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This is the print-friendly version of the August 2004 Newsletter
- Online Issue # 7
August 2004 Newsletter
Online Issue # 7
In this Issue:
See also, the print-friendly version of
this newsletter (all the articles are on one web page).
Look for the next issue in December.
The Front Page
Being Both Finder and Found
"Believing there is an exquisite pattern that I am part of,
that keeps finding me, that I keep glimpsing....
Opening to being both finder and found,
and not worrying which is which."
-Laurie Mattila, March 2004
(from my notebook)
The lines above surfaced in one of my own writing experiments earlier this year, but then disappeared among the pages accumulating in my notebooks. On a recent long weekend I had time to go on a hunt, searching for the place I had used the phrase "finder and found" that was now circling in my thoughts. I felt pulled to see for myself and read again my own earlier knowing.
In some areas of life I have the delicious experience of easily being both the finder and the found; books are one example. I can go on a vague or specific quest for just the right good book feeling confident that I'll find one, probably more. I am just as easily found by books that appear in my life, usually mentioned by at least three people in a short period of time. Books also find me when they call to me from the shelves in bookstores or at home. It seems that when I am ready, the book appears. It's like the familiar saying, "When the student is ready the teacher appears." For books and for teachers, I believe; and for clients and students, engaging ideas and office space, used station wagons and vacation rentals.
But in other areas I am a struggling seeker who sometimes worries about never being found. Right now, I'm holding my vision of a small, pristine piece of land in some northern place that is trying to find me just as I try to find it. I've written an affirmation that captures my heart's intent. "Our land longs for us, calls for us, just as we long and call for it. We find each other magically." I currently tend the financial details that can make it possible. I share my vision with others who offer encouragement. I placed an ad looking for "Land Wanted to Buy" and will run it again. I check internet real estate listings and print ads. Now I need to talk more with people who know land and can help.
I tell myself I've begun the search, and I truly have; but because it's early in the process and I don't know how and when, and because I can't yet believe some of the details, I grapple with unknowns and with myself. I too easily lean toward worry. Will we ever find it? Will it ever find us?
In my work I am called to honor mysterious forces of attraction, powerful shapers of the soul's imagination and our lives. I feel privileged to glimpse this work in process, playing itself out like some uncharted and unchartable dance of attraction between a person and their longing. At first it resembles hesitant, self-conscious here-then-there movements, later a more deliberate rehearsal of actual patterns repeating and evolving, eventually a leaping-spinning balanced outpouring of life's purest energies. This is joy, a miracle finally coming into focus, where the finder that was seeking is now found. And no one worries which is which.
As often happens, the very help I need finds me through my helping others. As I listen to stories of longing and searching for good work, companionship, opportunity, place, meaning, purpose, acceptance—I begin to hear the next chapters in my own story more clearly. As I work with individuals and groups who dare to voice their dreams, I dare to voice new dreams of my own. In affirming the worthiness of possibilities begging to be explored, I grow more skilled at voicing, pursuing and believing my own. In my role as witness and guide, I too am guided. This is always a lifelong process, mastered only by beginners willing to begin and to begin again.
With gratitude,
Laurie
NOTE: You can use this link to find the Listening-Writing Experiment mentioned at the beginning of this article.
Good Books
The Seven Whispers:
Listening to the Voice of Spirit
by Christina Baldwin
New World Library, 2002
hardcover, $17.00
Christina Baldwin's latest book focuses on listening to the whispers of spirit in our everyday lives. The chapter titles reflect Baldwin's "spiritual commonsense," seven memorable phrases she uses in her daily meditation practice:
- maintain peace of mind
- move at the pace of guidance
- practice certainty of purpose
- surrender to surprise
- ask for what you need and offer what you can
- love the folks in front of you
- return to the world
"This is the practice—recite and see what happens. Call and see what responds. Notice how help comes."
-Christina Baldwin
Ten Poems to Change Your Life
by Roger Housden
Harmony, 2001
hardcover, $15.00
This is the first title in the "Ten Poems..." series. The book pairs each poem with Housden's reflections on its life-changing energy. There are poems by Mary Oliver, Rumi, Antonio Machado, Walt Whitman and others. Whether or not you agree with Housden's selections, this small book will probably get you thinking about the poems you would choose and why. Maybe it'll send you on a quest for ten poems you love.
"If you are in the right place and read this poem at the right time, it may be the nudge you need to fall headlong into the life that has been waiting for you all along."
-Roger Housden
writing about The Journey by Mary Oliver
The Alchemist
10th Anniversary Edition
by Paulo Coelho
HarperSanFrancisco, 2003
paperback, $13.00
This could be the perfect summer read: a short, inspirational, adventure novel. Santiago, a young shepherd, longs to see the world. When he dreams of buried treasure in the Pyramids, he sells his flock and sets off to find it. Along the way he meets several guides who help him to know and trust his own heart and find treasure within.
"The Alchemist" is also available in unabridged audio cassette or audio CD narrated by Jeremy Irons, making it a great option for road trips.
"What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we've learned as we've moved toward that dream. That's the point at which most people give up."
-The Alchemist
The Sound of Paper:
Starting from Scratch
by Julia Cameron
Jeremy P. Tarcher, 2004
hardcover, $19.95
This lovely book is a collection of personal essays and exercises from Julia Cameron, author of the Artist's Way. Use it for support, inspiration and guidance to move through those empty times when creating anything seems futile. Here, unlike her 12-week programs, each brief essay is followed by one task to try. Read the essays in the way they are ordered, or any way you want. If you want to write, many of the titles make good writing prompts all by themselves: Setting Off, On A Dry Day, Buds, Happy Accidents, Containment, Allowing Guidance and many more.
"When we are willing to be open-minded, art and beauty come flooding into us in a thousand small ways. When we let ourselves see the possibilities instead of the improbabilities, we become as flexible and resilient as we really are. It is human nature to create."
-Julia Cameron
Secrets of Six-Figure Women:
Surprising Strategies to Up Your Earnings and Change Your Life
by Barbara Stanny
HarperBusiness, 2004
paperback, $13.95
Stanny addresses the phenomenon of underearning and then offers seven strategies used by the women she interviewed who earned incomes of $100,000 or more. You don't need to be female or have a goal of a six-figure income to benefit from this very readable book. Anyone who wants to claim their personal power will find helpful stories, powerful insights and genuine encouragement. Stanny's message is clear: it's fun, immensely satisfying and lucrative to be paid what you're worth.
"There it was. The declaration of intention. I'd heard it in virtually every interview I'd done, though often cloaked in different words. Each woman would describe that point in her life when she said to herself, "It's time to make some money." And, in an almost uncanny way, the instant she made that explicit declaration to make more money her life took a definite turn."
-Barbara Stanny
Profile Page
Normally on this page you would be reading a profile written by a client or student who agreed to share their story about making life and work changes. Not everything goes as planned, and this is one of those instances. So, I decided to reprint a related article that I hope will encourage you to consider your profile—the one you'd be in a position to write today, as well as the one you'd love to be living someday soon.
Creating A Future:
Writing Your Unlived Story
If you've received this newsletter for awhile, you've seen a variety of people profiled in it. And I hope you've reflected on the process and possibility for change, both theirs and yours.
This seemed like the perfect time to invite you to think about the profile you'd like to be writing and creating for yourself in your own future. It's often easier to think back on what has already occurred in life and to tell that portion of the story. However, to think about your unlived life, and the future story you'd like to live, is just as important. In your imagined future you are still free to incorporate changes that will make all the difference.
I'll offer questions to guide you along with the expectation they'll prompt your own even better questions. Whether you try this in your imagination, in writing or in conversation, read through the entire list first, listening for one or two questions that grab your attention. Hold those questions thoughtfully as you try to go beyond customary, automatic, safe responses. This is your life and your story and you can create it, make it up, as you go.
- How am I being drawn to explore new possibilities?
- Is there an idea (or more than one) I keep putting on hold?
- What is postponement costing me? personally, professionally, emotionally, physically and spiritually?
- What excuses am I too comfortable using? or secretly glad to have?
- What am I waiting for? Who am I waiting for?
- What are the names of all my fears and doubts?
- What inner and outer resources are available to me?
- What is the "right" decision for me? the "wrong" decision? the "impractical" decision? Says who?
- How am I choosing to release my life energy in my world? What risks am I taking?
- How delighted am I with my choices and my life? Overall and in detail.
- What might I regret if it is no longer an option for me? And does it truly matter to me?
- What are the guiding forces that shape my life and my decisions, day by day?
- What am I doing that brings me joy, simply in the doing? or the being?
- What needs to continue? to begin? to end? to grow?
- Who or what supports my growth? Who or what undermines it?
- What opportunities am I most thankful for? How am I living out my gratitude?
- What calls for letting go? How am I responding?
- How am I making the world a safer, healthier, more truthful, beautiful, thriving place?
- What questions still need to be heard?
- What needs permission? What needs blessing?
Laurie Mattila, M.S.Ed., Career Counselor
© 2000, 2004
reprinted with permission
Upcoming Calendar:
Discovery Writing: Creating A FutureSM
For NEW Students:
Discovery Writing: Creating A Future
This six-session class uses process writing as a way to explore what you truly desire; it is also a path to follow in creating your future.
Fall Schedule 2004
Saturday mornings ( 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. )
September 25 October 9, 23 November 6, 20 December 4
Monday evenings ( 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. )
September 27 October 11, 25 November 8, 22 December 6
Winter Schedule 2005
Saturday mornings ( 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. )
January 15, 29 February 12, 26 March 12, 26
Wednesday evenings ( 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. )
January 19 February 2, 16 March 2, 16, 30
More about Discovery Writing: Creating A Future
For FORMER Students:
2004 Discovery Writing Weekend Retreat for Women
The 8th annual fall retreat is scheduled for the weekend of October 15-17 at StoneyWoods Retreat Center. Invitations will be mailed in late August to all of the women who have been in Discovery Writing classes.
Discovery Writing Year-long Group
The next year-long group for former Discovery Writing students will begin in January 2005 and meet monthly through December. It will be limited to eight members who are asked to make a year-long commitment. All former Discovery Writing students are welcome to participate. Invitations will be mailed in late November.
About the Newsletter
This newsletter is created several times a year for my clients
and students, and anyone else interested in listening to and trusting
their own deep knowing. It is designed to support your process of
discovery and growth, and to bring you up-to-date about my practice.
It offers encouragement, guidance and resources for you.
You will find new issues posted on my website in the months of
April, August and December. I hope you add my website to your favorite
places and check back when the next issues are scheduled.
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