Hello, there. How are you?
Apollo super cozy, Feb 2025.
How can such a simple (seeming) greeting/question - “How are you?” be so …much? The answer depends on so many factors - how talkative you feel, how honest you feel like being, who is asking, how well you know that person, and the tone/intention in that person’s question. Are they asking as a way to say “Good morning” or are they deeply interested in the answer you have to give, without attachment to it? (We could get very yogic/Buddhist in that one, for sure, but I won’t go there now.)
The question that can be so mundane and superfluous can become so tender when someone asks it and really wants to know the honest truth, vs. the “Fine, how about you” or “Great, how are you?” One word rarely can sum up how any of us are feeling in a given moment - there’s the state of the world, the inner-workings of our own minds, the complexity of our lives and the lives of those we love that affect us, to name a few.
For example, I recently asked a yoga student this - it was just the two of us in class that day (virtual) and I asked that question. A response started to form from the student, and then a pause. “Do you want to know how I really am?” “Yes, I do. Share, please.” And then we had a really meaningful exchange where something real and raw and hard and human was shared. I felt honored to be able to hold this with the student. I never want to be the person that doesn’t want to really hear how someone is. And, I want to be the type of person that can receive different answers from the same person each time and see their humanity and ability to change (impermanence) just as I accept my own ability to change.
How would I answer that question as I’m typing this?
In this moment, I’m feeling a bit achy in my body, overstimulated with coffee in my mind, and in my heart a mix of emotions - hopeful for the seasonal change; excited for some work projects of mine and those close to me growing; a deep sense of love and care for my husband and pup; worried, angry, and sad at the state of American politics; and heartbroken for so many people caught up in the snares of violence across the world. It’s such a mixed bag.
