I'm wondering if
something is emerging for youtoo, for us to focus on.
Belinda Liu (13:00):
Well, I love this idea of rite of passage to focus
on.
I love this idea of rite ofpassage.
It's something in our culture,in Western culture, that we
don't really practice anymore,and to me it's like this idea of
honoring a bigger change that'shappening, and it feels like
the seasonal cycle.
I love that.
In Chinese cosmology, there isalways a month that is about
(13:22):
honoring the transition betweenseasons, and so it's like when I
feel into this idea of budding,which I'm starting to see on
the land in Mount Shasta, likeearly signs of things coming out
of the ground, breaking throughthe soil and connecting it with
simplicity, for me it's like,well, what is it?
How do I need to concentrate myenergy?
Which also means like what am Inot going to let pull me into
(13:47):
distraction or, you know,leaking energy and resources?
Because I feel like that's partof the thing that I'm balancing
.
Personally is I get, I fall inlove with ideas, and when I get
an idea, I sometimes think likeI should do it right now and I
lose the maturity of discernmentaround timing.
(14:07):
But when I imagine myself as abud, it's like, well, I can't be
budding like 50 millionbranches, it's got to be really
focused.
So yeah, that's what comes up.
How would you summarize thatintention, omar?
Omar Brownson (14:23):
That's what comes up.
How would you summarize thatintention, omar?
Well, I think we'll just saybecause this season is really
about wayfinding.
And so what are the buds tryingto tell us as a lesson for
transitions?
Seven rows, six columns.
(14:45):
You want to give me a number ortell me?
Belinda Liu (14:48):
I think dr paul should pick for us okay, let's
stop at that row.
Dr. Paul Wang (14:53):
I'm not sure, okay, and then let's do the
fifth card left to right.
Omar Brownson (14:59):
Yeah, that one okay, let's see what nature has
to say.
Card number 32 the nasturtium.
And so when arlene the artistillustrated this nasturtium, the
word friendship came to her andthe prompt is think of a
friendship you cherish.
(15:20):
What makes that friendship sospecial to you?
And and we're looking at, youknow, if you ever noticed, in
nasturtium they're kind of likespread out, they like to kind of
like follow the land and thattheir leaves are as prominent,
if not more prominent, than theflowers, and so there's probably
like eight or so big kind oflily pad, almost type leaves and
(15:42):
only like three little flowerswhich are a little peppery too.
So as you look at this flower,the nasturtium, and this theme
of friendship, anything come upfor you as you think about these
periods of transition and whatto pay attention to.
Attention to.
Belinda Liu (16:04):
Well, it's interesting because I feel like
we picked this card prettyrecently.
I'm like really remembering thegraphics for this, so it's very
recent and it's interesting thatit's repeating itself.
So I always find that that is aclue as well, like, hey, let's
not move on to the next themetoo soon, like let's really sit
with a theme for longer, which Ifeel like is about that kind of
(16:27):
honoring of transition.
And what it makes me immediatelythink of is someone who came on
our retreat this past week whokept pulling this card in our
circle for springtime, intentionsetting in the heart, the grove
of the heart chakra on our land.
She picked this card and so Ithink of her and her journey and
(16:50):
she ultimately realized thatthis card was about self-love
and self-friendship first, right, and then, you know, extending
that to other people.
And so it makes me think ofalso that delicate balance of
like, when we're in a growthspurt or budding into flowering,
it really does take a reallydeep friendship with our bodies,
(17:14):
with ourselves, with all theparts of us, us.
Like how do we like love andnurture that in order to blossom
?
And then also, then, if we'rekind of well resourced and
taking care of ourselves howmuch more we can be in good
relationship with others.
So it's kind of an interestingreciprocity card for me in this
(17:36):
moment.
Omar Brownson (17:37):
Yeah, I'm appreciating this idea that
change moves at the speed oftrust and gathering on the land
with these almost 30 people.
There was one person actually,adiel, who we've been
collaborating with for GratitudeBlooming, who I've known online
(17:58):
for I don't know three yearsthis was the first time meeting
her in person and then a fewother folks who I've only really
experienced online.
I'm now actually getting tomeet in person and so I'm
appreciating how much trust canget built and then, when that
(18:20):
trust gets built, how much easethere is in moving things
forward.
And I'm just thinking about thethree of us, right that we've
now been collaborating togetherfor long enough.
Now that we all pull the samecard on the same day in three
different places, I don't youknow.
I feel like there's somethingthere.
Belinda Liu (18:47):
Yeah, and that we're bringing these old
lineages from our culture intothe world.
That feels also very important.
Dr Paul, what's coming up foryou as you sit with all of these
nutrients?
Dr. Paul Wang (18:58):
I go back to the simplify, simplification and
friendship, I think is areminder of that Life can just
be so simple if you just focuson these values of trust and
relating and we make it socomplicated.
And the way I plug infriendship as a value, my
(19:19):
simplification process is kindof three steps.
Friendship as a value mysimplification process is kind
of three steps one is toessentialize and then to
eliminate and then to to embraceor integrate.
So some people maybe just startby cutting out things, the
eliminate process.
But I have a pre step one whichis essentialized, like what are
my essential values that I wantto presence right, otherwise
(19:41):
you might accidentally throw outthe baby with the bathwater,
right?
So what is the baby?
What is the baby?
Right?
Identify that first.
Essentialize according to firstprinciples, and I think
friendship is a great one toplug into this.
Three steps and then it helpsyou eliminate okay, situations
or time or relationships thatdon't build friendships.
(20:02):
Let me just eliminate, let mecut them out, right, and then
embrace is basically integrate.
Let's say what remains is threevariables.
Can I, the third step ofsimplification, make it simpler?
Can I, can I braid themtogether into more, more unity,
so that?
So I going to use friendship asmy main meme.
(20:24):
To simplify the next let's saynext season, especially as in my
personal life, I'm trying tobuild a center where it'll be a
sacred space where we cancultivate alchemy and art and
music and community together, soyeah, and generate hopefully a
lot more friendships.
Omar Brownson (20:43):
Yeah, when you said it, like immediately, I
just had this visualization of aship, right, like what is that
space we're like?
We want to be together, youknow, and I feel like, at least
for me, I'm finding myself inspaces where my networks are
(21:03):
networking and so the ship isgetting bigger, right, or maybe
we're now moving to a fleet orsomething like that, because,
you know, we had the UbuntuClimate Initiative, we had the
collective acceleration with,you know, norma Wong.
We had the Resonance Network.
We had met someone who was atCommonweal, where I serve on the
(21:24):
board of Commonweal and he runsone of the programs there and
I'd never met him and all of asudden we found that we had that
connection together, and sothere is this sort of beautiful
web that I feel like no one'sforcing these relationships
right.
People want to find each other.
I've been I think I evenmight've said this on the last
(21:45):
podcast where, like, I'mobsessed with this song and Mac
Miller and it was like what I'mlooking for is looking for me,
and I feel like maybe theclearer we are at what are we
looking for, then it's easierfor that to look for us.
And so, with this wayfindingseason, when we can be clear
like, okay, I'm looking for atransition, then it's easier to
(22:06):
make this transition.
And I think you know what yousaid, dr Paul, about
essentialize, you know, and theneliminate, and then we can
embrace.
You know, that's just apowerful way to really kind of
be clear on what are we payingattention to.
Belinda Liu (22:21):
So with that I'm curious.
You know, I kind of also feellike there's a pick, our own
adventure aspect to gratitudeblooming.
So in the past we've, you know,listened to the song of the
theme.
I believe we have played thefriendship song.
So we could continue to deepeninto that practice.
Or we could have Dr Paul offerus a seasonal practice to help
(22:44):
us kind of create our own riteof passage going into our
budding cycle.
So I'm curious if any of youhave a calling that you're drawn
to.
Omar Brownson (22:55):
I feel like maybe we pick a song but Dr Paul give
us something that we can focuson as we listen to that song.
Dr. Paul Wang (23:07):
Yeah, let's use the bud.
I love the space.
You said the ship, and maybe inthat bud you can imagine it
instead of a spaceship there's afriendship, and especially an
inner friendship, like what doyou want to include, what's the
field of energy that you want toinclude or the value that you
want to to generate?
so, as we listen to the song,kind of close the pedals, uh and
(23:28):
, and sort of ravel rather thanunravel for all rather than
unfurl, go in for a moment andmaybe, for you know, say a few
breaths, three breaths, fivebreaths, ten breaths, and really
just contact that, maybe inyour heart space, what is that
essential principle value thatyou want to?
Then, maybe at the end of thesong, then open your eyes and
see with in this transition?
Omar Brownson (24:37):
Thank you, and again, just the appreciation for
Ariel Lowe for creating thissong for us.
Belinda Liu (24:45):
I really appreciate this invitation to imagine the
bud kind of closing and beinganchored into my heart.
And it wasn't until the veryend of the song that I got a
word which is unity andcommunity, got a word which is
(25:08):
unity and community, and it doesfeel like this is my season of
coming out of hermitage andreally tending to the
relationships that are reallyimportant.
And then also, just how do westart creating that new way of
living and exchanging andco-creating together?
Dr. Paul Wang (25:24):
Thank you.
I felt into the buddingrelationships that are going to
unfurl and the image I had issometimes what keeps us tight in
those buds is fear of beingseen, fear of our potential
being actualized or makingmistakes or looking stupid.
But when one of us sort ofripens and allows that kind of
(25:47):
overflowing of heart energy anddares to expand, it encourages,
I think, others to do so as well.
So I look forward to that kindof synergy unfolding.
Omar Brownson (25:58):
You know when you talk about budding.
I've got two budding teenagedaughters at home, one of whom
my youngest, kenzie, is 14 yearsold.
Norma Wong, who's been a guestat Zen Master, has a new book
release when no Thing Works.
She did a book reading here inLos Angeles.
(26:19):
I brought my 14-year-olddaughter with me and Norma
talked about this long horizon,this 150-year arc, and the
clearer we can see what ispossible beyond what's
collapsing around us, the easierit is for us to practice that
world.
(26:39):
Today, and Kenzie afterwards,she's like Dad.
I want to read this book.
What she said makes so muchsense to me.
We need some distance tosometimes see things more
clearly, and so I justappreciate that budding wisdom
in our next generation.
Belinda Liu (26:58):
And I look forward to all of these different touch
points that people can have withus moving forward.
I love that we are practicingthis way of connecting on land.
Omar and I will be offering aMay Memorial Weekend retreat in
Mount Shasta for three nights toreally practice what it means
(27:21):
to be in self and communityfriendship, and we'll be
gathering on the Big Island inOctober to do a similar
gathering, but with a differentseason of fall harvest.
And we also have our onlineexperience that's starting at
the end of this month and March30th, really going into the
(27:45):
seasonal alchemy of spirit andemotion and physical and mental
well-being.
So we look forward to gatheringthere online.
And, omar, where can peoplefind you on Substack these days?
Omar (28:03):
Trickstersguidesubstackcom , and I really appreciate all
the different ways that we'regetting to express ourselves,
because I think that's reallysort of the beauty is that when
we can bring the wisdom of themind with the beauty of the
heart, then that sort of fullpotential that's within us that
you said, paul can reallyblossom.
And I feel like it'sappropriate.
(28:25):
I'm wearing my Norma Wongt-shirt, which is be a good
ancestor, and I feel like that'skind of all that we can try to
do is be a good ancestor.
Belinda Liu (28:36):
That's amazing.
And one more plug for thosepeople that are in the Bay Area
go visit Paul at his new centerfor art and healing.
Where can we find you there,paul?
Dr. Paul Wang (28:49):
Go to daocentercom.
I'll have the information there.
Yeah, thank you.
Omar Brownson (28:53):
And Belinda, you got any new offerings for us
with Hestia?
Belinda Liu (28:58):
Well, we're always available for people to come for
a week on sabbatical in any ofour lands in Mount Shasta and
Big Island, and if you'relooking for a place to host your
family reunion or group retreat, come on over to Hestiamagiccom
H-E-S-T-I-A-M-A-G-I-Ccom.
So we'll put all of those notesin our episode show notes and,
(29:25):
wishing everyone well in theirspringtime budding, cheers,
cheers, thank you.
Hello Belinda.
Belinda Liu (00:09):
Hey Omar.
Omar Brownson (00:11):
I can't believe spring is already here.
It is in the air, and eventhough you and I didn't get to
celebrate the spring equinoxtogether, I feel like we were
both on the land and really kindof just tuning into this new
season.
Belinda Liu (00:31):
Yeah, it's funny to go from the dormancy of our
caves in the winter and nowwe're kind of fully into the
budding energy of spring and Ican't wait to hear from you what
emerged on your retreat.
Omar Brownson (00:46):
I'm so glad that we have a podcast so that we can
swap land story.
And you know I was in SouthCarolina with the Ubuntu Climate
Initiative and about 30movement leaders, wisdom guides,
creators, musicians, artists.
We were gathering in GullahGeechee Lowcountry Gullah
(01:09):
Geechee are theAfrican-Americans have been
there since almost right afterslavery, and so a lot of the
culture has been kept intact,and we really just had an
opportunity to reset andre-envision the next 150 years.
That was really the intentionof like how do we reimagine the
(01:31):
public comment 150 years fromnow?
And like what do we need to dotoday in order to make that
happen?
And then, on the flight back,this poem just emerged for me,
which I would love to share.
Belinda Liu (01:44):
Yes, please do, let's hear it.
Omar Brownson (01:47):
All right.
So the name of the poem iscalled Purple Sorongs and it
goes like this the elder foundher purpose around a fire,
feeling the spirits of change,in a circle of movement leaders,
wisdom guides and culturekeepers who, on the spring
(02:07):
equinox, accepted her call.
Ubuntu, she said.
I am because we are one all onhallowed ground of Gullah
Geechee low country, where DrKing dreamed an impossible dream
, where Harriet Tubman built adifferent kind of road, where we
now gathered, speaking intoexistence a seven generation on
(02:30):
the long horizon, where thecommons was not tragic but
sacred space and magic.
We knew this place was truebecause we shared sexy poems,
with purple sarongs hanging onlampshades and kisses flew on
the wings of freedom.
We knew this was more than afantasy because we filled our
(02:50):
bellies with fried fish, collard, green stewed, lima beans and,
of course, peach cobbler, thekind that warms your soul.
We knew this horizon waspossible because we sprinted
through designs, feeling intothe enoughness that breaks the
chains of fear, of scarcity, ofdoubting whether or not you
belong with your chosen kin inyour own skin.
(03:12):
All is not ease, making asocial disease obsolete.
My cup overflowed, overwhelmed,escaping to the sound of a hum.
The sea, island waters remindedme to ebb and flow.
To ebb and flow under the trees, dripping spanish moss.
(03:32):
A healer spoke prayers with aflower awash over my body.
Throat released the unsaid anda breath low and slow.
Low and slow guided me home.
Home is love, home is you, homeis Ubuntu.
Wholeness to wholeness.
We dared to practice, throughfull laughs and tired tears.
(03:54):
Emergence revealedinexhaustible abundance.
The oracle of simplicity calledus beyond sunsetting willpower
and ego depletion to a power ofregeneration of each one.
Teach one, one step at a time,gathering steam from a kind of
heartfelt presence thatsupersedes bounded overthinking
(04:15):
until the inevitable beloved isbelieved.
This was not a passing of thebaton.
This was the rising tide ofancestral, guided permission, of
mutuality.
On a Wow podcast on replay, soI could hear this a few more
times with your voice, omar, Imean you brought me back to a
(04:51):
couple things.
Belinda Liu (04:52):
One is, you know, most of my American cultural
experience was in.
North Carolina.
So just even the nourishmentthat you described it reminds me
a lot of my younger years inNorth Carolina and the food that
I learned to eat and love, andI also felt like there's a lot
of hope in the possibility ofwhat can come.
And right now in particular, itfeels like every day there's
(05:14):
some heaviness that's in the airand it feels almost impossible
to escape.
And in your poem, in yourexperience, it sounds like there
was light.
Omar Brownson (05:27):
I mean, it was pretty amazing to be on land,
literally I was sleeping stepsaway from where Dr King wrote
his I have a Dream speech andthis is one of the stops on the
Underground Railroad thatHarriet Tubman built.
And so it's just.
You feel that ancestral powerwhere people dream that
(05:47):
impossible dream and progresshas been made, even though you
know they were arguably incircumstances way worse than we
are in today.
Belinda Liu (05:56):
I'm curious for you what did you see when you
visioned out 150 years from now?
Omar Brownson (06:03):
You know I'm so focused on a farm in the next
few years and I think that youknow part of it was.
I just finished reading Parableof the Sowers by Octavia Butler
, which is so fortuitous becauseit takes place in this year of
2026.
And she talks about fires andshe talks about things falling
(06:26):
apart, and so you know it's thisjourney outward and you know, I
just got some books around likehow to identify edible wild
plants, how to sort of live andsurvive in the woods, and I
think there is some of that justreally knowing how to resource
ourselves more directly rightnow.
(06:48):
You know, I think that's what'sso interesting is that people
have this conversation aroundtariffs, which is really a
conversation around supply chain, which is really around a
conversation about, like, wheredo things come from?
And so I think, hopefully, inthat time period, we really know
where things come from, right,and there's like a deeper
(07:09):
connection to that.
Belinda Liu (07:11):
I love that how you frame things, Because I feel
like what's beautiful is we seethe world differently in similar
essences, but the words andwhat we use to frame that
reality is very different, andso I like that our listeners get
to hear different ways ofseeing and perceiving.
(07:31):
And it's interesting because Igot to sink back into the land
in Mount Shasta for the springequinox and community with Dr
Paul, our guest here on thepodcast, and it was just such a
beautiful reminder of.
You know, this is what ourancestors did for so long was
return back to the land togetherand honor these shifts in
(07:55):
nature and really kind of lookforward.
And I think our ancestors wereprobably more dependent on their
you, on their survival with theland.
And more recently I've beenkind of sitting with the
community around just what do weneed money for?
This is a tool to give us thephysical things that we need to
(08:20):
live well, and so what if westopped fixating on the numbers
game with money as the currencyand more like what do we need
the money to give us?
How can that shift, even subtly, how we exchange as a community
or even how we cultivate thingsfor the future.
So I love that you're on thefarm track because I'm very much
(08:43):
now a mother of 3,000 coffeeplants and trying to learn how
that works on the big island ofHawaii.
Because you know, what do I needmoney for?
It's that organic coffee.
So let me just go straight tothe coffee.
Omar Brownson (09:01):
Now definitely.
I can't wait for Hestia coffeeto be in the world.
Belinda Liu (09:06):
Well, before we go into our gratu blooming practice
of setting an intention andpicking a card, I'd love to hear
from you, Dr Paul, just alittle bit around this idea of
budding into the springtime.
Dr. Paul Wang (09:21):
Yeah, well, nature has this great diversity
right, but it doesn't getcomplicated because in a way,
quote unquote remembers thesimplicity which is a presence
of essence, it's an intelligence, let's say, that we can connect
to, and it's great that we havethe opportunity to do that
together, like Belinda or Omar,in our own ways on the land, as
(09:41):
a connection, a communion withthe great teacher that nature is
, and in the sort of naturalseasonal calendar that the
Chinese culture has observed formillennia.
We're here around April, whichis a transition month, so each
of the seasons are three months.
(10:02):
So each of the seasons arethree months and you could say
the first two are the polarityof the element of the season.
So, for instance, spring is yinand yang, wood as the main
symbol, which is sort of morelinear, one-dimensional,
sprouting, germinating, and thensummer is moving into another
(10:24):
dimension where the flowers kindof spread their petals more in
a planar rather than lineardimension, expansion, and so
that happens in the seasonalsort of the archetypal seasons
of may and june.
So that's coming up.
So we're here in thistransition and it's great that
this system builds in timing fortransition and then kind of
checking in what are the mainprinciples and values that you
want to reflect on from the lastseason and then also invoke for
(10:48):
the next season.
And I think simplicity is agreat one, because there's so
many sort of chaotic,complicated things happening in
the world.
So the image of spring is thatsprout and then the rite of
passage into flowerhood, if youwill, is that stage of a bud,
and the plant doesn't maybe knowwhat it's going to look like
(11:10):
yet, but it's concentrating,it's kind of focusing its energy
in these nodes, and so this isa good time for that.
Omar Brownson (11:29):
And I forgot that Dr Paul also pulled, or at
least spoke about simplicity inour Nagong class, which was also
on Monday.
So all three of us invoked, orwere invoked, simplicity,
invoked in us the same theme,which is pretty amazing to have
all three of us align aroundthis idea of simplicity.
And so, you know, I kind ofwonder, when we go to the grad
two booming card deck, now, whatdo we want to name in a way?
(11:54):
And I think you know I've beenthinking a lot lately about this
trickster voice that isemerging in me.
Or maybe, you know, am Iinvoking the tricksters, the
trickster invoking me?
I'm not quite sure, but I'vethought about it some more and I
think part of it is.
I have a great t-shirt thatsomeone bought me and I was like
, let me overthink this.
(12:15):
And so there's a part of me,you know, growing up, you know,
particularly with, I had afairly strict Asian American
uncle, who's mathematician, sovery logical, and he would
always tell me Omar, thinkbefore you talk, think before
you talk.
And so it like had this verylike admonishment tone on me and
so it sort of pulled me inward.
(12:37):
And then I have this other sideof me is like F it, let's just
do it Right.
And so the trickster is likecan I balance?
You know this tendency to maybeoveranalyze versus just like
jump all in, and so, naming thistransition, I'm wondering if
something is emerging for youtoo, for us to focus on.
Belinda Liu (13:00):
Well, I love this idea of rite of passage to focus
on.
I love this idea of rite ofpassage.
It's something in our culture,in Western culture, that we
don't really practice anymore,and to me it's like this idea of
honoring a bigger change that'shappening, and it feels like
the seasonal cycle.
I love that.
In Chinese cosmology, there isalways a month that is about
(13:22):
honoring the transition betweenseasons, and so it's like when I
feel into this idea of budding,which I'm starting to see on
the land in Mount Shasta, likeearly signs of things coming out
of the ground, breaking throughthe soil and connecting it with
simplicity, for me it's like,well, what is it?
How do I need to concentrate myenergy?
Which also means like what am Inot going to let pull me into
(13:47):
distraction or, you know,leaking energy and resources?
Because I feel like that's partof the thing that I'm balancing
.
Personally is I get, I fall inlove with ideas, and when I get
an idea, I sometimes think likeI should do it right now and I
lose the maturity of discernmentaround timing.
(14:07):
But when I imagine myself as abud, it's like, well, I can't be
budding like 50 millionbranches, it's got to be really
focused.
So yeah, that's what comes up.
How would you summarize thatintention, omar?
Omar Brownson (14:23):
That's what comes up.
How would you summarize thatintention, omar?
Well, I think we'll just saybecause this season is really
about wayfinding.
And so what are the buds tryingto tell us as a lesson for
transitions?
Seven rows, six columns.
(14:45):
You want to give me a number ortell me?
Belinda Liu (14:48):
I think dr paul should pick for us okay, let's
stop at that row.
Dr. Paul Wang (14:53):
I'm not sure, okay, and then let's do the
fifth card left to right.
Omar Brownson (14:59):
Yeah, that one okay, let's see what nature has
to say.
Card number 32 the nasturtium.
And so when arlene the artistillustrated this nasturtium, the
word friendship came to her andthe prompt is think of a
friendship you cherish.
(15:20):
What makes that friendship sospecial to you?
And and we're looking at, youknow, if you ever noticed, in
nasturtium they're kind of likespread out, they like to kind of
like follow the land and thattheir leaves are as prominent,
if not more prominent, than theflowers, and so there's probably
like eight or so big kind oflily pad, almost type leaves and
(15:42):
only like three little flowerswhich are a little peppery too.
So as you look at this flower,the nasturtium, and this theme
of friendship, anything come upfor you as you think about these
periods of transition and whatto pay attention to.
Attention to.
Belinda Liu (16:04):
Well, it's interesting because I feel like
we picked this card prettyrecently.
I'm like really remembering thegraphics for this, so it's very
recent and it's interesting thatit's repeating itself.
So I always find that that is aclue as well, like, hey, let's
not move on to the next themetoo soon, like let's really sit
with a theme for longer, which Ifeel like is about that kind of
(16:27):
honoring of transition.
And what it makes me immediatelythink of is someone who came on
our retreat this past week whokept pulling this card in our
circle for springtime, intentionsetting in the heart, the grove
of the heart chakra on our land.
She picked this card and so Ithink of her and her journey and
(16:50):
she ultimately realized thatthis card was about self-love
and self-friendship first, right, and then, you know, extending
that to other people.
And so it makes me think ofalso that delicate balance of
like, when we're in a growthspurt or budding into flowering,
it really does take a reallydeep friendship with our bodies,
(17:14):
with ourselves, with all theparts of us, us.
Like how do we like love andnurture that in order to blossom
?
And then also, then, if we'rekind of well resourced and
taking care of ourselves howmuch more we can be in good
relationship with others.
So it's kind of an interestingreciprocity card for me in this
(17:36):
moment.
Omar Brownson (17:37):
Yeah, I'm appreciating this idea that
change moves at the speed oftrust and gathering on the land
with these almost 30 people.
There was one person actually,adiel, who we've been
collaborating with for GratitudeBlooming, who I've known online
(17:58):
for I don't know three yearsthis was the first time meeting
her in person and then a fewother folks who I've only really
experienced online.
I'm now actually getting tomeet in person and so I'm
appreciating how much trust canget built and then, when that
(18:20):
trust gets built, how much easethere is in moving things
forward.
And I'm just thinking about thethree of us, right that we've
now been collaborating togetherfor long enough.
Now that we all pull the samecard on the same day in three
different places, I don't youknow.
I feel like there's somethingthere.
Belinda Liu (18:47):
Yeah, and that we're bringing these old
lineages from our culture intothe world.
That feels also very important.
Dr Paul, what's coming up foryou as you sit with all of these
nutrients?
Dr. Paul Wang (18:58):
I go back to the simplify, simplification and
friendship, I think is areminder of that Life can just
be so simple if you just focuson these values of trust and
relating and we make it socomplicated.
And the way I plug infriendship as a value, my
(19:19):
simplification process is kindof three steps.
Friendship as a value mysimplification process is kind
of three steps one is toessentialize and then to
eliminate and then to to embraceor integrate.
So some people maybe just startby cutting out things, the
eliminate process.
But I have a pre step one whichis essentialized, like what are
my essential values that I wantto presence right, otherwise
(19:41):
you might accidentally throw outthe baby with the bathwater,
right?
So what is the baby?
What is the baby?
Right?
Identify that first.
Essentialize according to firstprinciples, and I think
friendship is a great one toplug into this.
Three steps and then it helpsyou eliminate okay, situations
or time or relationships thatdon't build friendships.
(20:02):
Let me just eliminate, let mecut them out, right, and then
embrace is basically integrate.
Let's say what remains is threevariables.
Can I, the third step ofsimplification, make it simpler?
Can I, can I braid themtogether into more, more unity,
so that?
So I going to use friendship asmy main meme.
(20:24):
To simplify the next let's saynext season, especially as in my
personal life, I'm trying tobuild a center where it'll be a
sacred space where we cancultivate alchemy and art and
music and community together, soyeah, and generate hopefully a
lot more friendships.
Omar Brownson (20:43):
Yeah, when you said it, like immediately, I
just had this visualization of aship, right, like what is that
space we're like?
We want to be together, youknow, and I feel like, at least
for me, I'm finding myself inspaces where my networks are
(21:03):
networking and so the ship isgetting bigger, right, or maybe
we're now moving to a fleet orsomething like that, because,
you know, we had the UbuntuClimate Initiative, we had the
collective acceleration with,you know, norma Wong.
We had the Resonance Network.
We had met someone who was atCommonweal, where I serve on the
(21:24):
board of Commonweal and he runsone of the programs there and
I'd never met him and all of asudden we found that we had that
connection together, and sothere is this sort of beautiful
web that I feel like no one'sforcing these relationships
right.
People want to find each other.
I've been I think I evenmight've said this on the last
(21:45):
podcast where, like, I'mobsessed with this song and Mac
Miller and it was like what I'mlooking for is looking for me,
and I feel like maybe theclearer we are at what are we
looking for, then it's easierfor that to look for us.
And so, with this wayfindingseason, when we can be clear
like, okay, I'm looking for atransition, then it's easier to
(22:06):
make this transition.
And I think you know what yousaid, dr Paul, about
essentialize, you know, and theneliminate, and then we can
embrace.
You know, that's just apowerful way to really kind of
be clear on what are we payingattention to.
Belinda Liu (22:21):
So with that I'm curious.
You know, I kind of also feellike there's a pick, our own
adventure aspect to gratitudeblooming.
So in the past we've, you know,listened to the song of the
theme.
I believe we have played thefriendship song.
So we could continue to deepeninto that practice.
Or we could have Dr Paul offerus a seasonal practice to help
(22:44):
us kind of create our own riteof passage going into our
budding cycle.
So I'm curious if any of youhave a calling that you're drawn
to.
Omar Brownson (22:55):
I feel like maybe we pick a song but Dr Paul give
us something that we can focuson as we listen to that song.
Dr. Paul Wang (23:07):
Yeah, let's use the bud.
I love the space.
You said the ship, and maybe inthat bud you can imagine it
instead of a spaceship there's afriendship, and especially an
inner friendship, like what doyou want to include, what's the
field of energy that you want toinclude or the value that you
want to to generate?
so, as we listen to the song,kind of close the pedals, uh and
(23:28):
, and sort of ravel rather thanunravel for all rather than
unfurl, go in for a moment andmaybe, for you know, say a few
breaths, three breaths, fivebreaths, ten breaths, and really
just contact that, maybe inyour heart space, what is that
essential principle value thatyou want to?
Then, maybe at the end of thesong, then open your eyes and
see with in this transition?
Omar Brownson (24:37):
Thank you, and again, just the appreciation for
Ariel Lowe for creating thissong for us.
Belinda Liu (24:45):
I really appreciate this invitation to imagine the
bud kind of closing and beinganchored into my heart.
And it wasn't until the veryend of the song that I got a
word which is unity andcommunity, got a word which is
(25:08):
unity and community, and it doesfeel like this is my season of
coming out of hermitage andreally tending to the
relationships that are reallyimportant.
And then also, just how do westart creating that new way of
living and exchanging andco-creating together?
Dr. Paul Wang (25:24):
Thank you.
I felt into the buddingrelationships that are going to
unfurl and the image I had issometimes what keeps us tight in
those buds is fear of beingseen, fear of our potential
being actualized or makingmistakes or looking stupid.
But when one of us sort ofripens and allows that kind of
(25:47):
overflowing of heart energy anddares to expand, it encourages,
I think, others to do so as well.
So I look forward to that kindof synergy unfolding.
Omar Brownson (25:58):
You know when you talk about budding.
I've got two budding teenagedaughters at home, one of whom
my youngest, kenzie, is 14 yearsold.
Norma Wong, who's been a guestat Zen Master, has a new book
release when no Thing Works.
She did a book reading here inLos Angeles.
(26:19):
I brought my 14-year-olddaughter with me and Norma
talked about this long horizon,this 150-year arc, and the
clearer we can see what ispossible beyond what's
collapsing around us, the easierit is for us to practice that
world.
(26:39):
Today, and Kenzie afterwards,she's like Dad.
I want to read this book.
What she said makes so muchsense to me.
We need some distance tosometimes see things more
clearly, and so I justappreciate that budding wisdom
in our next generation.
Belinda Liu (26:58):
And I look forward to all of these different touch
points that people can have withus moving forward.
I love that we are practicingthis way of connecting on land.
Omar and I will be offering aMay Memorial Weekend retreat in
Mount Shasta for three nights toreally practice what it means
(27:21):
to be in self and communityfriendship, and we'll be
gathering on the Big Island inOctober to do a similar
gathering, but with a differentseason of fall harvest.
And we also have our onlineexperience that's starting at
the end of this month and March30th, really going into the
(27:45):
seasonal alchemy of spirit andemotion and physical and mental
well-being.
So we look forward to gatheringthere online.
And, omar, where can peoplefind you on Substack these days?
Omar (28:03):
Trickstersguidesubstackcom , and I really appreciate all
the different ways that we'regetting to express ourselves,
because I think that's reallysort of the beauty is that when
we can bring the wisdom of themind with the beauty of the
heart, then that sort of fullpotential that's within us that
you said, paul can reallyblossom.
And I feel like it'sappropriate.
(28:25):
I'm wearing my Norma Wongt-shirt, which is be a good
ancestor, and I feel like that'skind of all that we can try to
do is be a good ancestor.
Belinda Liu (28:36):
That's amazing.
And one more plug for thosepeople that are in the Bay Area
go visit Paul at his new centerfor art and healing.
Where can we find you there,paul?
Dr. Paul Wang (28:49):
Go to daocentercom.
I'll have the information there.
Yeah, thank you.
Omar Brownson (28:53):
And Belinda, you got any new offerings for us
with Hestia?
Belinda Liu (28:58):
Well, we're always available for people to come for
a week on sabbatical in any ofour lands in Mount Shasta and
Big Island, and if you'relooking for a place to host your
family reunion or group retreat, come on over to Hestiamagiccom
H-E-S-T-I-A-M-A-G-I-Ccom.
So we'll put all of those notesin our episode show notes and,
(29:25):
wishing everyone well in theirspringtime budding, cheers,
cheers, thank you.
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