Writing & Living on the Mobius Strip

"I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear."?–?Joan Didion,?Why I Write?(essay originally published in the New York Times Book Review in 1976)

In my book?The Clue of the Red Thread, actually in all of my?books,?a core message abides of?living life from our side,?living life from the inside out.?Being who you already truly are.?This is life on the?Mobius Strip. ?Here we?write;?here, on the page we heal what is divided in us. Here is where we hold a conversation between our inner life and our outer life. We become whole; we become?the cause of our life?through listening and noticing our inner lives?with?outer lives.?Through our?writing?we can do this most remarkable dance with what the outer world brings us and who we truly are within.?

"As?I travel this?Mobius Strip?constantly co-creating I increase my choices that are life giving."??-Parker J Palmer?

Writing?invites us to be friends with all of ourselves and our experiences. Our pain stories, our anxieties, our patterns and fears are all part of who we are, and play a significant role in who we choose to become. Befriending these parts of ourself will truly make us whole.?Don't go for happiness or outward success; go for wholeness. Happiness and success are byproducts of an undivided, whole life.

What part of yourself is divided? What part of you have you not befriended??Write about that.

Consider yourself a character in a great novel. You, like such a character, are not flat or linear, you are a collection of divergent narratives, experiences and archetypes. You are moving along a path that is more like a spiral or labyrinth than a straight line.?We are never far from our past selves. Or future selves.?Intuitively you know this.?

Write about that. Write about something you have known all along.?

A proven way to explore and transform our pain stories is to?write.?We cannot?write?without an observation of our inner landscape and the encounters we have in our outer landscape. In my book,?The Zero Point Agreement,?I offer the?Wish Fulfilling Mandala,?a contemplative and transformative journey of exploration. This exploration takes place on the page by?writing?on the Mobius Strip. We discover what we want and what internal and external dynamics interfere with what it is we truly want and who we truly are.?

"I think we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind’s door at 4 a.m. of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends. –Joan Didion,??Slouching Towards Bethlehem?(1968)

Who is someone you use to be???Write about that.?

For those of you who want to take a?transformational journey?with me (on and off the page)?starting this Spring I am holding?my year-long?Red Thread Circle,?in person, (near Madison WI) starting May 17th from 5:30 to 8:00 PM.?(Circle will be every 3rd Tuesday night). I am limiting this circle to 8 committed travelers.??Email me?for more information, for a consultation, or to have me hold a spot for you.??