Seedlings in Stone

On, In, and Around Mondays: Opening the Creative Door

She chose to frame it as a question of doors. Used a story from childhood, about how she had been afraid to turn a handle. The book club post was about Risk.

This morning I'm marveling. The imagery throughout this week's chapter of The Artist's Way is doors. (Was she prescient? Or had she read ahead? ;-)

I like this quote, for instance. Wrote it down... "Rather than allow himself to be blocked, he looked for the other door."

Sometimes when I am going through a big questioning time in my life, when I am feeling blocked or wishing for more, I end up dreaming of a huge house. It never looks quite the same, but it is always rambling. And it has a lot of doors, of course. With a lot of handles just waiting to be turned.

Cameron says, "One of our favorite things to do—instead of our art—is to contemplate the odds [that we won't succeed]."

I think what I like about my recurring dream is that it invites me to forget about "success" and the odds. Every door is a promise. I can't go wrong. Every room seems to lead one to the other, and every room is intriguing.

"Small actions lead us," reminds Cameron. Why yes. One little handle, turned, opens up a whole house of dreams.

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On, In and Around Mondays (which partly means you can post any day and still add a link) is an invitation to write from where you are. Tell us what is on, in, around (over, under, near, by...) you. Feel free to write any which way... compose a tight poem or just ramble for a few paragraphs. But we should feel a sense of place. Would you like to try? Write something 'in place' and add your link below.

If you could kindly link back here when you post, it will create a central meeting place. :)

This post is also shared with Laura Boggess, for...

Labels: book clubs, Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way, Tweetspeak Poetry

On, In, and Around Mondays: Guessed

On Friday I asked people to take a guess. I absolutely *loved* the ideas that were generated. And I promise it is all going somewhere (simple revelation coming soon. :)

During the guessing game, I spent some time in peripheral conversations with people. "Did you look at both sites before making your guess?" I asked them.

Some said yes, some no.

It's not like there were any instructions that said it was absolutely necessary to take mulitiple perspectives into account. And the links between sites were very small. They just said, Here or "today's other clue." So it's perfectly okay that some people made their guesses from a single perspective.

As it turns out, this particular result of our guessing game provides a very nice illustration for this week's High Calling introduction to Mindfulness, by Ellen Langer.

Acting from a single perspective is one of the reasons Langer says we sometimes miss making the meaning we need to make.

Of course, in our guessing game, I stacked the deck a little, giving out a narrow perspective to begin with and only increasing it over time. (Also, it's no easy riddle, so everyone who participated should be pleased with their guesses (I was completely tickled! :)

In the end, somebody who took in multiple perspectives did finally, guess what... guess.

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Coming soon: a revelation of the simple reason we played our guessing game. In the meantime, care to join us for a bookclub discussion of Mindfulness, by Ellen Langer?

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On, In and Around Mondays (which partly means you can post any day and still add a link) is an invitation to write from where you are. Tell us what is on, in, around (over, under, near, by...) you. Feel free to write any which way... compose a tight poem or just ramble for a few paragraphs. But we should feel a sense of place. Would you like to try? Write something 'in place' and add your link below.

If you could kindly link back here when you post, it will create a central meeting place. :)

This post is also shared with Laura Boggess, for...

Labels: book clubs, Ellen J. Langer, guess, Mindfulness, thehighcalling.org

On, In, and Around Mondays: Is Your Mind Full?

What does it mean to be Mindful? (My mind is always full, it seems. Does this count? :)

Maybe it is the ability to dream beyond what seems possible....

Or maybe it is a willingness to take in new information, to change even a lifetime of habits when we see the potential benefits...

Perhaps it is the openness to change one's posture—mentally, physically, or spiritually...

I'm excited about the potential answers to the question, "What is Mindfulness?" I'm pleased that The High Calling is going to explore this topic through Ellen J. Langer's book Mindfulness. Join us? :)

Alien Sculpture and photos by Sonia, 12. :) Used with permission.

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On, In and Around Mondays (which partly means you can post any day and still add a link) is an invitation to write from where you are. Tell us what is on, in, around (over, under, near, by...) you. Feel free to write any which way... compose a tight poem or just ramble for a few paragraphs. But we should feel a sense of place. Would you like to try? Write something 'in place' and add your link below.

If you could kindly link back here when you post, it will create a central meeting place. :)

This post is also shared with Laura Boggess, for...

Labels: book clubs, Mindfulness, thehighcalling.org

Reading is a Together Thing

I come from a family of readers. My mother sustained me through many a dark day as a child, by reading poem after narrative poem to my sister and I on the couch. My father will not give you an hour's peace before he once again picks up a newspaper or book and reads an excerpt to you. Even my paternal grandmother read huge volumes of The History of the World when she was in her seventies. And she would tell me all about what she was learning.

So imagine my surprise when my Littlest just didn't show an interest in reading. Or so I thought. It occurred to me one day that she is highly interested, as long as reading is a social activity. And then I realized she is not so different from my mother, my father, my grandmother. Reading is something they always shared. It was and is a time of bonding and affection, of sharing.

Which brings us to me. I belong to three book clubs. I love to read, but rarely finish a book unless it's one I'll end up sharing with someone. It is only natural that I would function the same way in regards to my own book, Stone Crossings. After all, as I recently told an interviewer who asked me why I love to write, "I don't love to write so much as I write to love."

No surprise then that I wanted to start a Stone Crossings book club wiki where readers who desire to go beyond the opportunity to comment can really join the club by bringing themselves more fully into the sharing process.

As you may know, a wiki allows everyone to post, not just the wiki-master. So if you visit the new wiki right now, you'll see that this has already begun. People are posting pictures on the theme of Waiting for Stone Crossings. And, at least for me, it's a wonderful time of sharing, laughs, awe and bonding.

Of course, I invite you too. Stop by and see what others are doing, hear me read an excerpt, add your own pictures or blog post about Stone Crossings. Because reading is a together thing.

Here are a few people who've already joined the party by doing:

Photos and blog posts:
Dave Zimmerman
Christine Scheller
Charity Singleton
Blue Mountain Mama
Flourishing Mother

Photos:
Erin
Carl Holmes
Nancy
Kirsten
Christianne Squires
Ted Gossard
Spaghettiepie
Gail Nadeau
Craver

Waiting for Stone Crossings sculpture and photo, by Sara B, age 10. Used with permission.

Labels: book clubs, Stone Crossings