Your writing is such a gift; it feels like therapy, like something I should have paid serious money for. I’m so grateful that you share your thoughts this way. It’s such a powerful - I want to say ‘ministry’ because that’s what it feels like. It’s incredible how you weave something out of what looks like it ought to be nothing. Thank you with all my heart.
Thank you! Your writing always pops up in my inbox just when I need it. I have been struggling so much with really stopping this week, your description "It's like trying to hold something alive in your hands, something wriggling, wilful, and ironically full of energy." oh how it hit me deep inside, it made me want to cry. You have a wonderful way of capturing the things I struggle to find language to communicate, into such beautifully composed words.
As always, your words are gentle and compassionate, even when expressing painful realities and struggles with toxic habits (that we all can relate to!)
This post reminded me of a writing by Rumi:
"When I run after what I think I want,
my days are a furnace of distress and anxiety;
If I sit in my own place of patience,
what I need flows to me, and without any pain.
From this I understand that what I want also wants me,
Thankyou, I've been in a big crash for the last week and thinking quite a lot about how I rest and what I do while I'm resting. I've realised that I'm not resting particularly 'well'. I've decided to try and radically rest, not looking at my phone, buying stuff or sneaking in the odd, unhelpful over active moments. What you wrote really resonated with where I am at the moment and gave me hope and the motivation to continue with the radical rest!
Oh Josie, how on earth do you put the desperate ramblings of my mind and the fear that occurs every time I too, am forced to stop? Its such a lonely place and l don't think anyone could ever understand if I tried to put it into words. Thank you for understanding Josie. As Sue McLoughlin so beautifully put it, your writing is a gift and feels like therapy. Thank you.
Thank you Josie for the reminder. When my body says stop and rest I do need to listen. I too find those spaces that when I lie in bed bring creativity. I always say that I’ve dipped my toe into the creative pool and my muse calls if I listen. Your writings inspire and move, thank you as always.
So wise Josie - and so generous ! I had Covid badly in March and now remembering the bliss of doing nothing at all for days, just pinned to my bed, knowing that the less I did, the more my body would be recovering and healing. I wish I could keep hold of that more in the every day ….
I suppose its the difference between being stopped and stopping, forced or chosen. Perhaps when we are stopped, but then choose to be stopping it opens us up to joy and creativity.
Exciting to hear about August.
Popping over to Instagram now....bet its fab. Writing 12 minutes daily now. Thanks for encouragement. Jean
Vipassana? Actually living it. I’ve been trying to do that for nearly 30 years of illness now. It makes perfect sense but still goes completely against the grain in me brought up in a world where achievement is praised and prioritised.
Action and contemplation and yes, the blank but that arrives of its own accord and is one of those stops.
No need to prove anything or tell anyone how it should be done.
Your writing is such a gift; it feels like therapy, like something I should have paid serious money for. I’m so grateful that you share your thoughts this way. It’s such a powerful - I want to say ‘ministry’ because that’s what it feels like. It’s incredible how you weave something out of what looks like it ought to be nothing. Thank you with all my heart.
Thank you! Your writing always pops up in my inbox just when I need it. I have been struggling so much with really stopping this week, your description "It's like trying to hold something alive in your hands, something wriggling, wilful, and ironically full of energy." oh how it hit me deep inside, it made me want to cry. You have a wonderful way of capturing the things I struggle to find language to communicate, into such beautifully composed words.
As always, your words are gentle and compassionate, even when expressing painful realities and struggles with toxic habits (that we all can relate to!)
This post reminded me of a writing by Rumi:
"When I run after what I think I want,
my days are a furnace of distress and anxiety;
If I sit in my own place of patience,
what I need flows to me, and without any pain.
From this I understand that what I want also wants me,
is looking for me and attracting me.
There is a great secret in this for
anyone who can grasp it. "
Thankyou, I've been in a big crash for the last week and thinking quite a lot about how I rest and what I do while I'm resting. I've realised that I'm not resting particularly 'well'. I've decided to try and radically rest, not looking at my phone, buying stuff or sneaking in the odd, unhelpful over active moments. What you wrote really resonated with where I am at the moment and gave me hope and the motivation to continue with the radical rest!
Oh Josie, how on earth do you put the desperate ramblings of my mind and the fear that occurs every time I too, am forced to stop? Its such a lonely place and l don't think anyone could ever understand if I tried to put it into words. Thank you for understanding Josie. As Sue McLoughlin so beautifully put it, your writing is a gift and feels like therapy. Thank you.
Thank you Josie for the reminder. When my body says stop and rest I do need to listen. I too find those spaces that when I lie in bed bring creativity. I always say that I’ve dipped my toe into the creative pool and my muse calls if I listen. Your writings inspire and move, thank you as always.
So wise Josie - and so generous ! I had Covid badly in March and now remembering the bliss of doing nothing at all for days, just pinned to my bed, knowing that the less I did, the more my body would be recovering and healing. I wish I could keep hold of that more in the every day ….
I suppose its the difference between being stopped and stopping, forced or chosen. Perhaps when we are stopped, but then choose to be stopping it opens us up to joy and creativity.
Exciting to hear about August.
Popping over to Instagram now....bet its fab. Writing 12 minutes daily now. Thanks for encouragement. Jean
Vipassana? Actually living it. I’ve been trying to do that for nearly 30 years of illness now. It makes perfect sense but still goes completely against the grain in me brought up in a world where achievement is praised and prioritised.
Action and contemplation and yes, the blank but that arrives of its own accord and is one of those stops.
No need to prove anything or tell anyone how it should be done.