Monday, October 20th
Due to the changes in our world I’ve decided to focus all my attention on workshops and counseling and put aside writing fiction for the time being. I believe the need for tools in a changing time is greater than that of purely self focused projects.
My grandmother used to tell stories about “the great depression” as she called it. Not that that is where we are; our current situation is unique as the time and circumstances are different. However, her stories about altering expectations and banding together to weather the storm were positive and made me wish for something like that in my own life. A time when people would realize how important they are to each other, and reach out to help and support and co-create their lives. The stories were about sharing meals and coming up with ways to have fun without spending money. My father was a young man and he and his friends spent all their leisure time “hanging out” sharing meals and games, putting on musicals and plays instead of going to paid events, saving for things and looking forward to them like trips to Yosemite camping or to the beach on the trolley in Los Angeles where they lived.
I love life and I love my life but there are things that I find unnecessarily harsh, things to do with living too much as solitary individuals; missing a sense of community on a daily basis which has been lost in the last generation. I don’t believe humans are meant to live so selfishly. It is painful to believe one is so alone and that everything must be done by oneself without support of family and friends. So many people in this country now live that way and it makes me terribly sad. If there is a silver lining to this time, one of the ways I see that is in our realizing once again that working together is a lot more satisfying productive and fun that doing it all alone.
One of my reasons for studying other cultures and other times has been a desire to find a sense of connection that no longer exists as it once did in this country. No where and at no time in any history that we know of have people lived such solitary, disconnected lives. The first time I went to India I would watch people with one another, always touching and always emotionally connected. I sat in a group meeting and watched a mother and her grown daughter; the way they touched as they talked, the ease of their being with one another made my cry and long for such comfort. Life is difficult and challenging in any time or place but it does not have to be so harsh!!!.
With that in mind I’ve expanded the schedule of workshops for 2008 and ‘09. My intention is to create more workshops that will look at tools for positive change both individually and collectively. Look in the schedule section of this site to see what’s coming. If you have interest and live in the SF Bay area please contact me.
