As I started reading your description of the malaise hanging over you, my response was visceral. Resonance awakened my own feelings of ennui - ‘a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement’. After a period of intense aliveness, I am left in the ordinary days of elderly care, feeling … listless and bored.
This is just what I needed to hear.
I want to refresh my dream map.
I want to rediscover what aliveness looks like this decade (I did my first in 2015 and it’s been a tough ten years!)
I want to recall my values and choose to invest in a few.
I want to feel. Experience. Live fully.
I want to choose to waken and not slumber through my days.
I want to write, and connect, and explore, and … be open to new as yet undiscovered, unnamed values.
Michael, thank you for the demonstration of courage in vulnerability. This becoming human has been much harder than I ever anticipated, and it’s refreshing to know I am not alone on this journey. It takes the courageous to talk about it, and the even braver to live it out.
Thank you, Kay. And yeah, wow, the courage to actually live it out, that’s the thing, isn’t it? It is an illusion that playing small or hiding yourself is better, but what a seductive illusion it is sometimes! But there are so many courageous souls who have gone ahead of us, and left messages for us to spur us on. Here’s one I’ve been pondering this week, from Dawna Markova:
“I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which comes to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which comes to me as blossom, goes on as fruit.”
Thank you for this reminder, Michael. I've been feeling the fade into gray because I get caught up in the whirl of productivity. And you're right, my core values are not extra, not a tag on if there's room. Feeding my soul leaves room for the other important things. 🌱
Thank you, Michael. My routine is often to sit with coffee and a book in the morning. Lately I realize how many "good" things I do that perhaps I don't even want to do. Or that are not truly nourishing. This past week, then, I have been sitting quietly, watching the birds or the deer, seeing the sky change colors as the new day arrives. Practicing being. That is a core value for me. To show up not just for others, but for myself. More than anything, I am on a quest to listen to my heart. What does she long for? In all the world, what does my heart need? The answer is there. It will come.
That Rumi quote is on a card I keep in my kitchen. It reminds me to pay attention to what I am drawn to. Beauty, quiet, nature, real connection, dogs, always dogs, the sky. And so much more. This lovely world.
I wish you great joy and I pray your class bears good, good fruit.
So good. Core Values always link back to some expression or another of "beingness" in our lives, even those that involve racing bikes or jumping out of planes. So glad you have found those anchors of being in your day. And yeah, that Rumi quote!
Not to make it about me, but you DID say racing bikes and jumping out of planes! ;)
Just recommended this class online and sent this to one of my current clients. As always, you do a great job of putting it all in the pretty words. I am thankful you are not neglecting the writing in the midst of all of the publishing storm.
As I started reading your description of the malaise hanging over you, my response was visceral. Resonance awakened my own feelings of ennui - ‘a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement’. After a period of intense aliveness, I am left in the ordinary days of elderly care, feeling … listless and bored.
This is just what I needed to hear.
I want to refresh my dream map.
I want to rediscover what aliveness looks like this decade (I did my first in 2015 and it’s been a tough ten years!)
I want to recall my values and choose to invest in a few.
I want to feel. Experience. Live fully.
I want to choose to waken and not slumber through my days.
I want to write, and connect, and explore, and … be open to new as yet undiscovered, unnamed values.
Thank you 🙏🏻
Beautiful, Fiona! May you be surprised by new joys as you explore the unmapped lands of your soul.
Approaching it with curiosity and wonder
Such a good reminder. Thanks for the ray of light!
And while we have been told it’s a narrow road, I just didn’t understand what that really meant and how it feels to walk it.
Michael, thank you for the demonstration of courage in vulnerability. This becoming human has been much harder than I ever anticipated, and it’s refreshing to know I am not alone on this journey. It takes the courageous to talk about it, and the even braver to live it out.
Thank you, Kay. And yeah, wow, the courage to actually live it out, that’s the thing, isn’t it? It is an illusion that playing small or hiding yourself is better, but what a seductive illusion it is sometimes! But there are so many courageous souls who have gone ahead of us, and left messages for us to spur us on. Here’s one I’ve been pondering this week, from Dawna Markova:
“I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which comes to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which comes to me as blossom, goes on as fruit.”
Thank you for this reminder, Michael. I've been feeling the fade into gray because I get caught up in the whirl of productivity. And you're right, my core values are not extra, not a tag on if there's room. Feeding my soul leaves room for the other important things. 🌱
Same. It's astonishing how quickly I can lose sight of this vital truth, AND it's always such a gift of grace the moment I remember.
Thank you, Michael. My routine is often to sit with coffee and a book in the morning. Lately I realize how many "good" things I do that perhaps I don't even want to do. Or that are not truly nourishing. This past week, then, I have been sitting quietly, watching the birds or the deer, seeing the sky change colors as the new day arrives. Practicing being. That is a core value for me. To show up not just for others, but for myself. More than anything, I am on a quest to listen to my heart. What does she long for? In all the world, what does my heart need? The answer is there. It will come.
That Rumi quote is on a card I keep in my kitchen. It reminds me to pay attention to what I am drawn to. Beauty, quiet, nature, real connection, dogs, always dogs, the sky. And so much more. This lovely world.
I wish you great joy and I pray your class bears good, good fruit.
Jacqueline
So good. Core Values always link back to some expression or another of "beingness" in our lives, even those that involve racing bikes or jumping out of planes. So glad you have found those anchors of being in your day. And yeah, that Rumi quote!
Not to make it about me, but you DID say racing bikes and jumping out of planes! ;)
Just recommended this class online and sent this to one of my current clients. As always, you do a great job of putting it all in the pretty words. I am thankful you are not neglecting the writing in the midst of all of the publishing storm.
I did! As you well know, brother, ALIVENESS is not just a matter of stillness and prayer. :) Thanks for the recommendations!