This made tears pop out of my eyes by the end, where you wrote that you "feel deeply and constantly rooted for." I love that you trust the mystery... I do, too. I'm going to save this and read it again, mostly for reinforcement on self-love-bombing because that's something I definitely don't do enough of 👀
I'm writing a piece about waking up to a love-bomb. It's for paid readers, but I'll forward it your way :) Times like these, NOTHING is more essential than circling up around our soft, innocent selves. Thanks so much for reading, B.A.!
Isabel now I understand where one of the main strengths of your writing comes from. You've had multiple lives and are inhabited by souls that create all these beautiful layers that you offer through your words! it was an amazing piece and I love the honesty and the guts of your answers !!
Thank you Isabel and Courtney! I love the call-and-response of this piece, as each question is answered by each of us reading along, evoking 'visions, memories and dreams.' This is how we know what we know, what ripens our hearts, and attunes our sensing into the depth and breadth of each moment. From there, it takes courage and grace to include these 'messier objects' in our 'consensus reality.' I feel heartened, grounded, more willing...and grateful.
Wow, Alden. What a reception!! Thank you so much for reading and sharing. I feel honored and deeply seen. Courtney's questions made me so excited... when I was in college, I'd walk up to people at parties and ask, "Do you believe in God?" It rarely prompted the connection I hoped for. I had no stake in the particular answer, just a desire not to fuck around. Now, at last, I've found my people!
I love that, the dialectics of 'fucking around 'or not: It's like the words flammable and inflammable; these days 'fucking around and finding out' is one way to break the patterns, and in those days it was 'not fucking around.' 'Fuck,' as a verb or noun, has such kaleidoscopic meaning but we know it's hot, one way or another, and hot is alive with 'visions, memories and dreams.' I'm glad you've found your people since I appear to be one of them, as you are one of mine!
This is fascinating! I too catch glimmers of a previous life every now and then - like scenes in a book or film make me feel I've remembered something from a period before I was even alive. Also interesting Isabel how you feel you chose your birth order - I've been thinking about this a lot as the mother of two daughters. The oldest one wants the room to fall silent before she speaks, but the younger seems made to respond and move things around
Wow, that is cool! Yes, there are certain remember-ings that have no basis in reality and so must pre-date what I understand as 'myself.' I am endlessly fascinated by how children come into families and what their order means. I don't believe anything is accidental. Have you read Maurice Sendak's 'Outside Over There'? As an eldest daughter it hit me very deep. It's also amazing how the tropes of birth order need to be relinquished later in life for full flourishing. In my experience, anyway.
Hi! No I haven't read 'Outside Over There', though I was a big fan of 'Where the Wild Things Are' as a little girl. So interesting what you say about needing to relinquish the tropes around birth order. I'm guessing you're a recovering concerned older sister, who had to learn you weren't responsible for your sister's safety. I'm the oldest too, but there's a six-year age gap between me and my brother, so my primary experience was of being an only child. I had to learn that I wasn't all alone in the world, that the presence of others didn't mean I would be annihilated, and that my voice could still count even in a chorus of others.
Again, my experience of Isabel is that one never changes...she's illuminated and shines her Light with her words of Insight. I need look no farther for wisdom. Thank you for this over the top interesting and compelling article (best questions ever!).
I agree. The family dinner table is a ripe proving ground for real learning available to every family. I could go on and on about this. It is such a gift to children to have parents who talk about most everything there. It teaches more than points of view. It cultivates adults who are relational and hopefully deeply skilled in listening.
YESSS IT’S HERE I HAVE BEEN WAITING!! Spooky woodland enchantments! Ghosts! Jumping to the other side! Love bombing ourselves! This was epic. You are magic.
Totally agree about the trees! and of course other stuff ie not dwelling on aliens too much.
What other living thing is so enamored and tenaciously rooted in various climates and soils and provides shelter and sustenance and comfort to so many other living creatures. Theynare sentient like the hairs on animals and equally emotive.
This was THE MOST FUN to write & reflect about--everybody should take a day with these questions...grateful I had the chance.
Not hyperbole to say I feel myself reconstituted from your answers. SO GOOD.
This made tears pop out of my eyes by the end, where you wrote that you "feel deeply and constantly rooted for." I love that you trust the mystery... I do, too. I'm going to save this and read it again, mostly for reinforcement on self-love-bombing because that's something I definitely don't do enough of 👀
I'm writing a piece about waking up to a love-bomb. It's for paid readers, but I'll forward it your way :) Times like these, NOTHING is more essential than circling up around our soft, innocent selves. Thanks so much for reading, B.A.!
Thank you Isabel, I would really appreciate that!
Isabel now I understand where one of the main strengths of your writing comes from. You've had multiple lives and are inhabited by souls that create all these beautiful layers that you offer through your words! it was an amazing piece and I love the honesty and the guts of your answers !!
Guts? These are all just simple facts to me, which must be the mark of insanity!
...ou d'un talent d'écriture qui te raconte à merveille ! Jusqu'à en être métaphysique dans la plume, une pensée aussi puissante que ciselée.
N'arrête jamais d'écrire !
Beautiful, all of it, and so familiar! x
Cue X-Files music!
Thank you Isabel and Courtney! I love the call-and-response of this piece, as each question is answered by each of us reading along, evoking 'visions, memories and dreams.' This is how we know what we know, what ripens our hearts, and attunes our sensing into the depth and breadth of each moment. From there, it takes courage and grace to include these 'messier objects' in our 'consensus reality.' I feel heartened, grounded, more willing...and grateful.
Wow, Alden. What a reception!! Thank you so much for reading and sharing. I feel honored and deeply seen. Courtney's questions made me so excited... when I was in college, I'd walk up to people at parties and ask, "Do you believe in God?" It rarely prompted the connection I hoped for. I had no stake in the particular answer, just a desire not to fuck around. Now, at last, I've found my people!
I love that, the dialectics of 'fucking around 'or not: It's like the words flammable and inflammable; these days 'fucking around and finding out' is one way to break the patterns, and in those days it was 'not fucking around.' 'Fuck,' as a verb or noun, has such kaleidoscopic meaning but we know it's hot, one way or another, and hot is alive with 'visions, memories and dreams.' I'm glad you've found your people since I appear to be one of them, as you are one of mine!
This is fascinating! I too catch glimmers of a previous life every now and then - like scenes in a book or film make me feel I've remembered something from a period before I was even alive. Also interesting Isabel how you feel you chose your birth order - I've been thinking about this a lot as the mother of two daughters. The oldest one wants the room to fall silent before she speaks, but the younger seems made to respond and move things around
Wow, that is cool! Yes, there are certain remember-ings that have no basis in reality and so must pre-date what I understand as 'myself.' I am endlessly fascinated by how children come into families and what their order means. I don't believe anything is accidental. Have you read Maurice Sendak's 'Outside Over There'? As an eldest daughter it hit me very deep. It's also amazing how the tropes of birth order need to be relinquished later in life for full flourishing. In my experience, anyway.
Hi! No I haven't read 'Outside Over There', though I was a big fan of 'Where the Wild Things Are' as a little girl. So interesting what you say about needing to relinquish the tropes around birth order. I'm guessing you're a recovering concerned older sister, who had to learn you weren't responsible for your sister's safety. I'm the oldest too, but there's a six-year age gap between me and my brother, so my primary experience was of being an only child. I had to learn that I wasn't all alone in the world, that the presence of others didn't mean I would be annihilated, and that my voice could still count even in a chorus of others.
Trees, yes!
Ahhh, how they settle and inspire me.
Again, my experience of Isabel is that one never changes...she's illuminated and shines her Light with her words of Insight. I need look no farther for wisdom. Thank you for this over the top interesting and compelling article (best questions ever!).
They really were the best questions ever!!! We should be asking this stuff at every dinner table.
I agree. The family dinner table is a ripe proving ground for real learning available to every family. I could go on and on about this. It is such a gift to children to have parents who talk about most everything there. It teaches more than points of view. It cultivates adults who are relational and hopefully deeply skilled in listening.
YESSS IT’S HERE I HAVE BEEN WAITING!! Spooky woodland enchantments! Ghosts! Jumping to the other side! Love bombing ourselves! This was epic. You are magic.
Couldn't have done it without you!
Glorious- “ the ripening heart” 🙏✍️
Totally agree about the trees! and of course other stuff ie not dwelling on aliens too much.
What other living thing is so enamored and tenaciously rooted in various climates and soils and provides shelter and sustenance and comfort to so many other living creatures. Theynare sentient like the hairs on animals and equally emotive.