Enjoyed listening to your audio read just now. Wabi Sabi is quite the wisdom. Japanese culture so rich and guiding. Thanks for your distillation and shares.
Interesting about patterns. Love that your heart has been speaking to you before you knew it. Writing and scribbles are maybe stepping stones. Never really finished. Hmmm.
I love this perspective. I have gone through old journals and actually been frustrated that I see some of the same things because it made me feel like I was just endlessly stuck in a pattern loop. Seeing that my thoughts weren't new made me feel stuck, but this perspective of long running truths, discovering the same things in new ways, and lines of life is really revolutionary. Thank you. ❤️
I was just about to write exactly the same thing!!! Very reassuring to know this is normal, healthy, a sign of maturing ideas and relentless pursuits - and not just my incompetence at being organised or failure to follow anything through! I have only been journalling for a few years but already have a big stack - I can’t imagine the treasure trove of reflections if you have that many years to go back through.
This is so beautiful, it’s like we ‘remember’ pieces of ourselves at different times. It’s proof I guess that we really do have what we need within, and there are just these portals that unlock them when the time is right. I love ‘the hush’ as the name fir the period between Christmas and new year... a beautiful sacred time I feel. X
“We plant those seeds, without even realising we are doing it, because there are some things we know before we know that we know them. We might even write them down, over and over, without actually realising the sentences we are writing are signposts for our life-travelling selves.”
This feels so true and relatable. I sometimes go over my old journals to discover that a longing, a desire or a dream has been in my heart for months, maybe years. I feel like my journals are full with these kinds of treasures that are waiting to be re-discovered and brought to the light. It is inspiring to look at them as the seeds of our souls that have been there waiting for us all along.
Hi thankyou for this. Found this piece gave me the freedom to.muse, and to put into words, an idea I've been struggling to express. I'm trying to draw a comparison between two trips to Switzerland, one as a footloose and fancy free 18 year old, and today as a no longer as fleet of foot grandmother on a road trip with son and grandson: a trip during which I became an honorary mountain Nanny goat. Interesting isn't it, when I stopped reaching for perfection, the words began to flow
Hi thankyou for this. Found this piece gave me the freedom to.muse, and to put into words, an idea I've been struggling to express. I'm trying to draw a comparison between two trips to Switzerland, one as a footloose and fancy free 18 year old, and today as a no longer as fleet of foot grandmother on a road trip with son and grandson: a trip during which I became an honorary mountain Nanny goat. Interesting isn't it, when I stopped reaching for perfection, the words began to flow
I have that experience too, of thinking that something is a new idea, only to discover I have written the exact same words before. It's reassuring to know that if you miss it the first time, it will circle and spiral around you until you take note 😊
A wonderful read, Beth. I'm curious if your new book will be available through US retailers? Or shall I pre-order from the UK as I see some places will ship to the US.
Thank you for your interest! My U.K. publisher had worldwide English rights but usually sells US rights on so it depends what happens there in the next couple of months. I will share here for sure when I know more ❤️
Loved reading this Beth. A few years ago I went through 10 old journals and in every single one of them I had written in them that I wanted to digitally illustrate. So I bought an I pad and I Pen and had a go. Recently I wrote a post that one of the things I have learned about myself over the last 6 years id that I often have ideas years before they come to fruition and that there is often a lot of picking up and putting down, ready to bring it to bloom or add another layer
Lying in bed this morning, wide awake way too early (Thank you, time change.) I remembered vividly a heated conversation I had with my now ex-husband in the driveway of our house. He was defending his relationship with his mistress, insisting "With her, I'm never lonely!" My response was, "No other human can ever take your essential loneliness from you. Only God can do that. If you keep chasing other humans to do that for you you're going to be right back here over and over again."
He stomped off angrily, but is currently in training to become an Episcopal priest (and still happily married). So, maybe he listened? Regardless, I find myself, in the wake of the end of a long-term relationship realizing I have to take my own advice. The end of loneliness was never something I chased, but I've chased other things that were bigger than any other human could hold in their hands. And that realization has perhaps offered the insight I needed to stop avoiding this book that has been chasing me to write it for a decade.
That’s exactly it. The book chases you. It shows up in so many ways - in words you have forgotten you have written in old journals, in the things you think about and notice, in the pull deep inside. Perhaps it’s time?
In serendipity of some sort I wrote this the other day.
'Illumination as Art'
https://open.substack.com/pub/theseainme/p/illumination-as-art?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=46rss
Enjoyed listening to your audio read just now. Wabi Sabi is quite the wisdom. Japanese culture so rich and guiding. Thanks for your distillation and shares.
Interesting about patterns. Love that your heart has been speaking to you before you knew it. Writing and scribbles are maybe stepping stones. Never really finished. Hmmm.
I love this perspective. I have gone through old journals and actually been frustrated that I see some of the same things because it made me feel like I was just endlessly stuck in a pattern loop. Seeing that my thoughts weren't new made me feel stuck, but this perspective of long running truths, discovering the same things in new ways, and lines of life is really revolutionary. Thank you. ❤️
I was just about to write exactly the same thing!!! Very reassuring to know this is normal, healthy, a sign of maturing ideas and relentless pursuits - and not just my incompetence at being organised or failure to follow anything through! I have only been journalling for a few years but already have a big stack - I can’t imagine the treasure trove of reflections if you have that many years to go back through.
This is so beautiful, it’s like we ‘remember’ pieces of ourselves at different times. It’s proof I guess that we really do have what we need within, and there are just these portals that unlock them when the time is right. I love ‘the hush’ as the name fir the period between Christmas and new year... a beautiful sacred time I feel. X
“We plant those seeds, without even realising we are doing it, because there are some things we know before we know that we know them. We might even write them down, over and over, without actually realising the sentences we are writing are signposts for our life-travelling selves.”
This feels so true and relatable. I sometimes go over my old journals to discover that a longing, a desire or a dream has been in my heart for months, maybe years. I feel like my journals are full with these kinds of treasures that are waiting to be re-discovered and brought to the light. It is inspiring to look at them as the seeds of our souls that have been there waiting for us all along.
Hi thankyou for this. Found this piece gave me the freedom to.muse, and to put into words, an idea I've been struggling to express. I'm trying to draw a comparison between two trips to Switzerland, one as a footloose and fancy free 18 year old, and today as a no longer as fleet of foot grandmother on a road trip with son and grandson: a trip during which I became an honorary mountain Nanny goat. Interesting isn't it, when I stopped reaching for perfection, the words began to flow
Hi thankyou for this. Found this piece gave me the freedom to.muse, and to put into words, an idea I've been struggling to express. I'm trying to draw a comparison between two trips to Switzerland, one as a footloose and fancy free 18 year old, and today as a no longer as fleet of foot grandmother on a road trip with son and grandson: a trip during which I became an honorary mountain Nanny goat. Interesting isn't it, when I stopped reaching for perfection, the words began to flow
‘ … in fact my heart had been speaking those ideas aloud for a long time. I just hadn’t been paying attention.’
Yes! I have been learning to listen to my heART more and more.
Thank you for such a thoughtful, soothing piece.🙏🏻
❤️❤️❤️
Well, this story was truly inspiring for me! I feel it pushes me to finally start writing what it has to be written! Thank you for sharing it ♥️
Yes! Do it! ❤️
I have that experience too, of thinking that something is a new idea, only to discover I have written the exact same words before. It's reassuring to know that if you miss it the first time, it will circle and spiral around you until you take note 😊
It’s a comforting discovery!
A wonderful read, Beth. I'm curious if your new book will be available through US retailers? Or shall I pre-order from the UK as I see some places will ship to the US.
Thank you for your interest! My U.K. publisher had worldwide English rights but usually sells US rights on so it depends what happens there in the next couple of months. I will share here for sure when I know more ❤️
Loved reading this Beth. A few years ago I went through 10 old journals and in every single one of them I had written in them that I wanted to digitally illustrate. So I bought an I pad and I Pen and had a go. Recently I wrote a post that one of the things I have learned about myself over the last 6 years id that I often have ideas years before they come to fruition and that there is often a lot of picking up and putting down, ready to bring it to bloom or add another layer
This is exactly what I needed to hear today. Thank you for this wonderful piece Beth ✨
Thank you for taking the time to read it. I am so glad✨
Absolutely beautiful Beth. 💔
❤️
Beautiful post Beth. Thank you.
🙏❤️
Lying in bed this morning, wide awake way too early (Thank you, time change.) I remembered vividly a heated conversation I had with my now ex-husband in the driveway of our house. He was defending his relationship with his mistress, insisting "With her, I'm never lonely!" My response was, "No other human can ever take your essential loneliness from you. Only God can do that. If you keep chasing other humans to do that for you you're going to be right back here over and over again."
He stomped off angrily, but is currently in training to become an Episcopal priest (and still happily married). So, maybe he listened? Regardless, I find myself, in the wake of the end of a long-term relationship realizing I have to take my own advice. The end of loneliness was never something I chased, but I've chased other things that were bigger than any other human could hold in their hands. And that realization has perhaps offered the insight I needed to stop avoiding this book that has been chasing me to write it for a decade.
That’s exactly it. The book chases you. It shows up in so many ways - in words you have forgotten you have written in old journals, in the things you think about and notice, in the pull deep inside. Perhaps it’s time?
Such a beautiful piece ❤️
Ahh thank you!