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In the Client's Words
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"I worked all day until 7:00 to meet my deadlines. [Then] I decided to write [my book], and I have just busted out 30 minutes, and I'm still going..."
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Gratitude & Compassion Practice
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Sit under a tree. Using a soft gaze, gently become aware of the life around you. Thank the place when you are done. Share this experience with someone.
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Jennifer J. Wilhoit's Books
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Common Ground Between Crafts Collectives and Conservation
Weaving a Network
Order through Amazon or your local bookseller |
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TEALarbor stories'
mission is to compassionately support people as they discover & convey through writing their deepest stories.
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Greetings!
Happy May. Here we are at the beginning of yet another transition: a change in schedules; vacations and visits; hikes, picnics, and barbecues to enjoy; gardens to tend, the opening up of spacious, warm, light-filled days in the northern hemisphere. Now begins the time for movement out into the world.
And all around me I hear people calling for stability. I spend much of my direct client time (whether as writing mentor, story or transition guide, or conflict coach) supporting people back to equilibrium.
This week I had one of those powerful engagements that lingers long after the conversation has ended. It revolved around life balance: An astute young seeker has recently immersed himself in myriad trainings, philosophies, and practices in search of clarity about the next steps in his career. Yet he is feeling increasingly unrooted within himself and confused by the world.
We can begin the process of moving back into life balance by making small alterations and minor shifts, rather than by totally restructuring or starting from scratch. We pause, breathe, wait.
"Do not try to save the whole world or do anything grandiose. Instead, create a clearing in the dense forest of your life and wait there patiently, until the song that is your life falls into your own cupped hands and you recognize and greet it. Only then will you know how to give yourself to this world, so worthy of rescue."
(M. Postlethwaite)
In the boxes below, be sure to check out: the kindness blog interview, CEI course updates, the free beauty-making ritual in mid-June, and some exciting new offerings including call-in consultations and the development of online multidisciplinary courses.
Blessings,
Jennifer Wilhoit, Writing Mentor, Guide, Mediator
TEALarbor stories
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TEALarbor stories' newsletters offer inspiration, encouragement, & beauty; inform about the connection between story, the natural world, & all things writerly; & promote professional writing, guiding, & mediation services.
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Stories: Balancing Life, Written & Lived
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We understand we're out of sync, imbalanced, when something begins to feel extreme, "too much," more than we are comfortable with. This is great information, a signal that change is afoot.
We learn how to navigate the upsets in our lives by cultivating just this: a balance. But finding that balance again in our lives does not require us to mete out the portions of our lives into tidy, equal packages.
Rather, it means taking bits of what we need until we feel more rooted again. For we are natural beings who fluctuate with ever-shifting needs.
To right ourselves, we don't minimize those parts of ourselves that are strongest; we instead rebalance by focusing on the areas that are weaker, that became diminished along the way.
Here is a short list of ways you can begin to shift back to a balance of body, emotion, mind, and spirit:
Close your door to the clamor of the day. Seek nature when you've been in buildings for hours. Create art, make music, read a poem when you feel overworked. Splash through water, lie on a rock, take a hike after an immersive time creating or meditating. Write down a dream, sit outside at night, remember a prior life challenge if you've spent too much time playing, avoiding responsibility. Make dinner for a friend, write a letter, pore over a difficult piece of reading when your emotions are strong or your troubles seem impassable.
Please email to learn more about how TEALarbor stories can support you as you move forward with your writing projects, as you traverse a life transition, or as you face a difficult situation of conflict.
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News & Updates
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I was recently interviewed by Christopher Fox of the Kindness Communication blog about how TEALarbor stories understands writing and listening as kind acts "within an ecological mindset." Click here to read the interview and to check out his other compelling posts!
The Tulpehaking Nature Center's Arbor Day benefit, "Rooted," was a blazing success. Actors from New York City read my and other writers' work against a backdrop of incredible artwork and spontaneous haiku. When the recording of the event becomes available on YouTube, I'll pass along the link. In the meantime, check out the photos of lovely artwork by going to my Facebook business page and scrolling to posts on May 2nd.
My online course for the Charter for Compassion's Education Institute (CEI) has been reviewed and approved, and I'm now adding final touches (of beauty!). A Natural History of Compassion: Growing Tenderness for Self and Other via Writing and Ecology will be accessible to an international audience. Please keep an eye on TEALarbor stories' News page or the CEI website for registration details.
I had so much fun creating the CEI course that I am ready to begin work on a larger curriculum, a series of online courses offered directly through TEALarbor stories. I will post updates on my website and in this newsletter.
I will soon begin offering short call-in consultations. Details forthcoming.
Click here and scroll down to "Updates" to read and see more about my presentation, "Transforming Conflict, Transforming Lives: Re-writing and Re-rooting Stories" given at the Assn. for Dispute Resolution of Northern CA's Annual Conference.
The Windows Within Project's interview with me about hospice service work is available by clicking here. It's from Feb 1, 2016 and is entitled, "Jennifer Wilhoit & Discovering the Natural Landscape of Death & Dying, A Hospice Volunteer Spotlight: The Peace of Integrating Death Into Life." Please read some of the other volunteers' stories while you're there; Mary York's beautiful project will enrich your life.
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Upcoming Workshops & Events
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Writing for the Summer Solstice
Sat, Jun 18, 2016, 10 AM - 1 PM in Kitsap County
Free, Optional Add-On to Sat, Jun 18, 2016 1 - 2:30 PM
Treephilia: A Global Earth Exchange - Making Beauty in Wounded Places Ritual in collaboration with Radical Joy for Hard Times and earth citizens all over the planet
Writing for the Fall Equinox
Sat, Sep 10, 2016 10 AM - 1 PM in Kitsap County
Grief & Writing for the Holidays
Sat, Dec 3, 2016 10 AM - 2 PM in Kitsap County
Writing for the Winter Solstice
Sat, Dec 17, 2016 10 AM - 1 PM in Kitsap County
Weekday workshop times are also available upon request.
If you have a venue and a group (large or small) that you would like to see participate in a TEALarbor stories workshop, please email me. With a quota of confirmed registrations or a venue we can use, you will attend for free!
Popular workshops include:
* Writing the Inner/Outer Landscape (introduction)
* Writing the Inner/Outer Landscape (five part series)
* Grief and Writing
* Writing for the Equinox/Solstice
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Did You Know?
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TEALarbor stories presents at a variety of venues throughout the year. You can arrange to have Jennifer present her work about writing and the inner/outer landscape, or conduct a workshop tailored to the needs of your group.
The work of deep storying that is at the center of TEALarbor stories has served individuals and groups on all seven continents. (Yes, even Antarctica.)
© 2016 TEALarbor stories - Jennifer J. Wilhoit, PhD
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