John O'Donohue
It has been a long time since I have posted here and it is so odd and wonderful that I have missed it. Writing is one of those things in my life that I have such a love, hate relationship with. Other things that come under that category are exercise, eating well, or overall self care as opposed to instant gratification or comfort. Why is it that the very things that can help us to feel good, sometimes are the very things we most resist?
Writing has come to be one of those places that allow me to look at the world through a specific lens. Writing is a very significant way that I am able to stop and try to express the experience that we call life. For many this is either not something that they need to do, or perhaps you do it in different ways. Photography, music, painting, or other forms of the arts are common ways that people express who they are.
Long ago I read that the best writers were avid readers. Since I was a small child I have loved books. I love the way some books look. Open a book to a specific page and there, written down, are the very words that you were looking for. Learning is something that in my early life I struggled with a lot. I loved to escape to my room with a good book, to open the pages in the quiet and enter into the story that was before me. As children in my family, my mother read to us before we went to sleep each night. Looking back now, this went on much later than I would have thought. We were in middle school I think when she finally stopped. I remember this as a very calm and peaceful time. A time when we were encouraged to relax and let our minds wander. There were no expectations, no tests, just the voice of our mother and the story she held. Recently, I have thought many times that I don't think it is any coincidence that both of my brothers and myself are avid readers.
Everywhere I go books surround me. I have books on theology of all different forms and from all different perspectives. Fiction is one of the things I love very much, it continues to be a place where I can relax and breath. Biographies are a wonderful way to enter into history and come to know the voice of people that become friends. There are many other things that line my shelves, but what is important is the comfort and pleasure I find in writing.
Anam Cara, A Book of Celtic Wisdom, by John O'Donohue is one of the books that I am reading right now. " Anam is the Gaelic word for soul: cara is the word for friend. The anam cara was a person to whom you could reveal the hidden intimacies of your life." As I begin to read this book a few different thoughts have come to mind. The first is that over the course of my life there have been many people that have helped me reveal who I am and where the divine exits in the world. These moments in time come back to me as times of grace.
Who are the people in your life that have allowed you to come to know the intimacies deep within your own soul?
I am also reminded of what a life long journey this life is. God is ever present and yet, ever changing. Growing and learning about the interaction between our interior lives and the world around us is the very balance we seek. O'Donohue says: "since the birth of the human heart is an ongoing process, love is the continuous birth of creativity with and between us."
This posting began with quote about great moments. Today I am aware that one of the ways that I am able to see or be present in moments is to have the gift of writing about them. Writing is a primary way that I am able to feel like I am part of the world around me. Many times it is not until after I have written something that I am even aware that was in my heart or mind.
What are ways that you feel part of the life you live? How are you able to tell the stories that are hiding?
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I find even though I live alone that early morning, 3-4 o'clock, is the best time for me. It is so quiet and the world has still to wake up. Once the sun peeks over the horizon the day begins to hum and gone is the stillness, and the day begins.
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