A Letter For Alysa Liu

The true meaning of Aura

The other night my boys and I just had each other for the evening. After showers and Jammie’s we relaxed on the couch and turned on the Olympics.

The primetime event for the evening was Figure skating.

My oldest grumbled.

I reacted, “Whoa whoa whoa, this is like the best sport to watch!”

He argued for curling. He wasn’t wrong, we were both right. We settled in and focused on the screen.

There she was, standing and waiting in the center of the ice in her golden facade. It took exactly 2 piano chords - her eyes shot up and she cracked a smile.

She was vibing.

You could tell. She was so utterly connected to the environment but seemingly floating above it. It wasn’t long before the cracked smile had turned in a huge smile on her face.

Glowing, Radiant Aura.

The technical skill was incredible. The power and grace combination visceral. She made it all look completely effortless.

But the Aura.

Her AURA

You can only get to that level, travel that plane, exist in that state, when you are certain.

100% completely certain.

That you’re in it.

Immersed in the present. Perfectly prepared.

So in the flow that you are directing the course of the universe.

It’s all there for you.

And if you can simultaneously fight the urge to recognize it and wield it consciously and instead you just let it be and unfold while submersing in the joy of it.

Then you can have that Aura too.

I explained all this to the boys after Mike Tirico’s interview to end the program.

“Boys, listen up.

When kids talk about aura, they don’t know what they’re talking about. It’s non-sense.

That, what you just saw from Alysa Liu, that was Aura. That’s what it looks like and feels like.

You can even tell by how the people around her are affected. Look at those other people.

She’s got a field of aura around her so big and powerful that everyone that enters it gets taken up in it too.

When you say the word aura from now on I want you think of this.

And know that you can achieve that feeling too.

It takes so much hard work that it seems easy. That’s why she made it look so effortless and easy.

You have to try and live like that every day if you can. Every moment.

And surrender yourself to it.

A belief so persistent and strong that despite all the suffering you encounter… you endure.

But it’s all inside of you already, you can already do it!

I love you!

Now let’s go bed.”

The Boys: Noooooooooooooo!