First, you go inside like taking your pulse Put a finger to your heart and ask: What would you have me know, today? Then wait, patient as the sky for your first response. They’ll come in layers, the whispers of your heart All you need to do is be still. “I am shy,” she might say. “I’m scared, sleepy, full of fear.” Keep listening. Ask what’s fueling the fear. “So many guns, so much agony. How does a person with a heart live in the world today and not give up?” Look close. Choose one. The one gnawing at the surface, crawling out of its hole Take its hand, say hello, welcome it into your lap. “This one is a gun pointed at the face of a nine year old girl in my city She died in a driveby shooting last week My heart broke but there was no time to mourn Every day every hour the atrocities continue My inbox screams for attention All the ways the world is falling apart Who has time for one child? One nine year old black girl sitting in a car waiting for her mother when the crossfire caught her life?” Too much sorrow for one heart to hold. You hold it. This doesn’t replace the phone calls, the letters, the legislation, but you know, studies prove over and over—meditation lowers the rate of violence prayer changes the fabric of the consciousness of the world Your words become a living meditation A talking stick of prayer A guardian of light to wrap around the body of the child who was shot at the corner drugstore and will never be held in her mother’s arms again If we take the time to honor the losses that trouble the waters of our own hearts If we who write who dare to feel who are vulnerable and sensitive to the point where it hurts to watch the news If we can’t metabolize the heartbreak we witness and turn it into love once again— who will? The child caught by the bullet— she was—is—loved. The children ripped from their parents’ arms They were—are—loved. Love is still the answer But it’s so hard to see when your heart is clouded with sorrow, rage, terror So keep coming to the page as a way of cleansing your heart This is how we’ll do our part to heal our world One poem one sorrow one heartbreak at a time. You choose the one calling to your heart Write it down, so your words become the alchemy that turns it back to love I’ll choose the one that calls to mine What if this is the assignment we were given before the world was born? To come to this planet at this moment of explosive violence and be the warriors on the front line To articulate every sorrow one at a time and turn it back into love?   … [Read more...]

A Poem For Scared Children Who Have No Voice I am tired today I’m tired of sleep one night not the next of so much fear haunting my bones it wakes me long before the grey dawn Will I have enough— time sleep care for my self the small one who is sometimes afraid to go to sleep and wants a story? Will I have enough bedtime stories for her? And what about the child ripped from her mother at the border? Does my voice matter to her? Does me taking the exquisite time to let the small one inside me believe that her voice matters matter to the child  at the border in tears, afraid? I want to believe it does. That as I do not forget the small one inside me who feels forgotten some part of the girl I only see in a photo on the screen with black hair and a red shirt knows she is not forgotten It’s like prayer travelling across miles to reach the one I love having surgery in another country It’s been proven to work. If I am writing for the lost children inside me How can I not be writing for the lost children crying for their mothers at the border? Repetitive, yes I am saying the same thing over and over So it sinks down to the deepest layer of my existence Beyond the mind with its fears and doubts Beyond the body with its weary aches Down to the layer of oneness the Soul which we all share Each of us on this blue planet Unified in one soul We belong to one heart Yes one heart At the level of heart I am not separate from the child at the border she is not separate from me  I hold her in my heart today along with others whose pictures I haven’t seen and I hold the child in me who is still afraid to go to sleep sometimes, not always who is still afraid to write the truth sometimes, not always It’s the patience for sometimes that my heart asks of me So all the lost children all the broken off parts of me all the shattered, scattered fragments of the One Soul who don’t have a safe home in the world They all come home in my poem Yes—come, come the door is open This poem is as large as my heart which is infinite as is yours As powerful as prayer or steel as strong as an oak tree a thousand years old Yes, you are welcome in my infinitely strong heart the scared child of my own  inner life the scared child at the border The ones who have no voice who seek a voice who need a voice Whose voice is everything we need to hear to heal our world That child That voice is what lives in my poem today   … [Read more...]

Why does it matter that your relationship with your writing is sacred? Does that awareness make any difference in your day to day writing life? I’m currently working on a new website, so I can articulate in a clearer way what it is that I do, and why.  One of the things I wrote recently was: “When you take the time to recognize that you have a relationship with your writing, and you realize that it can be a sacred relationship, you open to the possibility that something can really change.” When I shared a draft of my new home page with a number of women I’ve worked with, they all resonated deeply with that sentence about making your relationship with your writing sacred. This resonance led me to ask:  Why does it matter so much that you see your writing as sacred? I’m going to be exploring that question in a series of newsletters over the next few weeks, starting with this one.  I’d  also love to hear from you:  What are your biggest challenges in your writing life? Where could you benefit from making your relationship with your writing sacred?   The Truth of Your Shining Brilliance   In my last newsletter, The Truth of Your Shining Brilliance, I wrote this:   The truth you uncover when you keep writing past your fears is your Shining Light Your Brilliance.   So how do you do that?       How do you keep writing past your fears? One thing that really makes a difference is knowing and remembering that your call to write is Sacred.  It comes from your soul. Here’s an example. Let’s say you have an idea for a book you want to write.  It’s close to your heart, and you have a gut feeling that your soul wants you to write this book. At a certain point, you decide to go for it. You’re inspired. The words flow. You’re in the groove with your writing, and you’re happy. But then it gets hard. You’ve got lots of pages written, but you start to feel lost.  Doubts pop up everywhere.  “What was I thinking?”  “Was this even a good idea?”    “I don’t know what I’m doing anymore.” Suddenly it doesn’t feel so good. You’re stuck. You may start to feel overwhelmed. There might even be an edge of despair. Here’s what I know. Everyone gets overwhelmed at some point or another in the course of a big writing project. But if you’re a highly sensitive writer, and the project you’re writing comes from a core place inside you, when you get overwhelmed, it may hit you especially hard. It’s not your fault!  Truly.     Your sensitivity is a key to the writing you do. You need your sensitive vulnerable self intact, in order to write this exact project that comes from such a deep place inside you.    Soul Oriented Strategies To Stay The Course But you also need strategies to help you stay the course. Strategies that acknowledge and honor your highly sensitive nature. When I was in high school, I was fascinated with theatre that depicted female heroines.  I read all the plays about Joan of Arc and Antigone.  What inspired me so much was that these women, who in their daily lives had no real power to act, gained tremendous power to influence their world because of their connection to a “higher law.” Because they felt compelled to follow this higher law, they found the strength to go beyond the restraints of their culture, which said that as a woman they had no voice. Why does that apply to you, writing in the 21st century?    If you feel that your call to write is in some ways a Divine calling--meaning it truly comes from your soul-- then you can call upon the Divine to assist you, when your own fears threaten to overwhelm you. When you do that, you remember that you’re not in this alone. If your writing project is truly a Sacred Assignment from your Soul, then you’re meant to do it. When you start there, and return there, you open to the vast support of the Universe.  You align yourself with all that power. Sacred Alignment is a very powerful stance to take. Once you’re standing there, your Inner Guidance kicks in.  You start to know what to do, or what kind of support you need, to move forward. Sometimes you see the whole plan for your book. Sometimes you just see the next sentence you need to write.  It doesn’t matter.  Once you remember the truth of why you’re doing the writing you’re called to do, and stand in the Sacred Power of that Truth, you’re back in the flow of magic again. You’re back in the flow of creative possibility, and strength. So in answer to my question:  Why does it matter that your relationship with writing is sacred?  In this instance, it matters because that awareness can be the key to get you out of overwhelm and despair. It can also be the ignition key that gets you started. I’ll talk more about that in another article. Take a moment now to reflect where you are, currently, with your own writing life.               Then ask, have you remembered, lately, that your call to write is a Sacred Call? See if anything changes, when you ask yourself that question. Then see if your Inner Knowing, pipes in, with an idea of what your next right step is. And then--and this is really important--take the time to put that suggestion into action! Your Inner Knowing is always available to you, but it does take a shift in perspective to remember to ask.  Then there’s another shift, to actually implement the guidance you receive. That guidance can help you immensely. The peace you find when you shift your stance to one that’s in alignment with your soul’s wisdom will also help you immensely. It all begins with remembering that your call to write is sacred.       With practice, you can remember that more and more, so it starts to become the ground you walk on, and more easily, the ground you return to, when you forget. What would help you remember that perspective? Is it developing a ritual where you start your writing with a moment of prayer? Is it starting your writing with a few conscious breaths, and a short meditation, to still your mind and return you to center? Think about what would work in your life, and experiment with it this week.  See what makes a difference for you. I believe that remembering that your writing practice is sacred can help in so many ways, and on so many levels.  I’d love to hear any results you get, if you practice what I’ve suggested here. I’d also love to know where it gets hard for you, in your writing life.  If I can, I’ll address it in a future newsletter, as I continue to explore this topic. For now, thanks for reading.     … [Read more...]

I care a lot about radical self care, because I think it’s an essential ingredient to having a healthy, sustainable writing life. In every class I teach, and in my private sessions as well, radical self care is woven into the process. I’ve also found that there are times when writing itself can be your most important practice of radical self care. Taking the time to write will heal you like nothing else. Staying with your goals, when you’ve made a commitment to finish a book, or post your blog, will stretch and challenge you and allow you to evolve. It’s been a while since I’ve sent out a newsletter, and the primary reason is because I was so focused on completing the draft of my manuscript that I couldn’t do much else for a while. While I’m aware that I let a few things slide—like this newsletter---I’m proud of my accomplishment. Taking that time to put my own writing front and center was an extraordinary act of self care in my life.  Yes, I was still teaching classes, still paying my bills and doing my laundry, but the writing came first.  Because of that, I think I became a better mentor and guide to my writing students. I learned to trust my self as a writer again, in a way I’d forgotten was possible. Today, I’m glad to be connecting with you after some time away, and I want to use this opportunity to encourage you to bring your own writing front and center---even if only for the time when you read this newsletter.  Remember a time when writing nourished you. Imagine the power that writing has to care for you. When I was last sending out regular newsletters, I was sharing poems with you. Poems are one of my deepest sources of inspiration. The rest of the newsletter is in the form of a poem. The poem is part of the curriculum in my Trust Your Voice course. In that course, participants go deep into stories of how they learned to not trust their voice, and recover what got lost. Keep reading to be inspired to let your writing be the deepest act of radical self care you’ll ever practice. Writing can be the deepest act of radical self care you will ever practice. To sustain it requires countless small acts of self kindness. Day by day hour by hour you pay attention you call your self back home. When it gets hard you ask yourself what you need to keep going in the one body you have this time around. You make the choice again and again to turn toward your own stories visions words. When fears arise you keep going. You go deeper and deeper until you finally uncover the whole truth. The truth is not the fear you feel. It’s not the doubts or that voice that says you’re not good enough. Those are just distractions along the way. The  truth you uncover when you keep writing past your fears is your shining light your brilliance the Hidden Light that is You that has been you all along— This is an act of radical self care. If you allow your self to keep writing when it gets hard and you allow yourself to finish what you start then writing will become an act of self revelation writing will be the medicine that heals you the alchemy that transforms you.  Maybe all writing is an act of forgiveness for the great weight of being human that breaks every one of us and gives each of us a chance to become blessed by the power of our own souls. If you’re lucky You break open Something finds you That you could never have looked for It’s  right in front of you or maybe inside you tucked into a corner of your Broke-Wide Open- Heart Because you’re All In Finally, in your own body in your own life In your own voice Which is the center of it all The backlog of words You couldn’t say for so long Comes pouring out now But configured differently because you’re different The hidden light is not so hidden anymore It permeates everything And you see your own story in a new way. Forgiveness washes through you like the sun You forgive yourself For all your silences all your mistakes all the self-betrayal You had no power to stop because you didn’t see the whole truth. Could you have imagined, way back then looking in the mirror to behold such beauty as you are? You forgive and forgive and forgive and each word you write is an act of atonement Each poem you complete an amends to the self you abandoned Each story and book and play You conceive comes to fruition In honor, now, of the self you neglected Not knowing, for so long that there was another way to live You keep asking your body, What do you need now, sweetheart? How can I love you, today? You keep talking to your mind Like a cheerleader, or a coach like a teammate or a friend. You’re on your own side. You’re on the same team with the voices in your head that want you to win Complete the novel, the memoir, the screenplay, Because it’s time. You’re not doing this alone The women who had no voice for thousands of years who were forced into silence They’re with you too There’s a cacophony of witness surrounding you And it’s not all human There are dolphins, and whales Who have their own language silent only to those with no ears to hear There are oak trees maples, aspen and white pine Saying thank you And yes Our roots are deep in a soil that’s been poisoned will you speak for us too? And the penguin and sea otter, the bison and the grey wolf losing their lands their habitat, their home They growl and sing, saunter and soar graze and walk in fields and forests Just beyond the horizon of what you can see All the creatures are waiting for you To say yes Because when you come home to your truth You will be no less magnificent than the golden eagle or the regal lion You will know yourself as beautiful as the trees and become a voice to steward and protect this life that’s interwoven with your own Your humanity Rests in your voice It gets nourished when you tell the whole story The broken places, the awful parts the agonizing despair The joyful rising back up The singing that emerges of its own accord The words that dance On the page with sheer pleasure that you are writing them Who would have thought that following the thread of all the ways You did NOT trust your voice Would lead you, in the end So exquisitely back home You are home now when you write You are home when you write the truth in your own voice Welcome back. … [Read more...]

If anything symbolizes the real possibility of 2018, it was the Golden Globe Awards, and Oprah’s acceptance speech.  Among the many memorable things she said, this one especially speaks to us, as writers:  “What I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we have.” For all those of us who have been disheartened, enraged, and terrified by the political landscape in the U.S, it’s essential to remember that the voices of dissent are growing stronger and louder every day. We find our strength when we find our voices. The poem I’m offering today speaks to the courage and power that comes when we trust in the risks that we know we need to take, and find “the grace of beginning That is at one with your life’s desire.” Where in your life do you sense: “This beginning has been quietly forming Waiting until you were ready to emerge.”? Take some time in the next 24 hours to write your response.  Trust whatever comes to you, and let your heart follow the words that flow onto your page.  Five or ten minutes of a free write in response to the poem will be enough to take you to “the out-of-the-way places of [your] heart...where the mind never thinks to wander” Enjoy the poem and writing in response to it. For A New Beginning by John O’ Donahue   In out-of-the-way places of the heart, Where your thoughts never think to wander, This beginning has been quietly forming, Waiting until you were ready to emerge. For a long time it has watched your desire, Feeling the emptiness growing inside you, Noticing how you willed yourself on, Still unable to leave what you had outgrown. It watched you play with the seduction of safety And the gray promises that sameness whispered, Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent, Wondered would you always live like this. Then the delight, when your courage kindled, And out you stepped onto new ground, Your eyes young again with energy and dream, A path of plenitude opening before you. Though your destination is not yet clear You can trust the promise of this opening; Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning That is at one with your life's desire. Awaken your spirit to adventure; Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk; Soon you will be home in a new rhythm, For your soul senses the world that awaits you. … [Read more...]