Wednesday's Words for September 15, 2010

I’m about to do something totally selfish. Tomorrow I leave for a long weekend, just me and three very special friends of mine, female authors all. This is our own private retreat, something I’ve never experienced before. We plan to relax, brainstorm, and write.

We’ll be staying on the shore of a lake. Water happens to be my element, but more, at the water’s edge is where my spirit always finds renewal.

I know I tend to wax darn near poetical when I talk about spending time with other writers. I’ve said more than once that for authors, being with others of our ilk is beyond special. It’s kind of like the stranger in a strange land who unexpectedly encounters fellow expatriates. There’s an immediate, soul-deep sense that says, “finally, I am no longer alone!”

This weekend has been a year in the planning. Because we all have very busy lives, carving out special “me” time takes a lot of manoeuvring and finger crossing.

This is also going to be a special event for me as it will be the first time ever I’ve experienced a “girl’s weekend”. I’ve never had one before because, up until relatively recently, I didn’t have very many female friends.

But now I have three very good female friends and they’re all writers! Am I lucky, or what?

Over the last decade, I’ve trod a far different path than I’d ever truly envisioned for myself. I’m thinking about and doing things I never even imagined I ever really would. And I figure it’s the right path for me because I am constantly aware of the evolution taking place around me but more importantly, in me.

The whole point of life, in my opinion, is to grow and fulfill your potential. I have been working in that direction, especially over the last ten years.
I look at myself now and who I was then and the change amazes me.

Are you aware of the changes that have taken place in your own life and your thinking over the years? I ask, because one of the things I have noticed is there are basically two types of people in the world. Those who are ok with who they are and have been, acknowledging their warts, their stumbles, and with a shrug get on with things and change and evolve; and those who are not and so are inclined to “re-write” their own history from time to time.

I know several people who fall into the latter category. They are so into denial that they successfully “forget” entire portions of their past. Certain errors in judgements, or rough times, are so “pushed away” that eventually, in these peoples’ minds, those events simply never happened.

People are free, of course, to live their lives however they choose, and I suppose the up side to that way of life would be you’d feel pretty good about yourself for the most part just about all of the time. Well, at least until it all blew up in your face.

But to my way of thinking, if that’s how you handle life, where does the growth happen? How can you learn from your past mistakes if you deny them into oblivion?

As I embark on my five days of immersion in the company of my sisters in spirit, I plan to keep my heart and mind open for the next step in my own personal evolution. I’m going to do my best to hang on to the memory of everything, whether I’m the star in the scenario or not.

And I hope the day will come when I’ll be able to look back and see just what an amazing journey I’ve had.

Love,
Morgan
http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury