Lynn, I am so glad to give a name to this transition you are in. May this journey of exploring who we are becoming and reflecting on what we have learned be fruitful and even comforting in the midst of the changes.
Thank you Susan. I love this. You have put words to my experience of the past 7 years. I've been in transition for so many years and only began to truly understand that this past year. You also earlier gave me the name for my writing..re-storying the discipline of economics. Yikes! Not something I ever planned or dreamed I would do, but something that is calling me as my way of communicating/sharing my life's journey as an economist, human, mother, friend, neighbor, and lover of the planet and all who reside here. I am definitely not striving anymore and am definitely in a stage of reflecting and sharing the wisdom I have garnered all these years of living on our planet in this human state of being. So I am a forest dweller. I like that. I suppose this is the beginning of a bio. I'm looking forward to traveling with you on this year of spiritual thinking. It will be a foundation of my writing this year as I re-story our understanding of the economy.
This is definitely the beginning of the bio of you now, as opposed to you in the householder phase. Good thoughts and good work! I think that as you dive more deeply into re-storying economics, you will find some peace with the journey that has brought you here. I'd say this is your life's work, and I'm guessing that the more of your spiritual self you can bring to the surface in that work, the richer it will become.
That’s exactly it. Bringing my spiritual self into my writing….actually my spiritual self needs to lead and guide the writing. What you call spiritual thinking. That is my journey for this year..to tap into and integrate my spiritual self into my life and work…fully and completely. I’ve been heading this way for a long time and I’m there now. I have written 60+ pages over the past years, but so much of it is empty. Ideas are there, but it is missing spirit. It is my life’s work. It’s why I’m here and still here. I know that in my cells. Grateful that you are in my life.
It's scary to step out of the PhD self, the credentialed knowledge, and write from the spirit or heart-driven self. I know the feeling very well--just writing these Sunday reflections makes my heart pound and my stomach quiver. My expertise is as a scientist and a creative writer, not a wholistic spiritual seeker. But this is what I am called to do now. And as you say, it's that spiritual self who will bring you to the wisdom you need to truly re-story economics. You have the intellectual knowledge and you have the heart-wisdom. Adding the voice of spirit is your superpower in giving you something unique to say. You can do this!
I wrote you a comment—and somehow erased it. I am profoundly feeling this moment—per Louise Gluck—“There is a necessity to be still and let life happen to you.” In our society, this requires nurturing. —A Sister Traveler
Lo siento that your first comment vanished into the ether, Marlena! I agree that allowing oneself to be still and be transformed by the moments of life requires nurturing in this culture. We do not have the respect for stillness that other cultures do. Blessings a usted!
This is a wonderful assignment. It occurs to me that we will write a short bio differently, depending on who we think the audience is. For instance, I was just asked to write a bio for the staff section of the web page of our church, where I am the Pastor Emerita. I wrote it according to the guidelines they gave me, but also aware that what was most interesting to them was the story of how I came to the church. Tim is a member of a singing group and was recently asked to write a new bio for their program page. Since he is one of the few amateurs in the group (and has no long list of acclaimed performances) he wrote a very humorous paragraph that captured who he was, and celebrated the value of the amateur without ever saying as much.
So, your assignment… I guess I am writing to myself. This is taking more thought than I first imagined…I cannot practice any guile here…
We absolutely will write different bios depending on the audience and how we want to present ourselves, and that is part of the point: to think about how we define and describe ourselves, and why we show different parts of ourselves to different audiences. It's less about what you write than becoming aware of your choices. In other words, you've already learned something important in thinking about it. :)
I’m in the striving stage still with dear Jerry having huge caring needs and my being the one to meet them. Reflecting does happen but in small spurts early in the mornings with sunrise as a backdrop to my walking the dog.
I think that caregiving by necessity involves striving, but it also offers us the chance to learn about ourselves in relationship with others. In those bits of time when we are not actively engaged in meeting our loved one's needs, we can reflect. And that reflection, or simply those deep breaths and the awe we feel in the beauty of sunrise, may be what allows us to dive back into caregiving again without burning out. Remember to take care of you! <3
I forgot about forest dwelling! Now I know why I’m doing it—except my forest is the undersea variety, the corals. I’ve long experienced the fish here like I used to experience birdwatching, but I hadn’t stopped to think about the corals as their forest! ❤️
Priscilla, It makes me smile to think of you flippering among the fish in their coral forest, and finding inspiration for reflection underwater. There are some great spiritual metaphors in that kind of immersion. I am such a desert rat that I enter the water cautiously and am never comfortable in that liquid medium, and I celebrate you for being fluid and fluent! <3
I’m going to need some time and space to sit with your prompt, but I just wanted to thank you sincerely for it. It’s a powerful reflection. Very much wish I was in your neck of the woods on Jan 25th! Happy New Year, Susan ❤️
Chloe, Thank you for reading Practicing Terraphilia, and for sitting with this call. Take all the time you need! In my experience, the exercise of thinking about how we define ourselves and what that means can be transformative. As for coming to Santa Fe for my reading, that would be a very long commute indeed! I wish the library had a set up for recording it so it would be available for later viewing, but as far as I know, they don't. Happy New Year to you and your special one, and many blessings to you both.
Forest Dweller names what I have been experiencing since I retired at the end of May. I will welcome your invitations. Thank you
Lynn, I am so glad to give a name to this transition you are in. May this journey of exploring who we are becoming and reflecting on what we have learned be fruitful and even comforting in the midst of the changes.
Thank you Susan. I love this. You have put words to my experience of the past 7 years. I've been in transition for so many years and only began to truly understand that this past year. You also earlier gave me the name for my writing..re-storying the discipline of economics. Yikes! Not something I ever planned or dreamed I would do, but something that is calling me as my way of communicating/sharing my life's journey as an economist, human, mother, friend, neighbor, and lover of the planet and all who reside here. I am definitely not striving anymore and am definitely in a stage of reflecting and sharing the wisdom I have garnered all these years of living on our planet in this human state of being. So I am a forest dweller. I like that. I suppose this is the beginning of a bio. I'm looking forward to traveling with you on this year of spiritual thinking. It will be a foundation of my writing this year as I re-story our understanding of the economy.
This is definitely the beginning of the bio of you now, as opposed to you in the householder phase. Good thoughts and good work! I think that as you dive more deeply into re-storying economics, you will find some peace with the journey that has brought you here. I'd say this is your life's work, and I'm guessing that the more of your spiritual self you can bring to the surface in that work, the richer it will become.
That’s exactly it. Bringing my spiritual self into my writing….actually my spiritual self needs to lead and guide the writing. What you call spiritual thinking. That is my journey for this year..to tap into and integrate my spiritual self into my life and work…fully and completely. I’ve been heading this way for a long time and I’m there now. I have written 60+ pages over the past years, but so much of it is empty. Ideas are there, but it is missing spirit. It is my life’s work. It’s why I’m here and still here. I know that in my cells. Grateful that you are in my life.
It's scary to step out of the PhD self, the credentialed knowledge, and write from the spirit or heart-driven self. I know the feeling very well--just writing these Sunday reflections makes my heart pound and my stomach quiver. My expertise is as a scientist and a creative writer, not a wholistic spiritual seeker. But this is what I am called to do now. And as you say, it's that spiritual self who will bring you to the wisdom you need to truly re-story economics. You have the intellectual knowledge and you have the heart-wisdom. Adding the voice of spirit is your superpower in giving you something unique to say. You can do this!
Thank you for that encouragement. Yes I can! I like that. The voice of spirit is my superpower…..
Your courage to step out is inspiring. Thanks for sharing that. That is how I feel about this calling.
And on we go, encouraging each other.... :)
Brava, Susan, for the pounding heart and quivering stomach. We your readers will be the richer for them.
I wrote you a comment—and somehow erased it. I am profoundly feeling this moment—per Louise Gluck—“There is a necessity to be still and let life happen to you.” In our society, this requires nurturing. —A Sister Traveler
Lo siento that your first comment vanished into the ether, Marlena! I agree that allowing oneself to be still and be transformed by the moments of life requires nurturing in this culture. We do not have the respect for stillness that other cultures do. Blessings a usted!
This is a wonderful assignment. It occurs to me that we will write a short bio differently, depending on who we think the audience is. For instance, I was just asked to write a bio for the staff section of the web page of our church, where I am the Pastor Emerita. I wrote it according to the guidelines they gave me, but also aware that what was most interesting to them was the story of how I came to the church. Tim is a member of a singing group and was recently asked to write a new bio for their program page. Since he is one of the few amateurs in the group (and has no long list of acclaimed performances) he wrote a very humorous paragraph that captured who he was, and celebrated the value of the amateur without ever saying as much.
So, your assignment… I guess I am writing to myself. This is taking more thought than I first imagined…I cannot practice any guile here…
We absolutely will write different bios depending on the audience and how we want to present ourselves, and that is part of the point: to think about how we define and describe ourselves, and why we show different parts of ourselves to different audiences. It's less about what you write than becoming aware of your choices. In other words, you've already learned something important in thinking about it. :)
I’m in the striving stage still with dear Jerry having huge caring needs and my being the one to meet them. Reflecting does happen but in small spurts early in the mornings with sunrise as a backdrop to my walking the dog.
I think that caregiving by necessity involves striving, but it also offers us the chance to learn about ourselves in relationship with others. In those bits of time when we are not actively engaged in meeting our loved one's needs, we can reflect. And that reflection, or simply those deep breaths and the awe we feel in the beauty of sunrise, may be what allows us to dive back into caregiving again without burning out. Remember to take care of you! <3
I forgot about forest dwelling! Now I know why I’m doing it—except my forest is the undersea variety, the corals. I’ve long experienced the fish here like I used to experience birdwatching, but I hadn’t stopped to think about the corals as their forest! ❤️
Priscilla, It makes me smile to think of you flippering among the fish in their coral forest, and finding inspiration for reflection underwater. There are some great spiritual metaphors in that kind of immersion. I am such a desert rat that I enter the water cautiously and am never comfortable in that liquid medium, and I celebrate you for being fluid and fluent! <3
I’m going to need some time and space to sit with your prompt, but I just wanted to thank you sincerely for it. It’s a powerful reflection. Very much wish I was in your neck of the woods on Jan 25th! Happy New Year, Susan ❤️
Chloe, Thank you for reading Practicing Terraphilia, and for sitting with this call. Take all the time you need! In my experience, the exercise of thinking about how we define ourselves and what that means can be transformative. As for coming to Santa Fe for my reading, that would be a very long commute indeed! I wish the library had a set up for recording it so it would be available for later viewing, but as far as I know, they don't. Happy New Year to you and your special one, and many blessings to you both.