I love the “do not despise your inner world” piece. It is very true that people are often ashamed of their emotions 😢 I had a recent experience when we arrived at our first stop in Zambia to be greeted by a giraffe 🦒 at the entrance to our hotel. It was unexpected and brought me to tears. Emotions are often beyond our control, it comes from being human. Not all bad as it turns out
I loved this piece Sam. I have copied the garden line out by hand and will look at it every day for a wee while, as it chimes fully with the work I'm being guided towards by therapy and is the most powerful metaphor I've come across to help me embrace that work rather than shrink from it. The irony being that reading this piece has, alongside spurring me on towards that work, also made it harder to do, because I'm supposed to be finding time to sit in stillness / silence with my inner world, and now all I want to do is read everything by or about Martha Nussbaum, and dig out some Charlotte Wood novels for dessert (but inner contradictions are why we're here I suppose ;D)
Ah, this is lovely Lucia, I'm really pleased to hear that it spoke to you. The gardening metaphor is great, isn't it? I also love the idea that gardening cultivates this kind of active patience. You can't plant a tomato and expect it to sprout tomorrow, much like the inner work which takes times the time it takes. I reckon that reading Martha and Charlotte count as very wholesome inner work (rather than a distraction from it)! I have The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte on my to read list. She said that it came from "an animal place" within her, so I'm very curious ... Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts, I love hearing how the ideas intersect with your life (and you express it so well!)
I love the “do not despise your inner world” piece. It is very true that people are often ashamed of their emotions 😢 I had a recent experience when we arrived at our first stop in Zambia to be greeted by a giraffe 🦒 at the entrance to our hotel. It was unexpected and brought me to tears. Emotions are often beyond our control, it comes from being human. Not all bad as it turns out
I love this story, thanks so much for sharing. It makes me want to go on safari in Zambia!
I loved this piece Sam. I have copied the garden line out by hand and will look at it every day for a wee while, as it chimes fully with the work I'm being guided towards by therapy and is the most powerful metaphor I've come across to help me embrace that work rather than shrink from it. The irony being that reading this piece has, alongside spurring me on towards that work, also made it harder to do, because I'm supposed to be finding time to sit in stillness / silence with my inner world, and now all I want to do is read everything by or about Martha Nussbaum, and dig out some Charlotte Wood novels for dessert (but inner contradictions are why we're here I suppose ;D)
Ah, this is lovely Lucia, I'm really pleased to hear that it spoke to you. The gardening metaphor is great, isn't it? I also love the idea that gardening cultivates this kind of active patience. You can't plant a tomato and expect it to sprout tomorrow, much like the inner work which takes times the time it takes. I reckon that reading Martha and Charlotte count as very wholesome inner work (rather than a distraction from it)! I have The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte on my to read list. She said that it came from "an animal place" within her, so I'm very curious ... Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts, I love hearing how the ideas intersect with your life (and you express it so well!)