Women on Pursuit
The Sunday Morning Church of ATTENTION
Women on Pursuit*
No change without pain?
Last night I attended an incredible event. Incredible on many levels.
It was a book launching for a group of 14 women who I had helped write their stories of change from abuses, addictions, shame, to authenticity, hope and action. The authors wrote their stories without covering up the pain and shame it took, and put in the effort and WORK it took to put it on paper.
It was a celebration of the work of Kim Weaver, a visionary, changing the lives of women. It was an honor to work with Kim and 10 of the 14 authors doing rewrites, asking questions about their stories, and completing by celebrating in mass, the change and empowerment each one felt.
It was production with dance, poetry, stories, and an audience of over 400 dressed to the max.
It was a presentation of the spoken word at a level beyond Toastmasters International Speech contests.
It was insights on healing the body, opening and using the mind and freeing the spirit that was presented with humor, pathos and practicality.
It was sisters & brothers embracing the empowerment of Marianne Williamson poem on Fear that Nelson Mandela used at his inauguration. Precious words that begin with “Our deepest fear is we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are we not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.*
It was a next step in a women’s movement that begins at our source. What is more source than mom? She is the first and for years most influential source in our life. Change, really really big change is happening with women.
Good writing is not an easy task. Reading ones own writing can even be painful. But pain can create change. It’s magic to share an experience one is so deeply involved in, that one thinks they will never be free of the experience, and then with pen or keypad separate out oneself and write for clarity and to find the path out. And then to publish and create the hope that someone else catches a glimpse of the freedom and the power of the change available from the magic of the written word.
I write to know where I am, to find the thread that connects me to my story, to remember why I am here, where I am going, what I have accomplished and who I can share my life. I thank those authors who read The Church of Attention. I write to keep faith, hope, love and our attention on what matters most, connecting who we are with each other. Thank you for reading my story. What’s yours?
Namaste
Gary
*www.womenonpursuit.com
**For a complete copy of Fear, ask-call 510-722-3212{I’d love to talk} or e-mail me.