Making Waves

[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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I would do anything for you. Would you be yourself? – Mark Nepo

Myself as Magnet

I attract when I am myself. I attract people who like myself. I attract situations in which I can be myself. I attract authenticity – honest conversations, trustworthy friends, genuine experiences. I attract creativity. Myself creates builds, writes, nurtures, explores, and expands. I let go of what does not work – negative thoughts, toxic patterns, and dysfunctional relationships. Attraction toward myself is not an easy thing. It means I have to actually like myself, which can be hard sometime in the the depths of a spiral or the edge of the unknown. It often requires consciously stopping negative thoughts and behavior patterns. I am definitely better at attracting some days rather than others.

Myself as Powerful

I have learned, over time, to trust myself. Trust is powerful. I have felt the power of listening and acting on what myself knows. I have become softened by the understanding that wisdom, what myself knows inside from years of paying attention, is powerful. Power comes from inside myself rather than from the outside of myself. Myself means power even in moments of absolute weakness – the kind of power that says, “Watch me.” “I am more than a diagnosis.” “I can do the next right thing.” It’s the kind of power from which leadership is born.

Myself as Love

I feel most myself when I am acting from love. I will be honest. Sometimes love is not my first instinct. My first instinct can be to hide, or to deflect, or to pounce, or to punch with words. Myself as love often takes time. Acting from love is hard when I have been wounded. Acting from love is hard when I have to apologize or forgive. Acting from love is hard when I have to be vulnerable or honest. But when there are waves, myself can bring still waters.

https://kitt.global/july-12-making-waves-mark-nepo-the-book-of-awakening/