Over taken by nasty bug on Tuesday and only began to think clearly again last night… still sick to tummy but so much better- was ready to die. Had to give a short talk in Seattle while ill – that was a new leap of trust. One gal said to me shortly before I stood up to speak, "So you’re just pushing through!" and I said, "No, no! I can’t do that anymore." What I meant was I’m praying and trusting that I could do what I needed to do, lying back on energy instead of forcing it to flow through me. Strangely, given that I barely (and I mean barely) prepared and the talk was rather disjointed, it connected with hearts, I assess, and had a good impact — a very good lesson for me.
While sick, read The Children of God by Mary Doria Russell. Walk, don’t run, to get her first book, The Sparrow, and then after you’ve recovered from that miracle of a heartbreak, read this. Your mind and your ideas about faith and time will be ten sizes bigger.
I am doing the final rewrite of my new book and reading more Joseph Chilton Pierce and finding myself more and more rededicated to saying, spraying, shouting: "Our culture is not working! We are killing ourselves, inside and out. We are changing our DNA – for the worse! Don’t fall for the lie. Keep resisting the story." I see today with the eyes of Daniel Quinn’s gorilla — which is, most of the world is caught in a story that is so empty and wrong and bank rupt, we can’t stand to see it for very long, so we put our heads down and go buy something.
I sound cynical but I don’t feel that way at all. More like a Warrior Queen finding a way to wake people up through comfort.
Back to work!
I’d love to hear your comments about how you feel about the "story of the world." I savor the conversation we create here so much.
New art created by hand and then added to in photo shop elements with help of husband who has just found out he will be traveling the world on a shoot for the Discovery channel starting at the end of August for three months! Gorilla trekking anyone? It will be a life changing trip for him and one of the best jobs he has ever snagged. I’m so proud of him.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Paula Jul 15, 2006
Jen, Mary Doria Russell is one of my very most favorite authors and her latest book A Thread of Grace is radically different than Sparrow and Children. It offers an amazing perspective on what WWII was like for the Italians. (I wrote a review of it on May 1, 2006 in Paula’s Tour Talk.)Hopefully, she’ll publish another incredible novel soon.
2 Jennifer Louden Jul 16, 2006
i should have known you would love her books! I think she is working on another one – i went to read interviews about her. She has a wicked sense of humor, which only made me like her more! What it must feel like to be that smart?? Oh, I forgot – you know!
Everybody , Paula is the voice behind Instant Soothing at Comfortqueen.com – a daily new idea for self-care!~
3 Gwen Delmore Jul 16, 2006
So glad you posted this about Joseph Chilton Pearce. I have been thinking a lot about education, and what a disservice it does for the most part to children, especially boys! I will read the article you cited with great interest.
I have been having more moments lately of waking up from the story and wondering what the *&$%#!!!. I think that doing art is part of what wakes me, as well as doing massage. The pain that people are in, it comes through as sore muscles, but also as the pain of being so intensely involved in the story. Our bodies know even when we don’t.
Thank you so much for your thoughts, and sharing them with the world. They inspire me, and make me think in new ways.
blessings, Gwen
4 Helga Jul 24, 2006
A beautiful banner tucked away in the staff bathroom at my daughter’s school:
NEVER GIVE UP
No matter what is going on
Never give up
Develop the heart
Too much energy in your country
is spent on developing the mind
instead of the heart
Be compassionate
Not just to your friends
but to everyone
Be compassionate
Work for peace
in your heart and in the world
Work for peace
and I say again
Never give up
No matter what is happening
No matter what is going on around you
Never give up
HH. The XIV Dalai Lama