Right, it’s now or never to take hold of this blog and do something with it…I begin so often to write a post but I am not consistent, become distracted or mostly so overwhelmed with self-doubt about what I have written that I give up without sharing.
The irony is that writing has always been one of the best therapies for me; I enjoy creating the written word and find it one of the best ways to clear a busy, emotional or muddled mind. Always have, since being young. The gap that I am falling down is sharing my written thoughts and that is because I allow self-doubt to convince me to keep my head down and my words hidden. Who will read it? What will they think? Do I just sound daft? Well this Autumn I choose to let go of these self-limiting beliefs, it isn’t the opinions or reactions of others that should be my focus. How much longer am I going to hold myself back? And to bring things into sharp perspective and loose a little of ego, who is actually going to take the time to read it all…?! I’m writing to me, I’m writing to leave something out there & I’m writing to be accountable to myself.
Enough about the why (or why not) for now, this entry is inspired Raynor Winn, @raynor.winn, a published writer of 3 books so a fairly high value start…
I first read The Salt Path a few years ago, a copy popped up in the charity shop but it had been recommended to me by woman I was working for the time. She & her husband had listened to the audio on their car journeys at a time they were looking at some fairly life changing decisions. They also knew the South West Coast is a part of the world incredibly important to me. The book is a real life capture of things that happened to a couple, why they found themselves walking The Salt Path. A read about the fact that we are all one poor decision, one bad investment, one diagnosis or illness away from our individual worlds being completely shattered in an instant. This is a concept that I’ve been very aware of over the last few years, especially since coming to teach Yoga. I meet people at really life changing stages in their own story. Loss, grief, illness, depression are often behind why somebody finds themselves joining a yoga class. Similarly we will often discover a certain book at a certain time. You will have to read or listen to The Salt Path for yourself. I liked listening to the audio because it was actually Raynor herself just telling her story which is I think what made it so powerful for me.
Forward to September this year, I was in Cornwall & I went to hear her speak at an event to mark the launch of her third book and folk music/literature tour. I was really excited to get a chance to go to this, to listen first hand to everything that writing down her experiences and putting them out into the public domain had led her and her husband to, it really is an amazing story, and very, very relatable. I love hearing or meeting writers, quite possibly because I’ve always wanted to be one so I would’ve enjoyed this whoever it was but I found listening to Raynor particularly powerful, one of the responses she gave to a question at the end has stuck with me over the last few months and I have tried to share it through my classes over the last 6 weeks.
A lady spoke about her friend who had been at a devastatingly low point in her life, I think quite possibly looking at ending it. She explained she felt Raynors book had changed her friend’s life, literally saved it and she asked her how she felt now when she hears stories like that from readers? The simple wisdom of the reply was one of the wisest she could have said, ‘Books do not change our lives (I feel you can replace books with one of many practices – Yoga, mindfulness, religion, music etc) but they do give us an insight, a new concept or a possibly different approach to a life situation – We change our lives, finding somewhere deep inside the courage to say ‘that is what I am going to do’ and sticking with it, changes our lives. Credit the inspiration but the change is all us…
Inside the gorgoeous Acorn Theatre, Penzance - thank you for the welcome :)