Time to Write

My grandparents were refugees, fleeing civil war, starvation, and persecution. Speaking your mind got you shot, often in front of your family. I’m sure that ancestral fear was imprinted deeply in my psyche when I arrived on this earth, compounded by religious beliefs that taught me questioning my faith was a sin.

Contrasted with these shadows were enormous strengths that also live in me—kindness, compassion, courage, resilience, community, forgiveness—and actively working for peace.

Understanding these intricacies was the intent when I set out in August 2014 to travel the Americas by motorcycle, living, studying, and working from the road, researching my next book. I never anticipated the chain of events that would take me down a road very different from the one I’d planned, set off with a crash on what was my grandparents’ wedding anniversary. Painful and unsettling as they’ve been, the ensuing months have also been transformative, in a wonderful way.

I’m curious. Specifically, how did the teachings of my early years, including those from the Mennonite community, prepare me for life today? What forgotten or subconsciously buried beliefs live in my energy field and unknowingly influence my thoughts, choices, actions, and even health? How do I heal the past with its limiting roles, and become the author of my destiny?

I’ve also been drawn to learn more about indigenous wisdom, especially as it pertains to the interconnectedness of all things. All my relations. Somehow, the two themes converge.

Now, finally, it’s time to write the stories that have been so formative in getting me to this place in time and space. For months, I’ve been (not always so patiently) seeking clarity, to envision the framework of the overall story. Through a series of synchronicities, just last week the fog lifted.

Even though I know without a shadow of doubt it’s what I’m to do, the thought of putting pen to paper is anxiety producing. I’ll be traveling symbolically to unknown inner places and I’m not sure what I’ll find. Additionally, deeply desiring to honor the stories as they’re extracted and written is intimidating.

Beginning Monday, my intense focus will be on completing a first draft of Crash Landing, the title for at least the time being. I enjoy posting blog articles, writing newsletters, and interacting on FaceBook, Twitter, and others. But diverting energy here makes it that much harder to get back into the head space of where I need to be now. Expect to hear or see very little from me over the winter while I hunker down and write.

Thank you for your understanding and support. I look forward to hearing your stories as well as sharing mine as we ride down this road together.