River of Words has now finished but you can find other beautiful writing classes on my website dowhatyouloveforlife.com or join my private writing community SoulCircle (here on Substack) for year-round inspiration, including live writing sessions. Click here to join and get a lovely discount off annual membership. Can’t wait to see you inside! Beth Xx
This is the official thread for anyone participating in River of Words. This thread is intended to be a gathering point for all FINISHED pieces of work from class, which you have published on your own channels.
Before we begin, feel free to post a ‘hello’ with a link to your Substack in the comments of this thread.
Then each week of class, if you publish your weekly FINISHED piece as an essay here on Substack, please post a link to it in the comments of this thread, perhaps with a short explanation of what the piece is about, so others can go and read it and discover more of your work.
Please note I cannot guarantee to read and share everything but I will do my best, and others in class will be able to discover your work this way.
NOTE: I kindly request that you don’t publicly share details of the invitations themselves, just your response to them. Thank you!
Beth Xx
River of Words has now finished but for year-round inspiration I encourage you to consider upgrading to paid to join my membership SoulCircle, for Live Writing Circles, year-round inspiration, chat, Q&A and more.
OOH, such beautiful people I came across in this journey. I have been out of sync past two weeks but had been quietly working on each week's piece thanks to substack drafts for keeping my works in progress.
Here is something I wrote, inspired much by Beth Kempton's Week 4 -
I've so enjoyed the ROW ride! I have 4 notebooks full of ponderings and prompts, the bones of a plan and a heart full of inspiration. Thank you all, and @Beth Kempton, for guiding us so beautifully out to sea...
I look forward to reconnecting with some of you again in SoulCircle.
I've been writing mostly about grief and loss until this course, and I've suddenly unlocked something new and different. Think it's growing into something new and not yet fully formed. I hope to see many of you in SoulStack. All the best, Vic :)
This week I have taken a lot longer to finish shaping my piece. I think partly because it took me off somewhere unanticipated (as every week has), and partly because I don’t want River of Words to end - the course, the structure, your support, the writing I can’t believe is coming from me.
I have definitely been travelling from source to sea on this adventure and find myself at the delta, knowing it’s time to dive into the ocean, ready and scared. I can’t explain the wave of emotion and feelings I’m experiencing listening to this week’s song share - The Shores of Avalon, Tina Malia - but I feel every note of it in me.
I am grateful for this whole experience and the shift within me even if it’s discombobulating. Knowing I can’t turn back. It’s time.
Thank you @Beth Kempton and every beautiful soul in this community.
So it is with a mixture of sadness, loss, grief, joy, pride, and gratitude I share my final piece from the course:
Hi all - here is this week's piece, which challenged me as I don't often write in this way. I've enjoyed journeying down the river with you all these past seven weeks and hope we continue to share our work as we reach the sea. ✨
Thank you for sharing your space and your words with us Trudi. I absolutely loved this piece. I would recommend everyone to read it. I am definitely subscribing to your letter.
Hello everyone, I just wanted to put a note on here in advance of this course ending.
I found my first Beth course via a promotion on Facebook, at a point where my world had stopped after 3 huge life events in less than a year, which culminated in other life events, as life does. I had always journalled, but hadn’t written a word since I was a child. My Mum had always said i was creative, but this had got lost in a world of science and IT.
I have now been writing on Substack since January. I’ve not many subscribers but I am slowly gaining more followers week on week. It’s not about that though. It’s about the bravery, the courage, the showing up as myself, the healing, the saying yes to a me that I’d forgotten about.
And so I’d mostly like to that Beth for her part in that. Without her generosity in creating her free summer writing sanctuary in 2022, without her gentle encouragement, the lack of critique (which has stifled my creativity before) and thoughtful exercises, I wouldn’t be here right now. And also to the wonderful people who take Beth’s courses - those who encourage others, take time to read each others work and find lovely things to say - I am so incredibly grateful to you all.
At the end of this journey Id like to say thank you for giving your words and energy to us all. Will subscribe your letter to stay within your soul circle. Much Love, XX
What an adventure these past 7 weeks have been! Thank you to Beth and all of you who read and commented on my posts. I truly am grateful, it has helped me so much.
This week in the "Look Closer" assignment I found the guardians of the elements arrived in my writing. It culminated in a drumbeat that directed my writing. I look forward to reading your posts. Everyone is so unique and talented. See you tomorrow!
Besides this River of Words writing circle I joined a three day women's writing camp this week, so the prompts and ideas danced to form this week's piece. https://terjeakke.substack.com/p/silly-joy
This was a beautiful and familiar feeling piece. Thank you for being a part of this journey with me. I truly appreciate your words and I would love to see us continue this writing dance.
So here is my last piece from River of Words. What an amazing time it has been. Thank you so much Beth. It has been inspirational and fun! Now I just need to go back and gather together my fragments - stardust?! I look forward to continuing to write alongside you all. Miranda
I am feeling so far behind with the River of Life (I mean River of Words) course. But I know that is okay. There is so much richness in the course that I will continue working on it for a long time to come. I have generated so many ideas for future pieces (as well as those I have already written). Also, largely because of this course, I now have a Substack, and the momentum to keep going with it - many thanks to Beth and to every one of you. I have not attended the live sessions (due to them being in the middle of the night where I live), but the recordings have helped me to feel connected to many of you. I am so glad that Beth has created the SoulCircle membership so that those of us who choose, can continue these beautiful connections. Much love, Phoebe
Oh, I don't think I posted last week's post here as it was not really a response to the course prompt, but here is a link if you're interested:
Love your honesty in this note. Thank you Phoebe! So glad you have a substack to return to and share with us your writings. I agree with you and I also felt overwhelmed for my own reasons to indulge deeply with the content in and to keep pace with Live writing for two hours and sharing of one's writing pieces in the best manner possible! And what a WONDERFUL way to describe the depth of the word Wonder...thank you for writing and sharing something as we come to a significant turn in this course of life.
I don't remember being asked to add tags to it just before publication. Can anyone advise on how I add tags afterwards? I can't seem to see how it's done. Thank you. Here's to week 7! How can that be?
If you go back into the post, and select to edit it, you can add tags in page where you “publish”. If that makes sense - or at least that’s where I do it.
Hello all, I've been working on some travel essays the past two weeks, which do not meet the 300 word minimum (smart directive) so feel free to jump around paragraphs to land on one that may offer you a new perspective on the ever shifting space around us, gleaned from the vast estuary of the Everglades in Florida. https://writethelife.substack.com/p/day-two-into-the-everglades
This week has been the most fun ever! I have LOVED ‘The Estuary’. It has taught me how much pleasure I can get from bringing some playfulness, and another form of creativity, into my writing. I’m not sure about how to maximise this going forward, yet, I just know I need to.
I am so excited to have created a teeny tiny book. It’s the sort of book I wish I could have read when I was eight. You can read it yourself by clicking the link to the creative coaches pHiloSoPhy below, or you can see the teeny tiny book and hear me reading it to you.
I hope you love hearing/reading it as much as I loved writing and creating it. Ready?
Imagine if we could see our brilliance like others do... welcome to The Other Side of the Moon:
This is a letter to my little sister after her magical wedding in a zen garden where it poured down with rain & inspired me to dedicate my tributaries piece to it/her:
I've taken my tiny book and added a little extra as I try to develop a way of taking my writing exploration and using it to talk about things that matter to me
Last week the sensitive coaches pHiloSoPhy published this poem ‘Shame. Words Unspoken’ on Substack but didn’t share it more widely. Which I didn’t understand. Then the irony hit… I didn’t share a poem which was about the shame that comes about from feeling different and wanting to hide our true selves for fear of not fitting in. I didn’t share it because I started to imagine what others would think of the poem, of me, an HSP Coach. This has niggled me all week. This morning in the shower I thought “what if today is the day that someone out there needs to read this?” To know that the sensitive coaches pHiloSoPhy understands, so here it is…
After much wrestling with myself over the less is more brief, I had an epiphany! I had written a short story which I condensed into a poem. I always like more - always.....that is until I re-read my story before posting. I realised I liked LESS! I liked LESS!!! So here is my shorter poem. https://gilldunkerley.substack.com/p/leather-and-feathers
I have just published the scariest, most vulnerable post of my life. I have many post ideas lined up from Beth's prompts these last weeks, but this post simply cried out to be written. Keen for some feedback on this one. Thanks, Phoebe
I have read your post Phoebe and I cried. It's heart-breaking, shocking, honest, vulnerable, it's amazing - although it almost feels wrong saying that given the content but I think you will understand what I mean. I need to go back and re-read it to take it all in. I applaud you for having such courage to share your story! Wow! It blew me away. I hope you feel ok having shared it. I am sure it will resonate hugely with lots of people. Sending hugs and a big old punch to the air!
Week 5 Oxbow Lake Greetings 😊 this week’s challenge felt heavy, I was patient, waiting, the words arrived. This style is different, perhaps there is a traditional storyteller in me after all. Thank you @BethKempton for the challenge. Here is the link if you have time to read a short one https://susanewalker.substack.com/p/push-and-pull?r=108rc2
The experiences that I had were from people who were suffering in their own ways, and yet inflicted on others to make themselves feel powerful.
That was it in a nutshell. Leaving me all of these years with more questions than answers. Wondering what I did to make them react this way toward me. Eventually having to forgive to free myself. Forgiving myself as I was blameless. That was the hardest. Letting go of the notion that I somehow brought this on myself.
The years of self deprecation, never feeling like I was enough followed me around. Always lurking, like the mask I put on disguised as a smile. The narcissist does not change. I met more than my share. I even married one. Sometimes I feel like I fell in love with the same person over and over with a different name. Maybe they can smell it on you, like an animal can smell blood knowing that there their prey is near.
What a powerful week. I am sorry to have missed our live gathering this morning. I look forward to watching the replay and reading posts from this week. Enjoy your weekend everyone!
Hi everyone - this has been a very different writing experience for me this week and I'm really looking forward to hearing your experiences and reading your shared pieces. The piece I spilled and shaped felt too personal to share, so I took Beth's advice from her email this morning to share about my experience of writing this week instead: https://open.substack.com/pub/anitakemp/p/writing-to-the-rhythm-of-water
This short 'motif' piece doesn't really fit with my Substack so I hope it's OK to post it here:
Through a wall of glass I can see sunlit spaces, trees and flowers and know that is where I was born to be. It feels as if I have been trapped in here for a lifetime, tightly folded into my protective casing, flight an impossible dream.
Beyond the glass wall are a row of expectant faces, noses pressed against the clear barrier that cuts me off from them and from the life beyond.
‘Look, look, she is going to be so beautiful!’
‘Look, look, how strong and brave she is!’
‘Look, look, she is going to fly and bring us joy!’
Is that all they want to see? Must I be a thing of beauty and joy to be allowed to fly from my glass cage? Should I stay here, hidden, until, maybe, I can become the being of vibrant colour that would please them?
Slowly, tentatively I stretch out my brown, dull wings. I feel the air ripple across me as I move towards a world of light and warmth. Then I take a deep breath and I fly. My being opens to the scents of new worlds as I soar over the expectant noses to the wild spaces beyond. Here, deep in the rich undergrowth, I sense I will find the nectar that will quench the thirst of my quiet, moth’s soul.
Posting for 8.1 I am a river: https://open.substack.com/pub/susanewalker/p/surrender-to-the-sea?r=108rc2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
My Answer to 8.1 - I am a river…
https://open.substack.com/pub/sharonmariebuckler/p/real?r=zcmf4&utm_medium=ios
OOH, such beautiful people I came across in this journey. I have been out of sync past two weeks but had been quietly working on each week's piece thanks to substack drafts for keeping my works in progress.
Here is something I wrote, inspired much by Beth Kempton's Week 4 -
https://open.substack.com/pub/migrainemuse/p/i-waterfall?r=230ufb&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Heading over to read your writings now...
Hi folks,
I've so enjoyed the ROW ride! I have 4 notebooks full of ponderings and prompts, the bones of a plan and a heart full of inspiration. Thank you all, and @Beth Kempton, for guiding us so beautifully out to sea...
I look forward to reconnecting with some of you again in SoulCircle.
For the final writing, this fact: Most heart attacks happen on Mondays. I've so enjoyed the class!
https://writethelife.substack.com/p/sundays-crime
Just something inspired by the LIVE
https://sharonmariebuckler.substack.com/p/i-will-be-seen
Ending River of Words with the River of Souls <3 https://open.substack.com/pub/jacquimcginn/p/opening-to-the-river-of-souls?r=2w03u9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Hello All,
This is my final submission. I have embraced my inner weird and gone a little rogue this week. Please take a look - https://open.substack.com/pub/toryhaughton/p/imagining-aliens?r=36u5xx&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
I've been writing mostly about grief and loss until this course, and I've suddenly unlocked something new and different. Think it's growing into something new and not yet fully formed. I hope to see many of you in SoulStack. All the best, Vic :)
This week I have taken a lot longer to finish shaping my piece. I think partly because it took me off somewhere unanticipated (as every week has), and partly because I don’t want River of Words to end - the course, the structure, your support, the writing I can’t believe is coming from me.
I have definitely been travelling from source to sea on this adventure and find myself at the delta, knowing it’s time to dive into the ocean, ready and scared. I can’t explain the wave of emotion and feelings I’m experiencing listening to this week’s song share - The Shores of Avalon, Tina Malia - but I feel every note of it in me.
I am grateful for this whole experience and the shift within me even if it’s discombobulating. Knowing I can’t turn back. It’s time.
Thank you @Beth Kempton and every beautiful soul in this community.
So it is with a mixture of sadness, loss, grief, joy, pride, and gratitude I share my final piece from the course:
https://open.substack.com/pub/gilliangabriel/p/wired-for-sensitivity?r=1hsqhc&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
#GentleGillian #hsp #sensitivity #highlysensitiveperson #highlysensitive #hspcoach #hspcoaching
A bit late in sharing got busy in other life things here goes Week 5.
This was an exhilarating eweek. Penned it in a poem titled: I DIDN'T WANT TO SHARE THIS.
Please scroll down to find it.
https://migrainemuse.substack.com/p/poetry
Hello! Here is the link to my Substack for Week number 7 sharing. My topic was Trees. https://open.substack.com/pub/sharonmariebuckler/p/trees-and-life?r=zcmf4&utm_medium=ios
A much loved topic. Thank you for sharing your experience with this Queen of Nature- a Tree as I say it to my children.
Subscribing to your letter. Hope to see you keep writing and give me inspiration as well.
Hi all - here is this week's piece, which challenged me as I don't often write in this way. I've enjoyed journeying down the river with you all these past seven weeks and hope we continue to share our work as we reach the sea. ✨
https://open.substack.com/pub/trudinicola/p/ashes-to-ashes?r=pk48h&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Thank you for sharing your space and your words with us Trudi. I absolutely loved this piece. I would recommend everyone to read it. I am definitely subscribing to your letter.
Thank you so much, Shaza!✨
Hello everyone, I just wanted to put a note on here in advance of this course ending.
I found my first Beth course via a promotion on Facebook, at a point where my world had stopped after 3 huge life events in less than a year, which culminated in other life events, as life does. I had always journalled, but hadn’t written a word since I was a child. My Mum had always said i was creative, but this had got lost in a world of science and IT.
I have now been writing on Substack since January. I’ve not many subscribers but I am slowly gaining more followers week on week. It’s not about that though. It’s about the bravery, the courage, the showing up as myself, the healing, the saying yes to a me that I’d forgotten about.
And so I’d mostly like to that Beth for her part in that. Without her generosity in creating her free summer writing sanctuary in 2022, without her gentle encouragement, the lack of critique (which has stifled my creativity before) and thoughtful exercises, I wouldn’t be here right now. And also to the wonderful people who take Beth’s courses - those who encourage others, take time to read each others work and find lovely things to say - I am so incredibly grateful to you all.
Last one - here we go https://open.substack.com/pub/jacquisonelife/p/cultural-ripples?r=supd8&utm_medium=ios
Wow. Thank you for this inspirational piece. You are Beth Kempton's Fearless Writer...
Thank you so much. Was a lovely thing to say 🙏🏻
Week seven, thanks for reading if you have a moment: https://open.substack.com/pub/susanewalker/p/heart-and-soul?r=108rc2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
goosebumps from your poem....thank you for sharing Susan.
Week 7 - this is my first substack post (late to the game!). Not everything is set up, but I wanted to get started at least. I've been posting on FB but will now go through the links shared. Here's my link: https://julesapollo.substack.com/p/with-9-brains-and-3-hearts-i-figure
The first post you say, well it was heartfelt, Jule.
Personal. Emotional. Beautiful. Indebted to know your grief and how you are handling it.
Indeed a Fearless Writer....
Thank you Shaza!
Week 7: https://open.substack.com/pub/jcvoght/p/if-i-were-a-butterfly?r=at09u&utm_medium=ios
Incredibly grateful for the River of Words journey. 💚
a pretty little gem you shared. Thank you!
At the end of this journey Id like to say thank you for giving your words and energy to us all. Will subscribe your letter to stay within your soul circle. Much Love, XX
Thank you so much. Your words and subscription touched my heart this morning.
What an adventure these past 7 weeks have been! Thank you to Beth and all of you who read and commented on my posts. I truly am grateful, it has helped me so much.
This week in the "Look Closer" assignment I found the guardians of the elements arrived in my writing. It culminated in a drumbeat that directed my writing. I look forward to reading your posts. Everyone is so unique and talented. See you tomorrow!
Here is the link to my writing for Week 7: https://open.substack.com/pub/coyotejoy/p/cave-paintings?r=3vhn71&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Week 7: https://josefinwaltin.substack.com/p/i-want-to-believe
Besides this River of Words writing circle I joined a three day women's writing camp this week, so the prompts and ideas danced to form this week's piece. https://terjeakke.substack.com/p/silly-joy
loved the phrase prompts and ideas danced.
This was a beautiful and familiar feeling piece. Thank you for being a part of this journey with me. I truly appreciate your words and I would love to see us continue this writing dance.
So here is my last piece from River of Words. What an amazing time it has been. Thank you so much Beth. It has been inspirational and fun! Now I just need to go back and gather together my fragments - stardust?! I look forward to continuing to write alongside you all. Miranda
https://open.substack.com/pub/mirandamarsh/p/is-your-soul-made-of-stardust?r=28q5f9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
I am feeling so far behind with the River of Life (I mean River of Words) course. But I know that is okay. There is so much richness in the course that I will continue working on it for a long time to come. I have generated so many ideas for future pieces (as well as those I have already written). Also, largely because of this course, I now have a Substack, and the momentum to keep going with it - many thanks to Beth and to every one of you. I have not attended the live sessions (due to them being in the middle of the night where I live), but the recordings have helped me to feel connected to many of you. I am so glad that Beth has created the SoulCircle membership so that those of us who choose, can continue these beautiful connections. Much love, Phoebe
Oh, I don't think I posted last week's post here as it was not really a response to the course prompt, but here is a link if you're interested:
https://lifewritingalchemy.substack.com/p/wake-up-to-wonder
Love your honesty in this note. Thank you Phoebe! So glad you have a substack to return to and share with us your writings. I agree with you and I also felt overwhelmed for my own reasons to indulge deeply with the content in and to keep pace with Live writing for two hours and sharing of one's writing pieces in the best manner possible! And what a WONDERFUL way to describe the depth of the word Wonder...thank you for writing and sharing something as we come to a significant turn in this course of life.
I like that you turned River of Words to River of Life course. It somewhat feels like this, doesn't it?
Omg, I did not do that on purpose. Haha. I will edit, but leave River of Life in there too I think, because it absolutely has been both.
Hi folks,
I haven't shared for a couple of weeks - still playing, still pausing, still pondering ....
So, for now, another small piece here...
I climbed a tree today,
It's sturdy limbs beckoned,
Mine, no longer those of a child,
But mountains and forests in them, still.
Then,
Barefoot on the ground
I crouched,
Feeling a quickening,
The wild child,
Smelling lilac
Pants off!
a lovely small piece. Thanks so much for still showing up. Gives me inspiration as well.
Love this, especially the pants off. Wild child indeed!
Thank you Phoebe - may we all be Freer!
Super late with this one. I've been part of a fantastic choir tour this weekend which has been such a privilege, awesome and inspiring but also exhausting. So still catching up with last week's writing. Here is my offering - https://toryhaughton.substack.com/p/when-you-think-you-know-someone?utm_source=substack&utm_content=feed%3Arecommended%3Acopy_link
I look forward to reading everyone else's tonight when I get a moment on socials.
Hi Tory,
I could feel the tension rippling! I want to know what happens next....?!
Thank you! ❤️ sliding door moment maybe ??
Hello all, I was a bit late finishing week 6 decided to post anyway. A little story about waiting.
Here's the link to it.
https://gilldunkerley.substack.com/p/ink
I don't remember being asked to add tags to it just before publication. Can anyone advise on how I add tags afterwards? I can't seem to see how it's done. Thank you. Here's to week 7! How can that be?
Nice story. Thanks for sharing and being here with me in this journey.
Hi Gill,
I enjoyed your tiny story - it made me smile!
So glad you enjoyed it and that it made you smile. I wanted it to have heart really. Thanks for your comments.
If you go back into the post, and select to edit it, you can add tags in page where you “publish”. If that makes sense - or at least that’s where I do it.
Thanks Tori, I’ll take a look. It usually asks me. Not sure why it didn’t this time. Unless I did something differently.
Hello all, I've been working on some travel essays the past two weeks, which do not meet the 300 word minimum (smart directive) so feel free to jump around paragraphs to land on one that may offer you a new perspective on the ever shifting space around us, gleaned from the vast estuary of the Everglades in Florida. https://writethelife.substack.com/p/day-two-into-the-everglades
This was an uplifting and creative week. Here is the link to my tiny book ...
https://open.substack.com/pub/coyotejoy/p/the-little-paint-pony?r=3vhn71&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Hello all! Here’s the link to my Tiny Book.
https://open.substack.com/pub/sharonmariebuckler/p/the-pencil-without-the-eraser?r=zcmf4&utm_medium=ios
OH my. LOVED IT!
Thank you for sharing your beautiful talent and idea. Wish you the best !
Thank you!
This week has been the most fun ever! I have LOVED ‘The Estuary’. It has taught me how much pleasure I can get from bringing some playfulness, and another form of creativity, into my writing. I’m not sure about how to maximise this going forward, yet, I just know I need to.
I am so excited to have created a teeny tiny book. It’s the sort of book I wish I could have read when I was eight. You can read it yourself by clicking the link to the creative coaches pHiloSoPhy below, or you can see the teeny tiny book and hear me reading it to you.
I hope you love hearing/reading it as much as I loved writing and creating it. Ready?
Imagine if we could see our brilliance like others do... welcome to The Other Side of the Moon:
https://gilliangabriel.substack.com/p/the-other-side-of-the-moon?r=1hsqhc
#GentleGillian #hsp #sensitivity #highlysensitiveperson #highlysensitive #hspcoach #hspcoaching
Watching the replay of the live session and tiny book making are waiting for their turn. I wrote what i felt needed writing. https://terjeakke.substack.com/p/graduations
This is a letter to my little sister after her magical wedding in a zen garden where it poured down with rain & inspired me to dedicate my tributaries piece to it/her:
https://open.substack.com/pub/sarahjanecobley/p/the-river-of-life?r=2s5am0&utm_medium=ios
I've taken my tiny book and added a little extra as I try to develop a way of taking my writing exploration and using it to talk about things that matter to me
https://open.substack.com/pub/jacquisonelife/p/the-painted-gate?r=supd8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Hi everyone, I am posing on the summer solstice, hoping you have time to enjoy this in some way, if you choose to. This week my writing took another turn, thank you @BethKempton for the challenges. I am growing. Here is the link if you have a chance to read https://open.substack.com/pub/susanewalker/p/standing-proud?r=108rc2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Last week the sensitive coaches pHiloSoPhy published this poem ‘Shame. Words Unspoken’ on Substack but didn’t share it more widely. Which I didn’t understand. Then the irony hit… I didn’t share a poem which was about the shame that comes about from feeling different and wanting to hide our true selves for fear of not fitting in. I didn’t share it because I started to imagine what others would think of the poem, of me, an HSP Coach. This has niggled me all week. This morning in the shower I thought “what if today is the day that someone out there needs to read this?” To know that the sensitive coaches pHiloSoPhy understands, so here it is…
https://gilliangabriel.substack.com/p/shame-words-unspoken?r=1hsqhc
Hello friends, this link will take you down the road that's waiting for you.https://writethelife.substack.com/p/the-road
Hello everyone 💦 Here is my week five words. https://substack.com/home/post/p-145751352?r=34xd6s&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Wish you a wonderful week six 💦 Ane
Hi fellow writers, here's my latest post prompted by Week 5 assignment. Last week was one of the most painful and insightful periods in my life. I hope you enjoy it. https://marusyaprice.substack.com/p/have-i-turned-the-corner-yet?r=2gv4h4&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true
Late again, but published. I hope everyone had a good week, and I look forward to reading your work.
Almost 300 words...
https://substack.com/home/post/p-145724290?r=36u5xx&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Finally my Oxbow lake piece. Delayed to Monday through watching the England game Sunday night! The first paragraph is the symbol - keeping my theme of writing with archetypes. https://jacquimcginn.substack.com/p/soul-growth-through-darkness?r=2w03u9
Oxbow lake week! I have changed my Substack name btw to Kairavi which is a spiritual name given to me and seemed perfect to use here!
https://open.substack.com/pub/katiethompson2407/p/rainbows?r=31osce&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
After much wrestling with myself over the less is more brief, I had an epiphany! I had written a short story which I condensed into a poem. I always like more - always.....that is until I re-read my story before posting. I realised I liked LESS! I liked LESS!!! So here is my shorter poem. https://gilldunkerley.substack.com/p/leather-and-feathers
I have just published the scariest, most vulnerable post of my life. I have many post ideas lined up from Beth's prompts these last weeks, but this post simply cried out to be written. Keen for some feedback on this one. Thanks, Phoebe
https://lifewritingalchemy.substack.com/p/the-day-my-life-tipped-upside-down
I have read your post Phoebe and I cried. It's heart-breaking, shocking, honest, vulnerable, it's amazing - although it almost feels wrong saying that given the content but I think you will understand what I mean. I need to go back and re-read it to take it all in. I applaud you for having such courage to share your story! Wow! It blew me away. I hope you feel ok having shared it. I am sure it will resonate hugely with lots of people. Sending hugs and a big old punch to the air!
Thank you so much for your feedback Gill. Your response means a lot to me. Hugs right back to you. 💜
Week 5 Oxbow Lake Greetings 😊 this week’s challenge felt heavy, I was patient, waiting, the words arrived. This style is different, perhaps there is a traditional storyteller in me after all. Thank you @BethKempton for the challenge. Here is the link if you have time to read a short one https://susanewalker.substack.com/p/push-and-pull?r=108rc2
Week 5 Shaping
The experiences that I had were from people who were suffering in their own ways, and yet inflicted on others to make themselves feel powerful.
That was it in a nutshell. Leaving me all of these years with more questions than answers. Wondering what I did to make them react this way toward me. Eventually having to forgive to free myself. Forgiving myself as I was blameless. That was the hardest. Letting go of the notion that I somehow brought this on myself.
The years of self deprecation, never feeling like I was enough followed me around. Always lurking, like the mask I put on disguised as a smile. The narcissist does not change. I met more than my share. I even married one. Sometimes I feel like I fell in love with the same person over and over with a different name. Maybe they can smell it on you, like an animal can smell blood knowing that there their prey is near.
Thank you for sharing this Sharon. Your last line…so powerful 🙏
Thank you Anita
Below is my Oxbow Lake.
What a powerful week. I am sorry to have missed our live gathering this morning. I look forward to watching the replay and reading posts from this week. Enjoy your weekend everyone!
https://open.substack.com/pub/coyotejoy/p/las-olas?r=3vhn71&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
My latest: https://terjeakke.substack.com/p/being-a-good-girl
My piece for this week. Thank you in advance for reading. https://open.substack.com/pub/jcvoght/p/a-dream-of-winter?r=at09u&utm_medium=ios
Hi everyone - this has been a very different writing experience for me this week and I'm really looking forward to hearing your experiences and reading your shared pieces. The piece I spilled and shaped felt too personal to share, so I took Beth's advice from her email this morning to share about my experience of writing this week instead: https://open.substack.com/pub/anitakemp/p/writing-to-the-rhythm-of-water
This short 'motif' piece doesn't really fit with my Substack so I hope it's OK to post it here:
Through a wall of glass I can see sunlit spaces, trees and flowers and know that is where I was born to be. It feels as if I have been trapped in here for a lifetime, tightly folded into my protective casing, flight an impossible dream.
Beyond the glass wall are a row of expectant faces, noses pressed against the clear barrier that cuts me off from them and from the life beyond.
‘Look, look, she is going to be so beautiful!’
‘Look, look, how strong and brave she is!’
‘Look, look, she is going to fly and bring us joy!’
Is that all they want to see? Must I be a thing of beauty and joy to be allowed to fly from my glass cage? Should I stay here, hidden, until, maybe, I can become the being of vibrant colour that would please them?
Slowly, tentatively I stretch out my brown, dull wings. I feel the air ripple across me as I move towards a world of light and warmth. Then I take a deep breath and I fly. My being opens to the scents of new worlds as I soar over the expectant noses to the wild spaces beyond. Here, deep in the rich undergrowth, I sense I will find the nectar that will quench the thirst of my quiet, moth’s soul.
After the beautiful creative movement session I stayed with the river.
https://josefinwaltin.substack.com/p/the-river-spirit