THE YEAR OF LIVING DARINGLY: Week Two

When I started this adventure of living for nine months at Prairie Pond Woods...feeling a little like Thoreau (and a little guilty)...I said I was ready to be "inconvenienced by the things I love."  As mentioned in the Week One post, sometimes we can put parts of ourselves on hold or let them die altogether because we allow other things in life take over. 



For me, this meant finally putting all my loves in one basket and seeing where they take me...FOCUSING on the "businistry" of Heart by Nature, spending time outdoors, raising my own food (chickens!), getting a dog (after being dogless for 7 years), writing, reading and helping women connect with their own heart's desires through nature.  


Could I have done this in my life up North?  Maybe, if I was a different person.  But the advantage of years is that we learn who we truly are and accept it. I am not a highly disciplined person...and I am definitely not a multi-tasker.  I am motivated by passion, not productivity...and I do well focusing on a few things at a time with lots of time for reflection. It is who I am. In a book I read recently, The Artist's Rule, I recognized myself in the author's description of an "artist-monk," a person who is drawn to and more fruitful within a contemplative and creative lifestyle.  So when I finally realized I was being inconvenienced more by things I didn't love...it was time to make a change.



So, the change has begun...sort of.  Week Two was less about contemplation and nature immersion and more about business marketing.  For the upcoming retreat, Birdwatching as Meditation, I learned (was inconvenienced by, actually) a new Email Marketing program through Vertical Response.  Hopefully, you received a copy of my labors in your email Inbox or through Facebook.  And when I wasn't staring down cross-eyed at my computer...I watched snow flurries and resident birds out the window.



The other task...as boring to me as it is to you...was the sorting of paperwork into piles, then purging, then putting those piles somewhere that makes sense.  Piles for retreat ideas and hand-outs, piles of natural history resources, piles for writing piles of journals, piles of my life...all sorted and condensed.  And a pile of books, brought to finally read...  

I'll share my non-exhaustive Book List, which might be a bit less boring to you.  These are books I've read since I've been here, books I'm reading (or listening to) now, books I plan to re-read and new books waiting on the shelf.  Do they all look a bit similar?  They are...I call it focused.



The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd

One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren (and others not yet purchased)

Writing Down your Soul by Janet Conner

Listening to the Heartbeat of God: A Celtic Spirituality by J. Phillip Newell

Prayers from Iona by J. Phillip Newell

Nature as Spiritual Practice by Steven Chase

A Field Guide to Nature as Spiritual Practice by Steven Chase

The Artist's Rule by Christine Valter-Paintner

Anne of Green Gables by J.M. Montgomery (never read it as a child)

An Obsession with Butterflies by Sharman Apt Russell

On the Unseriousness of Human Affairs by James A. Schall

Spiritual Ecology by Rudolf Steiner

Holy Silence by J. Brent Bill

Newcomb's Wildflower Guide

Peterson Field Guide of Eastern Birds

Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Birds' Nests

Moth Field Guides, Insect Field Guides, Butterfly Field Guides, Etc.

AND...if I can get my hands on it anywhere:

Phytogeography of Unglaciated Eastern US and its Interpretation by E. Lucy Braun.

HOW I TAKE A RETREAT - DAY ONE

No one said going on a retreat is easy, even though the point once you get there is to let go and ease your mind from all its stresses and voices. So after getting all the other aspects of my life cleaned and put away, washed and folded, bought and bagged, gathered and dispersed, I turned my attention to the one aspect I want to focus on for the next five days, which is writing. 

Now, one cannot concentrate on any creative endeavor 24/7, so I have a few worthy distractions when I'm not sitting at the computer or walking the Refresher Course for inspiration.  I like to lay it out - literally.  On the entry room table (i.e., dining, art, desk) at Prairie Pond Woods I have set about all the things I desire to engage in, as well as the cameras, field guides and binoculars ready to grab at a moment's notice for the big surprise awaiting outside. 


 



(As I wrote this post...a loud thump came from the patio door...I grabbed the well-placed camera and caught a juvenile titmouse that had crashed into the glass...after an hour or so it must have flown off...happy ending)

 

  There's my morning meditative reading (this month, The Artist's Rule), my 2012 and 2013 calendars for a little business and pleasure planning, a few poetry books and another book I may or may not read this go-around entitled, On the Unseriousness of Human Affairs by James V. Schall.  Also laid out is a 10-year Phenology Journal I keep (woefully neglected this spring and summer) and lastly, a few files of family genealogy, in case I really need a brain change. 

So, all the chores are done, and if there are more, they can wait.  The plan is to take morning and evening walks (with camera and notepad in hand), do some reading and journaling afterward, then write.  The goal is to continue to work on a compilation of nature poems, essays and prose, accompanied by photos, that I hope to turn into a book.



I invite you along on this 5-day journey with me online or in reality, and encourage you to take a mini-retreat of your own this week.  Maybe just a half-hour everyday to do something you love; something BY YOURSELF that feeds your soul. I would love to read your comments, as well as hear about your own experiences with taking a retreat.  It won't be easy, but as the saying goes, not everybody does the hard, but significant, things in life.