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The road seen, then not seen, the hillside hiding then revealing the way you should take, the road dropping away from you as if leaving you to walk on thin air, then catching you, holding you up, when you thought you would fall, and the way forward always in the end the way that you followed, the way that carried you into your future, that brought you to this place, no matter that it sometimes took your promise from you, no matter that it had to break your heart along the way ... excerpt from PILGRIM and DAVID WHYTE: ESSENTIALS Presently many of us are having a collective experience of feeling STUCK. Certainly there are many, many paths normally taken that are not available to us during COVID restrictions. Over the years too, as counselor and Writing Sherpa, many have come to me with the complaint that they felt stuck. But what is this experience of feeling stuck? (Write about that!) Stuck is a place. Stuck is a place that we have arrived into from another place. And Stuck is a place where there are inherent invitations to what is next. We can, if we pause in a compassionate way, long enough to be here (be in that zen moment of the here and now of stuckness), will recognize that there is life here. Movement. A calling or invitation. I have not met one person over these four decades of counseling who've come to me expressing feeling stuck in their life, who were actually stuck. (That includes you my dear writing friend). If you are feeling stuck as a writer here is all you have to do: (a little or a lot of tough love here, hey, I'm a Writing Sherpa! I don't want you dying on the mountain side.)
Gather with talented and published writing instructors for a return to your inner writer and light at this years Write-by-the-Light Workshop and Retreat. Time to Write by the Light! June 16th through June 19th, 2021. Join me and other writers for this year's Write-by-the-LIGHT Workshops and Retreats. Instructors from past Write-by-the-Lake retreats will offer our 1st summer Write-by-the-LIGHT workshops and retreat, LIVE and On-line. You have 2 workshop venues to choose from: One: Laure Scheer's BACKPACKING BASICS - NATURE WRITING 101 Two: Julie Tallard Johnson’s Write Meaningful Nonfiction: Turn Your Personal Experiences, Knowledge, and Journaling into an Inspiring Book, Blog, or other Writing Laurie and Julie will offer consecutive workshops 9 – 11:00 every morning and 2 to 4:00 every afternoon. In addition! You can attend one-hour sessions with Christine DeSmet, Angela Rydell and Tim Storm. Molly Chanson, author and yoga instructor will offer an evening class of yoga for writers! And!, Laurie and Julie will give personal one-to-one attention and consultation to 10 pages of your writing following the retreat. Click here for more information and to REGISTER: Write-by-the-LIGHT workshops and Retreat  Here is a great talk on writing, collaboration. the importance of poetry and poets and getting published . . . recorded now for your pleasure. (Click on the image below to watch)   A road taken, Ireland 2016 Not until late in life did I come to understand how my life is framed by white privilege. In fact, this reality influences everything in my life. And if you are white—poor or not—this is also true for you. To reveal and benefit from the paradoxical nature of white privilege, we must explore what white privilege means within the context of our daily lives and how it affects our experience as a human being—a white woman in America, in my case. At some point, those of us who are privileged need to acknowledge this dynamic if we are to live an authentic life. White privilege isn’t in and of itself a paradox; as with any dynamic, it holds within it a paradoxical narrative. And white privilege holds many paradoxical narratives. My privileged life doesn’t mean I have always felt privileged. Therein lies a core paradox: we may have shame or fear, dynamics that drive our experience, but we may not be aware we have them. Once we realize that shame, for example, influences everything in our lives, we can begin to transform our lives. We can turn shame into self-compassion. This is true with white privilege too. Once we become aware of white privilege as a dynamic, we can live more honestly. We can be more fearless and compassionate. We can challenge this dynamic and own up to it through our beliefs, assumptions, and actions. Then, the second layer of paradox arrives: we still are privileged. With shame or fear, we may actually become wholly free of its influence on our lives. This is possible. At least such dynamics no longer drive our experience. White privilege has a culturally set context and cannot simply be shaken off with awareness or practice. The color of our skin—white privilege—follows us to our grave. Still, its paradoxical nature can help us live more honestly and compassionately. As long as we first maintain an awareness of how this dynamic is part of every experience, it may no longer secretly drive our experiences. As we challenge this dynamic internally, we can help change the outer landscape of racial injustices.
Herein arrives the third layer of paradox with white privilege: We can use our white privilege. We can choose to challenge racial injustices we encounter. We can speak up when we see someone being mistreated, bullied, or denied something because of their skin color. This particular privileged state is just one. In the words of the poet, Rebecca Cecchini: "There are, of course, many privileged states in our world that could be paradoxically included in this thread, including male privilege, young privilege, hetero privilege, economic privilege (often stemming from the others). These and other privileges so often ride unimpeded under our awareness but affect others deeply. They are part of our social constructs and move through all of us, surfacing wounds as the many “isms” we don’t personally wish to claim. Opportunity abounds here to make broader applications of the paradoxical lessons." A worthwhile exploration for each of us may be to identify a particular privilege that is current in our life. There are simple approaches we can use to challenge and shift our privileged states and all of our contradictions to help us find contradictions’ inherent paradoxes. Write about that. What are the paradoxes inherent in some of your stories and experiences? Write about that. SAVE THE DATE: Laurie Scheer and I are finishing up the final plans for what this year will be Write-by-the-LIGHT. Since the UW Continuing Studies, Writing Program is closing, last year was the last WBTLake. However Laurie Scheer, myself, Angela Rydell and Tim Storm will be offering a superb and dynamic WBTLIGHT!. Laurie and I will be offering a full retreat/workshop experience to choose from. There will be optional sessions with Tim Storm and Angela Rydell. And an open mike night, one yoga class for writers from Molly Chanson, as well as ways to meet up with other writers. For those who live near Madison, I will hold one in person meet up “on the lake, in the light.” Investment: $225. . And! Laurie and I will be offering a consultation on 10 pages for free afterward for all who sign up. This will be great. It will be live and ZOOMED. The dates are June 16th through Saturday (till 4:00) the 19th. |
My All Write Wednesday blog and my Zero Point blog have been joined together into one. Read the past posts.
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©2021 Julie Tallard Johnson. The Writing Sherpa
Embodied Counselor & Educator
Engaged in the world, one conversation at a time
Most rights reserved. Admin
Embodied Counselor & Educator
Engaged in the world, one conversation at a time
Most rights reserved. Admin