Three big Ms !!!

Here we are, after solstice and the holidays, and just into the new year... I love this time as an opportunity to reflect and settle -- looking back, looking forward, and still, being right here, now; relishing the long, cozy evenings, taking time for tea and quiet. I hope this time has been rewarding and pleasurable for you too.

Apropos new beginnings: I was cycling along recently and it occurred to me while the title of my book, Becoming: Journeying Toward Authenticity, describes what the book has meant for me, it doesn't really do a good job of communicating what I hope the volume can do for its readers. As I rolled along, the phrase Maximize Memorable Moments occurred to me! Three big Ms!

So what do I mean by this? Each essay addresses a 'memorable moment' in my life: some of them were ones that hurt (e.g. The Road to Hell, page 156), or that startled or jolted me in some way (Treasure Trove, page 78), or that opened doors (Look Where You Want to Go, page 112), either in that very moment or in the days and years to come, or that rained down on my life like fireworks (Being Alone, page 31)!

That's two Ems. Memorable Moments. Big ones. Ones that made a lasting impression.

But we all have an abundance of moments that hurt, surprise, jolt us, and they aren't always ones we even want to remember, let alone 'maximize.' So what about that third M?

By Maximize, I mean take the full value from, digest, metabolize, yes, even celebrate! In writing Becoming, the process of recalling these memorable moments, plus the rethinking that was needed to articulate them, meant that each one took on deeper meaning, became richer and gained dimensions compared to being just moments in my life, even memorable ones.

And that is what I wish for us as we move toward into the new year, a new decade: that you may recognize moments in your life as memorable: reading with a grandchild, being hurt or ignored by someone you value, noticing the glint of a sunbeam on a tree or the mountains...

Let us take the time, bring the presence and awareness to rec0gnize these moments, and bring consciousness to them so they may enrich us, and recognize the learning, the teaching they offer.

May they make us more alive, full of life! A major bonus, of course, is that by doing this, we contribute to the evolution of consciousness, ours and that of the cosmos!

Happy New Year, and blessings to you and yours!

Giving Peace

It can be overwhelming, this season of giving, especially when the issues that face us, economically and environmentally seem as dark as the days.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes says, “Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.”

As I let that sink in, I find that it invites both relief and responsibility, in matters large and small, personal and universal. One author says she believes "world peace is achieved and sustained by each one of us taking responsibility for the quality of what happens within a five foot radius of our own bodies, in our own lives. If there is peace in my radius and yours and his and hers and theirs—then there is peace in all of ours." (Cited on C. Baldwin's Storycatcher blog)

May this holiday season be filled with joy -- contagious, delicious, bubbling joy; peace -- a peace that resides inside us and radiates luminously to touch all those we meet; and gratitude -- the kind that has no source, but seems to arise from the universal mystery. May these be yours to taste and savor, and to share with ever widening circles. May there be peace on earth and let it begin in and with each of us.

Telling our Stories Part 2

If you'd like to order Becoming now, just go to The Write Room New Titles. You won't regret it!

Telling our stories: Part 2

We are continually choosing filters and frames for our lives, whether we know and acknowledge it or not.

Don’t make the mistake of underestimating or minimizing the power of stories: they resonate throughout our whole being. A story is something active, even if it is unconscious. It works in and on us. The way we frame our life--the stories we tell--affect the way we hold our past, how we live the present, how we respond in the future.

And our stories themselves provide a vehicle that can help us appreciate and learn from our part in the flow of life. Telling them can shed light on times, places and events that perhaps existed only vaguely, shrouded in the mists of our memories. They can provide insights, epiphanies, evoke laughter and tears. They can give meaning and allow us to put our lives into radically new and unexpected perspectives.

By reflecting on who we were, we begin a process of discovering who we have become through our life experiences. We can move toward presence and authenticity in part by becoming cognizant of our stories, the filters and frames we use to tell them, by learning from them and beginning to detach from them. We can let go of the accounts per se, because we have been able to extract the nutrients, and we can let them nourish us today, now, here, in present time on our own personal journey.

In Becoming: Journeying Toward Authenticity, you will find 40 some life stories, about a variety of unisersal, human themes. Each essay contains related readings and questions for reflection to invite you into your own stories.

Reflections: Tell your life story, highlighting key segments, in the form of two separate tales, one with your glass ‘half full,’ the other where your glass is seen as ‘half empty.’ What feelings do you have, what happens inside your body as you feel into each piece? What experiences have you digested and which ones are still in process? What stands out that you might like to explore more deeply?

Find out more about Becoming on the ChangeEverything website. Order your copy at http://www.thewriteroom.net/newtitles.html

Related reading:
Almaas, A. H. (1988). The Pearl Beyond Price: Integration of personality into Being: An object relations approach. Berkeley: Diamond Books
Baldwin, Christina (1991). Life’s Companion: Journal writing as a spiritual quest. NY: Bantam Books
Davis, John (1999). The Diamond Approach: An introduction to the teachings of A. H. Almaas. Boston: Shambhala
King, Stephen (2000). On Writing: A memoir of the craft. NY: Simon & Schuster
Remen, Rachel Naomi (2006). Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories that heal. NY: Penguin Books