A Great Battle Raging

[The Stage is on Fire] is a page-turner in which, much like life, there are no easy answers and yet each step of the journey yields insight and hope. This work of heart must not be missed!

Melanie Faith

Creative Writing Teacher, Essayist & Poet.

Katie Steedly’s first-person piece [The Unspeakable Gift] is a riveting retelling of her participation in a National Institutes of Health study that aided her quest to come to grips with her life of living with a rare genetic disorder. Her writing is superb.

The Society of Professional Journalists

In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.

I thank you … It is the authenticity of your “class notes”; and it is the delicacy and skill with which you present the nuances of classroom life and the actuality of your students’ and fellow teachers’ lives.

Maxine Greene

Philosopher and Education Scholar

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There is a great battle raging: for my mouth not to harden and my jaws not to become like heavy doors of an iron safe, so my life may not be called pre-death.” – Yehudi Amichai

I am sensitive. I cry when I am moved, which is often. I am a self-diagnosed empath; meaning that I feel things deeply, carry other people’s emotions in my heart, have strong intuition, senses in tune with every touch, taste, and feel, and find solace in nature (to name a few of my empathic qualities). As a sensitive empath drawn to love, I understand Orpheus’ desire to see Eurydice, and her desire to see him, fully knowing that seeing each will mean spending eternity separated – that is the double edged sword of sensitivity and empathy.

I would not trade being in touch with the world in unique and sometimes soul crushing ways for a million dollars. Really. I fiercely defend my soft heart, and the soft heart of others. I create havens of safety when things get to intense and tears just flow and anger pops like grease that is too hot on a stove. I protect and defend vulnerability. I share my sensitivity by saying things like, “That hurt my feelings.” (Sometimes people look at me weird when I say that, but that’s fine because I think we would all be better off if we claimed when our feelings are hurt.) I believe sharing sensitivity allows people to be more openly sensitive – a strength in numbers kind of thing. Sensitivity multiplies.

Living and anesthetic life is not for me. I learned early on the sweetness in life is feeling. Deep friendships. Generosity. Gratitude. Kindness. When I visited New Zealand years ago, and I cry as I write this as I feel their pain and the pain of the world that struggles with violence and hate, I learned the phrase, full-on. They talk about living life, “full-on.” Pedal to the metal. Firing on all pistons. No holds barred. No ifs, ands, or buts. No excuses. There is a certain amount of irreverence in the phrase, and I like that. Why can’t we live in full-on compassion, or full-on truth, or full-on integrity, or full-on courage, or even full-on love? That is the great battle that is raging. The great battle between full-on and checked out, soft hearts and hard heads, and alive and pre-dead.

https://kitt.global/march-17-a-great-battle-raging-mark-nepo-the-book-of-awakening/