It's been so nourishing to have some quiet time as we wind down the year and enter into a new one. I especially love listening to other people's voices as a way of letting new ideas in (which is why I have always loved radio and now podcasts).
Today I'm listening to the poet and philosopher, David Whyte (interviewed here by Krista Tippett on On Being.
A few of my favorite quotes from this beautiful conversation in which he weaves together the personal and the professional in a way that make sense to me and speaks to the work I do (and love doing more every year):
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
There’s no self that will survive a real conversation.
All of us have these elaborate ways of looking as if we’re showing up and not showing up.
And this....
One of the astonishing qualities of being human is the measure of our reluctance to be here, actually. And I think one of the great necessities of self knowledge is understanding and even tasting the single-malt essence of your own reluctance to be here. All the ways you don’t want to have the conversation, all the ways you don’t want to be in the marriage, you don’t want to be a parent, you don’t want to be visible in a leadership position, you don’t want to be doing this work. And this is not to give it away. This is just to understand what lies between you and a sense of freedom in it.
If these ideas speak to you and you want to explore, here's my recommendation (in this order):
- Listen to the interview with Krista Tippett
- Watch his TED talk (or below)
- Check out his web site
- Read or listen to his books
- Join me at his event in Charleston SC on March 30, 2019
Here's to a healthy year of new growth.