I dove under strong waves in two oceans. I was barefoot for a week. I rode a horse in a pack of women across rivers along jungle paths. Everywhere I went, there was guac and chips, soft avocado yielding to golden crunch. They met me at my final destination, a yoga retreat in Nayarit province in Mexico, as a welcome snack while we settled in. They accompanied nixtamalized maïz creations in Mexico City, where I spent a week wandering and looking at art and eating delicious things. And they were the staple food of my friend Kelley’s birthday weekend in Sosúa, Dominican Republic, where I started my voyage with 15 women gathered to celebrate Kelley and our friendship.
Each night at Kelley’s birthday weekend, she posed a different question to the group at dinner. When she asked, “What are you inviting in to your life for 2025?” I knew my response immediately: “FUN!” I said. Larissa, who I hadn’t seen for 20 years since college, looked at me and said “Me too!” Now we just have to figure out what that is, I joked.
Fun intersects with a lot of feelings: joy, pleasure, curiosity, play, spontaneity. Fun contains elements of all those feelings, but you can also experience any of those feelings and not experience fun. Fun has a buoyancy to it, a literal bouncing, a willingness to embody a higher vibration and stay in it. When my horse accelerated as it crossed a grassy plain, it surprised me, and I liked it, which surprised me too. And then I wanted it to slow down. This is the key thing I’ve noticed about fun: I like the sensation, and then I want it to stop. It’s a kind of dissociation, like being in my body is too much right now.
Like guac and chips that showed up everywhere, my trip offered many opportunities for fun. Once I started to notice what I was feeling, I felt a shift, too. We ended our last yoga class at the retreat with a dance party. Our teacher Nicole turned up the music and stepped back from instructing, each of us moving to whatever flowed through us. After two weeks on my journey, I had arrived at fun. I danced, I sweat, and I didn’t wonder when this would end.
Recipe as Feeling: Fun (Guac and chips)
Be patient as you ripen.
Crack yourself open.
Mix with this and that.
Dive in.
Actual recipe
Guacamole and chips
INGREDIENTS:
2 ripe avocados, sliced in half and pitted
½ small red onion, diced
½ lime
Salt to taste
Cilantro to top (optional)
Bag of chips (or, if it’s fun for you, fry wedges of tortillas in coconut oil. I opted for the bag.)
In a small bowl, mash the avocado halves with the onion, juice from the half lime, and salt to taste. Garnish with cilantro, or not. Serve with chips.
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