Sunday, August 21, 2011

A Month of Fridays continued...


Friday, May 7, 2010

Friday Challenge!




the photo is of dear Hoagy, scritching his face on the wonderful spring grass.

Oh the weeks just fly by, don't they? And to what end? Indeed. Yesterday was a weird and not totally awful day. I know, I know - why should it have been any part of awful - but ya know! I was dreading it because I had an appointment with a tax person to resolve the big ball of bits of paper that has become. I have to get it in order and it is the bane of my life. I won't go into details because I was brought up to talk about sex but not money! Hey Dad, that was a joke! Come back, Dad! Really, I'll be good. While I was getting ready to confess my evilness I thought about all the lovely clients I have and how everyone of them had to come and see for the first time - cold and feeling weird. I felt so tender towards them and then I felt tender towards myself and the whole thing softened up a bit.
Later, after several hours of bliss - eating, yacking and REALLY looking at new clothes in the stores, my best pal and I went to a book launch. It was incredible. The book, The Healing Circle was written by a friend of ours - Tim Walker, a psychotherapist and teacher and an oncologist, Rob Rutledge. It was edited by another pal - Liz Crocker and the design done by a third friend of mine - Kathy Kaulbach. I thought it would be a typical book launch - a few people, some wine and nibblies. Man oh man was I wrong. There must have been three hundred people there! We heard talks and saw a most wonderful video on what they've been up to. And our friend, Tim, well let me tell you - it is nothing but good what he's gotten involved with and he has become a most compelling teacher! Here is the website http://www.healingandcancer.org/ - the videos are there. Bring kleenex...you've been warned. Buy the book and support this anyway you can. We all have had friends and family with cancer and this program is phenomenal.
So the challenge, dear readers. Go to the places that scare you. Whatever your medium -whether you are scared of writing that most important part of your book - the one you keep putting off (either a section or indeed THE whole book), whether you are terrified to paint an image which has been burning into your soul, whether you have someone you have to talk to and clear up a misunderstanding or make amends, whether you need to haul your sorry paperwork to someone to actually look at, whatever it is you are scared to do - go tenderly and do it. Maybe you want to connect with someone and you've been frightened they won't be interested. Try it - no worries about the outcome. Either way, you win. Take the chance and see how it goes when you do it with kindness for yourself and the world. This is, I know, akin to the heart work posting I made a few weeks ago. They all are

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jan - It's interesting, isn't it, how our fears so often hold us back. It's such a delicate balance, I think, between being kind to ourselves and using that kindness to push ourselves to do what we're afraid to do. Good to contemplate...

Liza said...

This is such a hard one...

A.L. Sonnichsen said...

I'm going to have to do something terrifying next week, so thanks for this post, Jan. It helps me feel braver!

Bravo for facing your fears!

Amy