For What Are We Saving?

[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

Enter your email here to receive Weekly Wide-Awake

back

If the love I have isn’t working, what good is money?

Money does not bring happiness.

Current happiness research tells us that: Money doesn’t buy happiness. Lottery winnings create only temporary, short-term happiness. Relationships are a key factor in long-term happiness. Focus on experiences not stuff. I believe this to be true. My life experience has borne out the truth that people (not things) make me happy.

Saving and Clearing

What about the importance of saving money? What about the importance of clearing out our spaces (in the simplify and only keep things that bring you joy kind of way)? Focusing on saving and clearing out supports love that works, and a life of happiness. That sounds great. I struggle with eating enough vegetables, getting my work outs in, not drinking too much wine, and not drinking enough water. I find saving and clearing hard. (I view saving and clearing together because I think they go hand in hand with consumption, a huge barrier to happiness.) Saving and clearing are not as fun as travel. Saving and clearing are not as tasty as fine dining. Saving and clearing take more time than a shopping spree.

A Happy Balance

Here is the imperfect sense I make of finding happiness. Somewhere between chastity and debauchery, budget busting and penny pinching, discipline and indulgence there is a liminal space. The liminal space evaluates and keeps track to make sure we are accountable, messes up and keeps going to prevent quitting from being an excuse to keep from getting in the game, forgives and keeps trusting to keep honesty with ourselves and others alive and kicking in the mess of life, and honors flexibility as a sign of strength. Balance is not easy. I experience balance in waves. Times when I manage better. Times when spending and saving are best friends. Times when my heart beats with moderation. Times when I don’t have to balance anything at all – it just happens.

https://kitt.global/march-4-for-what-are-we-saving-mark-nepo-the-book-of-awakening/