
I’ve truly enjoyed taking photographs and matching them to reflections and poems. I’ve learned a lot about inner and outer landscapes and their influence, one upon the other. I love telling stories. For me, they are freeze-frames of our ordinary days that connect us to one another. They take the personal into the universal, to our shared knowing and understanding. I wasn’t consciously aware of all this when I began my website more than three years ago. Nor did I know I would have much to share for this long a time period. The discipline of writing, of tuning in to whatever is percolating in the moment, has opened me to other dimensions of humanness.
Most often it feels as if my writing has a plan of its own that I may be privy to only after the piece is complete. It feels guided and inspired by a spirit who knows more than I do and who is determined to get thoughts and insights on paper. The words arrange themselves, effortlessly, to reveal messages that have been coming forth from a vague imaginal world to the world of physicality; a place felt but difficult to articulate. Rarely do I edit or change any of it. I believe that this is what is intended even when I may not fully grasp the meaning of the message or the timing.
Perhaps at times my writing has revealed too much; at other times it may have been trite or superficial; too preachy or too far out. Sometimes it may be just confusing drivel. Sometimes it seems arrogant to think I have anything at all worth sharing. I write when the muse moves me, sometimes that means every day for hours, other times I’m dry as dust and the muse is in hiding. I trust that words will be given me when it is the right time. And that’s what I have shared on my website. I’ve had no overt intention to preach or convert or condemn anyone, but maybe the teacher in me, or the mom, takes over now and then. I don’t know. I do know that I feel immersed in our shared humanness when I’m able to express my perspective, looking through my window of experience. And I love hearing your comments and your expressions of your life story.
taking a break . . . .
I’ve returned home to South Dakota. I feel my connection to place – this place – more deeply than ever. It is a significant relationship, demanding my attention, asking me to listen, to allow for more spaciousness and silence, to receive that which is waiting to reveal itself.
In returning home to place, I also have returned home to people. Many I’ve known for most of my adult life; others for not so long. They are all of equal value to me. We have shared history. We’ve been part of one another’s joy and pain, major transitions, celebrations and sorrows. We know the meanings of our experience without having to explain how the past fits into the present and why it makes sense. My personal story has been supported and cherished and woven together by loving hands of dear friends. These human relationships are precious. I am feeling called to give spaciousness and silence here, too. To reflect with new eyes and an open heart, to be grateful, to be kind, to be attentive.
My website will remain on line but it will be hibernating. From time to time I may have a few words to share. I don’t know. I hope you will check in now and then and share with me your stirrings and activities. Your life is an inspiration to me. May you know how blessed you are and may you be a blessing to others . . . .