Friday, September 05, 2008

If you don't know her yet...

read this book.
you
will
never
be
the
same.


Thank
goodness

This Article's Link

|

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Right Now, Don't Wait, Go

What if I told you,
“there is nothing wrong with you?”

Would you believe me?

What if I told you
“you are awake, this moment—enlightened!”

Would you feel the heat
of truth in your heart?

What if I suggested,
"right now, don’t wait, go
outside,
find a bit of bare earth
to kneel on,"
and then
told you
to press
your forehead
to that dirt
and then
told you
to breathe her in.

Would you do it?

What if I said,
“that’s all you need to do,
for the rest of your life?
Kneel on this earth
who holds you,
breathe her in
and be.”

Would I believe me?

What if?

This Article's Link

|

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Pearl

There is this concern we have with what others think of us. It's habituated, probably from the time of our ancestors, when we were dependent on one another for survival. Fitting in was primal.

We are still radically interdependent (even if we don't know it) but this concern is misplaced. We cut off our life force with this habituated worry and by investing our time in it, we keep life from shining through us. That is a great loss, an unnecessary waste. I simply don't do this anymore. I am myself, period. What others think does not concern me.

This Article's Link

|

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Real or a Dream?

Another summer blows out and while it seems impossible that fall closes in and my beloved children will return to school tomorrow, arms loaded with bags of supplies, here it is.

Josephine is now as long legged as a colt and Spencer is as wide in the chest as a man. What's happening to these beings that were toddling around yesterday?

I burst out in tears today, describing Jo to her new 1st grade teacher. I couldn't help it. I told the teacher, "you're just so lucky to have Jo in your class. She's such a light."

Spencer stood on the porch as I cut his hair this afternoon and we were eye to eye. I realized I could no longer pick him up without causing myself serious injury yet all I wanted was to hug him close the way I did one year ago. He stays just long enough for a quick squeeze and is on his manly way.

As they drift off to sleep, I sit in the cool westerly winds of the night and watch the sun paint the clouds another shade of sunset pink. They say it's all a dream, or an illusion, and I believe that to be true. Life, moving so swiftly now, is both excruciating and beautiful. It is a dream too impossible to comprehend, too vast to contain and too fleeting to grasp, I can only take another deep breath and watch as it passes in front of me, through me, with me and without a me, this great play of being.

Labels: , , ,

This Article's Link

|

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Pearl


"The most remarkable feature of this historical moment on Earth is not that we are on the way to destroying the world—we’ve actually been on the way for quite a while. It is that we are beginning to wake up, as from a millennia-long sleep, to a whole new relationship to our world, to ourselves and each other." ~ Joanna Macy, Eco Philosopher

This Article's Link

|

Friday, August 29, 2008

Is a Chair Just a Chair?

Meeting with a writer today, we tried to figure out what happens, exactly, when we write about our lives.

As the remembering of our lives comes through our finger tips to drop like dew on the page—it is as clear to us as that chair across the room, that interweaving of wicker fashioned for a human to sit upon. But the moment we attempt definition, it seems impossible. For what is that chair, really??? It is something now but it is also something alive, growing in a field, infused with sunlight, pressed by the wind and touched by the hands of workers who wove it into being.

The chair is a chair but is it really just a chair? Of course not!!!

“It’s time travel,” she finally said bluntly, truth delivered on simple wings.

That’s it.

Writing about our past, via the present moment, sets the writer on a journey in time to gather the lessons needed for the now and the future. It’s a vision quest without getting lost or causing harm (hopefully).

That is what happens when we come together, you and I, to write your life on the page. We create a time travel container, we develop the rituals together for you to go and return without too much disturbance to your now and then we weave together a something that you might sit in for a long time. That something might be called “a book” or “a memoir” or “a novel” or “a poem” or “a song” or "a documentary" or "film" or it will be an unnamable something else.

~

I’ve just returned from a ten day intensive with Joanna Macy, known as "The Whole Truth Teller" where I learned how to merge her Work that Reconnects into my own work which I call Writing Life. If you are unfamiliar with the work of Joanna, please go to her site to learn more. Her memoir, Widening Circles rocked my world--the life, the experience, the honesty, the pain, the cracking open of her soul over and over again--are exactly what I have been begging for in a woman teacher.

In her presence, I felt as if I had finally met someone more honest than myself. After ten days of working with her in interactive processes that open heart and mind to the truth, I continue to marvel at her fearless capacity to be so authentic. Her truth and her style of truth telling are exactly what we need now. There is no more time to bury our heads in the sands of blame, fear, anger, worry and what was. We must awaken. We must reach out. We must touch each other and be fully alive.

We must!

I am excite to bring my new, "Whole Truth Telling" teachings into the one on one work and to the workshops being offered this fall. Please Contact mefor available times, costs and dates!

This Article's Link

|

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Workshops and Teachings

Summer closes, fall opens and like the seasons, life is changing so fast for so many it is hard to keep up. Some people are thrilled and ready, others are scared and confused. I believe the most important thing to remember is that you are not alone. you are part of a great shift in the way the world sees and it is a great time to connect with others.

I am offering four Fall intensive's on memoir writing and reconnecting to your life. The workshops will be interactive, focused, inspiring and will give you invaluable connections to each other. They will be held from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon and the cost will be on a sliding scale of $175.00 - $225.00 with scholarships available. Each will be limited to eight students and accommodations are available for those coming from out of town.

Sept. 26th-28th
Oct. 3rd-5th
Oct. 24th-25th
Nov. 1st & 2nd (Full Sat & Sun)

Please write a small description of yourself and why you would like to attend a workshop, send this to jcastel@teleport.com and also include the dates you are interested in attending. I will send more information after I have read your self description!

This Article's Link

|