I feel like this speaks so beautifully to the importance and the power of stories.
Your experience of dreaming that trip - although you never actually 'took' that specific trip, from what I know about your adult life, you HAVE been an incredibly adventurous soul, taking many 'real' trips - and I can't help but wonder if all that time imagining in your childhood played a role in you being able to do that in your life. We're always told to visualize those things we wish to work towards in our lives - and imagining, story telling, making believe - that's the most potent way of going about this task. It also speaks to the idea that you've been honing your skill of 'storyteller' for as long as you can remember - these early childhood experiences being a kind of foundation for all that you've become. You using your creative time for Lily - literally creating her future through your plans, which again is a form of story telling - it's all one big creative act, this being alive!
I also think your living all these different lives through your stories - THAT is the other HUGE important piece of what stories bring to the world.
Stories connect us. They help us develop empathy and awareness of the experiences of others that we wouldn't have had access to otherwise. They help us bridge these gaps we have between one - creating that sense of 'ah, we're not all that different after all that this world NEEDS so deeply right now.
Stories, the creative act and the consumption, are an integral part of humanity. They always have been, and I think as we try to create a new world that's filled with more empathy, stories are going to be more important than ever before.
I also love what you talk about in terms of stories being
Love the podcast! I’m currently recovering from a chronic illness and taking the inventure and risk to see how beautiful my life can now be on the other side.
(Also I felt so moved hearing you and Martha on we can do hard things.) bring on the fire hose of love!
YES! What's bewildering me at the moment: living the paradox of visioning and creating my life AND yielding to the flow of source/the universe/God/the Tao. And, of course, it's BOTH! It's both at the same time! But I tend to swing from one to another like a pendulum. I've got my arse in a chair and I'm making shit happen, then I'm in full surrender/let-the-universe-work-through-me mode. The pendulum is slowly swinging closer and closer to neutral, but oh! I'm still dizzy from the pirate ship show-ride I've put myself through for years. The sweetest times: visioning the future, then yielding to the flow as it works *with* me to make that future a reality ... or not! Either way, dreaming of the road never travelled can be just as lovely as hauling ourselves onto the jet plane and living the dream in real life. Thanks for your beautiful words as always Ro. xx
Im so thrilled to hear about all the potential forest adventures that will be had! Approaching a totally new task like enrolling in preschool can set our creative brains into motion. In my case, preschool made my creative brain explode. So I kept it simple, researched, narrowed down, visited two and went with my gut feeling. My brain was creating anxious thoughts at that time, trapping me in stories I did NOT want. I rushed through the process to get it done, although I will say I am incredibly happy with my choice. This is the opposing side of an unmanaged creative brain. Thank goodness for meditation and mindfulness. Guided meditations have helped me work the right creative muscles. Guide my thoughts to where I want them to go.
Now, I feel as though I can take these journeys with my girls, like you, from a "beginners mind" and approach in a loving creative way. Endless options can come out if you are not stuck in the wrong story or in fear/anxiety. It seems as though you have done this is such a wonderful way with planning for your little. This is an entirely new journey that has literally never been taken. With you, Karen and Martha. Its all a blank canvas so you might as well create a brainstorm board (in your head or on paper). This is such an exciting time for you all.
In addition, I wanted to share a story. Over the weekend I went on a family trip. My 2 year old and I stayed in a hotel so we could have breaks from all the hubbub of the large family gathering. I had this wonderful and interesting opportunity to embody the life of a single mom, trying to care for her daughter the best she can after some sort of hardship, name one. Think the show MAID, if you saw it. This experience of imagining myself in an entirely different life gave me the most amazing perspective on my own life.
Like Aliyah said, stories help us develop empathy and awareness of the experience of others. In this case, embodying the experience of another, imagining their life and their story has the power to give the "imaginer" a great gift of empathy. For themselves and for others. For the whole of human experience.
I am so grateful to have such a creative brain and with that gratitude, I must take much care and attention.
I feel like this speaks so beautifully to the importance and the power of stories.
Your experience of dreaming that trip - although you never actually 'took' that specific trip, from what I know about your adult life, you HAVE been an incredibly adventurous soul, taking many 'real' trips - and I can't help but wonder if all that time imagining in your childhood played a role in you being able to do that in your life. We're always told to visualize those things we wish to work towards in our lives - and imagining, story telling, making believe - that's the most potent way of going about this task. It also speaks to the idea that you've been honing your skill of 'storyteller' for as long as you can remember - these early childhood experiences being a kind of foundation for all that you've become. You using your creative time for Lily - literally creating her future through your plans, which again is a form of story telling - it's all one big creative act, this being alive!
I also think your living all these different lives through your stories - THAT is the other HUGE important piece of what stories bring to the world.
Stories connect us. They help us develop empathy and awareness of the experiences of others that we wouldn't have had access to otherwise. They help us bridge these gaps we have between one - creating that sense of 'ah, we're not all that different after all that this world NEEDS so deeply right now.
Stories, the creative act and the consumption, are an integral part of humanity. They always have been, and I think as we try to create a new world that's filled with more empathy, stories are going to be more important than ever before.
I also love what you talk about in terms of stories being
Love the podcast! I’m currently recovering from a chronic illness and taking the inventure and risk to see how beautiful my life can now be on the other side.
(Also I felt so moved hearing you and Martha on we can do hard things.) bring on the fire hose of love!
Forest school!!!!! Wow.
Virgo love,
Mo
It's going to be sooo wonderful! Little wildlings x
YES! What's bewildering me at the moment: living the paradox of visioning and creating my life AND yielding to the flow of source/the universe/God/the Tao. And, of course, it's BOTH! It's both at the same time! But I tend to swing from one to another like a pendulum. I've got my arse in a chair and I'm making shit happen, then I'm in full surrender/let-the-universe-work-through-me mode. The pendulum is slowly swinging closer and closer to neutral, but oh! I'm still dizzy from the pirate ship show-ride I've put myself through for years. The sweetest times: visioning the future, then yielding to the flow as it works *with* me to make that future a reality ... or not! Either way, dreaming of the road never travelled can be just as lovely as hauling ourselves onto the jet plane and living the dream in real life. Thanks for your beautiful words as always Ro. xx
Rowan,
Im so thrilled to hear about all the potential forest adventures that will be had! Approaching a totally new task like enrolling in preschool can set our creative brains into motion. In my case, preschool made my creative brain explode. So I kept it simple, researched, narrowed down, visited two and went with my gut feeling. My brain was creating anxious thoughts at that time, trapping me in stories I did NOT want. I rushed through the process to get it done, although I will say I am incredibly happy with my choice. This is the opposing side of an unmanaged creative brain. Thank goodness for meditation and mindfulness. Guided meditations have helped me work the right creative muscles. Guide my thoughts to where I want them to go.
Now, I feel as though I can take these journeys with my girls, like you, from a "beginners mind" and approach in a loving creative way. Endless options can come out if you are not stuck in the wrong story or in fear/anxiety. It seems as though you have done this is such a wonderful way with planning for your little. This is an entirely new journey that has literally never been taken. With you, Karen and Martha. Its all a blank canvas so you might as well create a brainstorm board (in your head or on paper). This is such an exciting time for you all.
In addition, I wanted to share a story. Over the weekend I went on a family trip. My 2 year old and I stayed in a hotel so we could have breaks from all the hubbub of the large family gathering. I had this wonderful and interesting opportunity to embody the life of a single mom, trying to care for her daughter the best she can after some sort of hardship, name one. Think the show MAID, if you saw it. This experience of imagining myself in an entirely different life gave me the most amazing perspective on my own life.
Like Aliyah said, stories help us develop empathy and awareness of the experience of others. In this case, embodying the experience of another, imagining their life and their story has the power to give the "imaginer" a great gift of empathy. For themselves and for others. For the whole of human experience.
I am so grateful to have such a creative brain and with that gratitude, I must take much care and attention.
With kindness,
Rae