A smattering of all the things
I've been imagining myself talking to you for the longest time. Thinking about it. Dreaming about it. Writing about it. And now, finally, here I am. You and I are in conversation. How cool and magical is that? I think about you and I wonder what it is I have to offer you. Already, I want to say Thank you, Thanks so much for stopping by.
Curiosity
Curiosity perhaps? Curious is an important way of being. Curiouser and curiouser, as the Cheshire Cat might say. It's a good thing. A way of being we've often gotten away from in this world of black and white and the need to know for sure (even though we so often can't). So perhaps my offering is showing what curiosity looks like, on the page. On your screen. In real life.
Courage
And perhaps my offering is courage. It takes courage to be curious. Courage to see, to invite something new. Courage to explore the unknown and to wonder. So maybe I offer courage. Letting you see the spaces where I practice courage, because it is courage that bolsters me and my willingness to write, to show up here, with you, in this great unknown. Courage brought me here and I learned to practice it like my life depended on it (which it actually did, more to come on that)
Creativity
And perhaps, I offer creativity. This too moves me to be here. This knowing I've developed that creativity is a necessary part of life. A big and important piece we sometimes feel we have to put away. Either because someone somewhere told us to. Or because the doubts about our own worthiness make creativity a potentially dangerous place. What if we aren't good enough? say the voices we've developed. You know those voices right? The ones that tell us to be smaller and quieter and less than? The ones that tell us not to ask for too much attention or to have too many needs or to keep too many boundaries? Right, those voices. So maybe in this space of curiosity and courage and creativity, I'll also share about the voices in our heads.The parts of us we create in order to survive this life we live. Yes, I'm sure they'll show up.
Sharing stories
And then of course, there's story. That magical wonderful thing we do. The way we hold and honor and hide and shame ourselves into knowing, or not knowing what we know. The thread that binds us all together and tells a tale that creates a path. Story. I will be sharing story. Mine and yours. For the more I tell my story and listen to yours, the more I know, your story is mine and mine is yours. It's when I hear a story told that I find myself more and more. I lost stories for a long time. My stories, the world's stories, my children's stories. I became the hourglass, with sands of story running through and out, I could not hold them, or so I thought. Do the sands of story run through you too? Do you hear the calling, like me, to hold and honor and share your story too?
Connecting, exploring and Loving
I suppose this is a roundabout way of saying that if you stick with me, and I really hope you will, there will be story and art and writing. There will be color and form and formless. There will be adventure because life is short and I am on a mission. To live and grow and share. To connect and explore and Love. So much of me is here to love. To love what I do, to love what I say even when it's a hard and dark thing, and to love you. I used to be afraid to love. I mean, I loved. But it was that protected kind of love. You know that one too right? The kind of love where you keep a part of yourself out because you know, it isn't safe. You've learned, it can go at any time. There's a dark underbelly to it, in a place that's hidden and silent. When you grow up like I did, and so many of us did, with faces the world saw and realities the world didn't, then you learn to love in a layered and measured and protected way. I did that for a very long time. It kept me safe.
connecting our lights
And then, it didn't. But I didn't know that because I didn't have the stories I needed to hear. I didn't have the communities I needed to have. I didn't know that I could know what I knew and be stronger and bigger and even more real, more loving, more me. So that, really, is why I'm here. To share that story. To be that holder of sacred community. To be the light, a light, that connects to your light and your light and your light.
So breathe. Breathe deeply and fully. Fill your lungs. Make space for your heart to play. Because of course, we'll do that too.
Thanks for being here. Stick with me and let's create something wonderful together. One step, one mark, one story at a time.
