Chasing The Butterfly

[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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In release, we begin. – Mark Nepo

There are many things that need to be released in life. Anger. Resentment. Jealousy. Judgement. Anxiety. When held inside, negative thoughts and feelings eat away at who we are. I have chosen a word of the year for the last several years, and my word for this year is surrender. Surrender feels a lot like release to me. I set the bar high in January a laid out a road map of things I want to surrender/release this year. This year I want to surrender: the need for immediate results, all things that don’t serve me, weight in all its manifestations, busy, chaos, and disorder, and fear. It makes sense to me as we approach midway through the year to think about how I am doing on surrendering.

The Beauty of Beginnings

Blank slates, fresh starts, and turned pages are wonderful. Beginnings breathe forward motion and momentum, not regret and doubt. Surrendering is built on hope, and hope is the bedrock of beginning. As I have made my way through this year, I have experienced both success and failure around each of my surrender goals. I have had to begin, and begin, and begin. I have made progress. I have not given up.

We Have Release Muscles

I am learning that releasing takes practice. Each release is a beginning. Each release is a lesson in forgiveness, patience, and strength. Each release builds muscles that make the next release easier. I am getting better at easing into results, leaving what does not work, finding order, and acting out of faith not fear as my release muscles strengthen.

Chasing the Butterfly

I have always chased butterflies. I have always dreamed big, leaped, strived, and grasped. The trick to butterfly chasing is knowing when to release. Knowing when to be still and know. Knowing when to relax and soar. Knowing when we simply breathe and know ease and clinched fists open.

https://kitt.global/may-17-chasing-the-butterfly-mark-nepo-the-book-of-awakening/