I just ordered your book, Permission. I heard your session with Anne Lamott and I'm looking forward to the answers to all my problems and questions! But even if I don't get all the answers, I know I'll find wisdom and encouragement there.
Stunning. I will be saving to read over and over again. As a walker, I deeply appreciated these (new to me) insights about why walking feels so restorative. Thank you!
Love this piece thank you, as a walker myself, subdued by the long winter your inspiration is just what is needed to get my spring walking shoes ready again. 💞 One foot in front of the other onward
Beautiful post. I'm here to tell you, the person who thought you were the same age wasn't talking about you. I recently stopped myself from telling a nurse, "You are probably young enough to be my daughter, but I feel I am your age. As long as I don't look in the mirror, that is." But I'm still surprised when people treat me as though I am my mother.
My favorite book about walking is Ted Kooser's Winter Morning Walks, 100 Postcards. So centering, so of the place. My belly softens, my breath deepens, I just sink in to the moment.
All this + birds. I’m a birdwatcher now, a hobby I feel a little young for at age 51, but I too am heart-tired, and watching them take flight is vicarious liberation. 🐦 🦅 🦢
yes, walking, being outdoors saves your sanity. Another sanity saver is not listening to news or social media. I was born before you in the 50s; since all of the 'live news, anytime, all the time from any/everywhere' the static, vibration and anger of the world has taken a big upward drive.
Bless you for saying just the right thing with just the right words. For saying what needs to be said now, bless you again. My heart feels less anguished when it feels yours. Let me share a poem with you in the same spirit:
“All will grow great and powerful again:
the seas be wrinkled and the land be plain,
the trees gigantic and the walls be low;
and in the valleys, strong and multiform,
a race of herdsmen and of farmers grow.
No churches to encircle God as though he were a fugitive, and then bewail him as if he were a captured wounded creature, — all houses will prove friendly, there will be a sense of boundless sacrifice prevailing in dealings between men, in you, in me. No waiting the beyond, no peering toward it, but longing to degrade not even death; we shall learn earthliness, and serve its ends, to feel its hands about us like a friend’s.
"the crave-y, grabby fire of arrogant validity" well said. We all feed on it and it is hard to stop. Until we realize there is no validity to be found, and there is all the validity we need, we will keep fighting each other. Thank you for your thoughtful words.
I just ordered your book, Permission. I heard your session with Anne Lamott and I'm looking forward to the answers to all my problems and questions! But even if I don't get all the answers, I know I'll find wisdom and encouragement there.
Thank you --
Stunning. I will be saving to read over and over again. As a walker, I deeply appreciated these (new to me) insights about why walking feels so restorative. Thank you!
Just, thank you. Beautiful, timeless wisdom. Your writing makes age irrelevant. Signed, an old-bodied, young-minded 67 year old.
Thank you! A beautiful, thoughtful piece that opens hope and contentment, curiosity and action.
Love this piece thank you, as a walker myself, subdued by the long winter your inspiration is just what is needed to get my spring walking shoes ready again. 💞 One foot in front of the other onward
Beautiful post. I'm here to tell you, the person who thought you were the same age wasn't talking about you. I recently stopped myself from telling a nurse, "You are probably young enough to be my daughter, but I feel I am your age. As long as I don't look in the mirror, that is." But I'm still surprised when people treat me as though I am my mother.
My favorite book about walking is Ted Kooser's Winter Morning Walks, 100 Postcards. So centering, so of the place. My belly softens, my breath deepens, I just sink in to the moment.
I love this exploration. I am also tired and feel blessed to have a dog that nudges me out to see and smell earths brilliance
Reading a paperback feels restorative.
When will we learn to shut the fuck up about the age a person appears?
I’m reading Permission
Layered, deep, brave, informative
Thank you
Thank you -
Fitzgerald’s The Crack Up is on my self of life line books.
Fitzgerald’s The Crack Up is on my shelf of life line books.
Resonant and hopeful, despite the bone-tiredness of now. Thanks, Elissa.
All this + birds. I’m a birdwatcher now, a hobby I feel a little young for at age 51, but I too am heart-tired, and watching them take flight is vicarious liberation. 🐦 🦅 🦢
So many glittering points of light sparking my numb-with-world weariness heart to life. Thank you.
yes, walking, being outdoors saves your sanity. Another sanity saver is not listening to news or social media. I was born before you in the 50s; since all of the 'live news, anytime, all the time from any/everywhere' the static, vibration and anger of the world has taken a big upward drive.
Bless you for saying just the right thing with just the right words. For saying what needs to be said now, bless you again. My heart feels less anguished when it feels yours. Let me share a poem with you in the same spirit:
“All will grow great and powerful again:
the seas be wrinkled and the land be plain,
the trees gigantic and the walls be low;
and in the valleys, strong and multiform,
a race of herdsmen and of farmers grow.
No churches to encircle God as though he were a fugitive, and then bewail him as if he were a captured wounded creature, — all houses will prove friendly, there will be a sense of boundless sacrifice prevailing in dealings between men, in you, in me. No waiting the beyond, no peering toward it, but longing to degrade not even death; we shall learn earthliness, and serve its ends, to feel its hands about us like a friend’s.
Rilke, 1902
"the crave-y, grabby fire of arrogant validity" well said. We all feed on it and it is hard to stop. Until we realize there is no validity to be found, and there is all the validity we need, we will keep fighting each other. Thank you for your thoughtful words.