A May Day Love Letter

a sketch from Slovenia

Welcome to The Practice of Life — a place to slow down, befriend yourself, and move through the world with kindness and awareness. Everything here is freely offered without paywalls. If you appreciate what you find, please consider a paid subscription or one-time donation.

TIP: Click on the article title above for the best viewing experience.

postal box in Ljubljana, Slovenia / photo by author

May 1, 2026 / Full Moon • Full Flower Moon

An auspicious day for a full moon – May Day!

I just returned Wednesday night from a week-long journey to Slovenia, the land of my mom’s ancestors, and I’m still swimming through the murky world of jet lag so a ‘real’ essay is out of my reach in this moment. Rather than a fully developed essay, today is more like sharing a doodle from a sketchbook with you.

Today -- May Day, Workers’ Day (as well as Beltane) is a big deal in Slovenia and many parts of Europe. If I had been thinking ahead I would have stayed for it. Here in the U.S., labor organizers and some communities are very aware of it, but overall we’re still catching up. If you’re participating in today’s General Strike, I salute you!

The main message of May Day is “workers over billionaires,” and it’s hard for me to understand how anyone couldn’t get on board with that (except for billionaires). There is no “trickle down” benefit for domestic workers, manual laborers, store clerks, oil field workers, farm workers, teachers, nurses, childcare workers, waiters and line cooks… Millions of us struggle with low wages, unaffordable housing, and inadequate access to healthcare, while the few who have the most resources hoard them.

* * *

My first day in Slovenia, I was at Lake Bled, a gorgeous place with a turquoise blue waters and an island in the middle of the lake with a church. It’s a scene from a fairy tale but it’s real. To get to the island, you can join a group on a traditional wooden pletna boat. Having just arrived in the country, I was on the initial side of jet lag so I chose the boat ride as an easy way to spend my first day.

The boat fit 15 passengers, and our group was a collection of people from around the world: Brazil, Spain, South Africa, France, the United States, Japan. As we took in the incredible scenery and enjoyed the relaxed rowing of our guide, we engaged in an interesting conversation during the half-hour voyage that somehow founds its way to current events.

The man from Spain noted that immigration is a ‘global problem,’ but for him it wasn’t the immigrants who were the problem—it was a mindset that is fearful of change. Other passengers unpacked what that meant and generally we were all in the same ‘boat’ on this one (hahaha), agreeing that it’s possible for two things to be true: one can maintain one’s culture and language while at the same time welcoming people from another culture. Migration has happened over millenia, and while people and cultures do change as they come into contact with one another, what is essential in our own traditions does not need to be lost.

I loved this conversation because I think it’s so much at the root of the time we’re now in – a dialectic between fearful defensiveness and open, welcoming trust. I’m sure I’ve oversimplified that a bit, but perhaps you get where I’m coming from. It was amazing to talk about these things while in a country that clearly reveres its natural beauty, its language, and culture.

And it reminded me how much more we have in common than we might think, and how much the billionaires and ruling classes benefit when we are divided. When we choose love over fear, when we choose solidarity over division, we are more powerful.

And that reminded me of Arundhati Roy’s epic quote¹:

Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness – and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we’re being brainwashed to believe.

The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling – their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability. Remember this: We be many and they be few. They need us more than we need them.

Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. Maybe many of us won’t be here to greet her, but on a quiet day, if I listen very carefully, I can hear her breathing.

That gives me hope in these dark times.

Happy May Day! Tell me what you’re up to today, what’s inspiring your creativity, what does May Day mean to you?

Going through a career transition and want to do it in a mindful way? Check out my book Work That Matters: Create a Livelihood that Reflects Your Core Intention

1. from Arundhati’s book War Talk (South End Press, 2003)