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We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.
Winston Churchill
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Gratitude Box
These newsletters include a sidebar to cultivate the practice of gratefulness: for writing, for the natural world, and for all the gifts of Life.
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The golden leaves overhead that stopped me in my tracks as I walked home last week keep calling me to look, to pay attention - to the constellations in the middle of the night, across the field to the line of rust trees, from the top of the hillside overlooking the city in its autumnal glory.
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Practice:
Harvest Gratitude
Make a list of everything in THIS moment for which you are grateful. Feel what is good about your life - relationships, people or pets, security and safety, health, occupation, growth and movement...
Do not spend a long time. Do not think hard about this. Just write as fast as your hand can move pen across page. When you have exhausted the moment, put the list away.
Go outside and make something beautiful in the natural world - a stone pile (cairn), arrangement of twigs, gathering of shells or leaves. It can be small and simple. Say a short sentence expressing gratitude for something from your list.
Share this experience at your Thanksgiving table.
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Books | | |
Common Ground Between Crafts Collectives and Conservation
Weaving a Network
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Greetings!
For more than a week a newspaper has been lying on my desk turned to a particular page and folded just so; this is my partner's way of letting me know there is something of interest. Waiting for the computer to boot up so that I could begin this newsletter about thankfulness, I decided to de-clutter my desk; my eyes fell upon the article. More than half a page of the local daily was devoted to a letter from a resident who detailed a drama about her beloved pet running scared at dusk near the busy street adjacent to the dog park; she described how, at each turn in the story, strangers were available to offer consolation, direction, headlamps for the growing darkness, and dog treats. This neighbor wrote the article to thank the community for their support, to inform them that she is reunited with her little dog, to offer her astonishment and relief at the precious gifts of kindness she received from acquaintances.
How serendipitously the contents of this article come to me; it is an affirmation that gratitude is a timely topic for this issue of TEALarbor stories newsletter.
TEALarbor stories' newsletters offer inspiration, encouragement, and beauty; inform about the connection between story, the natural world and all things writerly; and promote our professional offerings.
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The Landscape of Gratitude
|  Readers may have noticed that every TEALarbor stories newsletter has a sidebar with a personal gratitude statement as well as a practice for cultivating gratitude. But what does this have to do with writing, writing mentorship, inner/outer landscape or any of the other things that characterize the work of TEALarbor stories? A personal anecdote about writing serves to illustrate just one reason why we might want to begin, or to continue, a practice of gratitude: Some years ago I wrote a fifty thousand-word draft of a book. It contained a sound theme, logical structure, interesting content. There was a major problem with the manuscript, however. The tone of the writing did not match the tenor of the content. My emotional landscape as I wrote the book reflected one of those stuck, hard, cloudy spots in the journey of life: a challenging life transition I was then experiencing. But the book's content contained fond memories and a benign theme. The two did not mesh. The stories that flowed through the chapters were overrun with threads of anger and judgment that were rooted in the present circumstances of my life. Somehow seeping into the sentences, the incongruous feelings ruined the manuscript like spilled coffee on a treasured photograph. Now I am in the process of revising that manuscript so that the tone melts into compassion...which was the whole point of the book originally. Had I been living more in the appreciation of what I do have, rather than in the ick of unfulfilled wants and scary transition, the manuscript could have borne a tone more consistent with the content. Gratitude helps us foster an emotional climate within us that translates to our external landscape...to our tasks, our relationships, our life changes, our attitudes... and, yes, to our writing. |
Spotlight:
Writing Workshops
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TEALarbor stories offers half and full day workshops upon request. Small groups who want to participate in a workshop together can arrange a special time and location with the facilitator. Choose from the following:
Writing for Insight workshops focus on process writing. Individuals in the group explore their inner landscape through directed writing activities, coming to understand themselves in novel, richer ways. (Please see October 2013 newsletter for more details.)
Writing as Rite workshops use simple rituals, symbols and metaphors as the foundation for writing. Participants spend time out in nature and with creative materials doing guided writing practices.
Writing for Outcome is very focused written work for a group that wants to explore together a specific type of writing such as memoir, a particular kind of journaling, travelogues, research or interview documentation, etc.
Workshop One-on-One is a new style of workshop offering. Via Skype and other electronic media, individuals engage in a writing workshop that they have arranged at their own convenience. From the ease and privacy of their own home or office, individuals reap the benefits of a hands-on practical workshop with individualized attention from a professional writer.
To learn how TEALarbor stories workshops can be tailored to meet your or your group's needs, please send an email to: [email protected]
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| Easy Ways to Support TEALarbor stories |  1. "Like" the TEALarbor stories business page: 2. Forward this newsletter to a friend, colleague, client, student, or family member. 3. Sign up for a one-on-one (at a distance) workshop so you can compose a written holiday gift for a loved one.
4. Give the gift of TEALarbor stories to a loved one, or to yourself. For just $150, you or somebody you cherish can have a singular writing experience with an ongoing impact.
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News and Updates
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Second Tuesday Writing Workshops:
The introductory workshop for the second Tuesday of the month writing series was held on October 22 in Napa, CA. It was a successful event with a lovely group of men and women who explored the inner/outer landscape through various writing practices.
All Second Tuesday workshops have a limit of ten seats. Drop-ins are welcome, however a seat can't be guaranteed without pre-registration. Contact Jennifer with questions, to hold your seat, or to learn more about the early sign-up discount for the monthly series: [email protected].
- November 12, 2013 from 6:00 to 7:30 PM at Napa Bookmine, 964 Pearl Street. Drop-in fee $20. Workshop theme - Autumn's Abundance: Gratitude
Engage writing practices that reap gratefulness as we move deeper into the harvest season. Learn how gratitude improves our writing and enhances our lives. Come prepared to write the inner/outer landscape, bringing unlined paper and pens.
- December 10, 2013 from 6:00 to 7:30 PM at Napa Bookmine, 964 Pearl Street. Drop-in fee $20. Workshop theme - Season's Greetings: Writing for the Holidays
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A half-day workshop is coming to Napa on Saturday, December 7th from 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM. Fee is $50. Please join us for Grief and Writing through the Holidays:
Writing is a powerful tool for working through emotions, especially during the often intense and demanding winter holiday time. Learn to implement simple writing practices that will help sustain peace and wellbeing as you journey through the season. This is especially for people who have suffered a recent loss, are in transition, or are facing the holidays for the first time after significant life change. We will explore specific losses, the landscape of grief, writing as a coping strategy, and creative outcome for healing. Participants must register in advance. Please email for details, including location and what to bring: [email protected].
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TEALarbor stories blogs are generally posted on Fridays. Please check the blog on weekends for the latest entry.
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TEALarbor stories reaches a global audience. An Internet connection, Skype or email account are all that a person needs in order to access any of our services.
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You can sponsor a writer who wants TEALarbor stories' services. Please send an email for more information.
Blessings,
Jennifer Wilhoit
TEALarbor stories
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TEALarbor stories' mission is to support people as they discover and convey through writing their deepest Stories. The nature-based, creative processes help individuals to: write for insight, write as rite, write for outcome.
Offering mentoring, editing, tutoring, story & nature guiding �, workshops and more...
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