Sharing the Seeds

Last week I had the privilege of witnessing a circle of elders in a soulful conversation discussing what they are learning about life as they come face to face with death.  There is no way to capture here the sacrament of that experience.  Because it touched my heart so deeply, any story I could tell feels inadequate to describe how their words landed in me.

The very dear Mary Brady counseled me once not to “spend” my experience. Often we return to our lives from a deeply personal or transformational event and, wanting to share it with the important people in our lives, give them the chronology of activities – who said what, what we did when, etc, etc, etc.  What most inspired us gets lost in the narrative and we end up “spending” our experience on the details in a desire for others to understand.

What’s important at these times is a period for reflection; integrating what inspired us and what we learned.   That doesn’t happen in the fast lane and it doesn’t happen by “spending” our experience in the narrative.  Integration comes with time, with quiet, and in different ways for different people.  It often takes an unfamiliar modality to process a transformational experience – journaling, artwork, movement, music, silence.  Too often, we want to summarize, categorize and get back to work.

My boat struck something deep;
nothing happened
Waves, water, silence
Nothing happened?
Perhaps everything has happened
and I’m standing in the middle
of my new life

-Juan Ramon Jimenez

What I’ve learned from the wise ones is to hold these moments close and only when we’re ready, speak from the heart.

PRACTICE

The next time you feel deeply moved, inspired, or transformed by an experience in your life, take time to yourself in quiet contemplation.  What struck you, what did you learn, how will it change a thought pattern or behavior in your life?  Reflect for yourself and by yourself.  Write about it, make a collage, take a walk or sit somewhere in silence.  Let the experience take root in you.  Resist the urge to spend it before you’ve had a chance to integrate what it meant to you.  Then choose who and where to share the seeds of your experience.

2 Responses to “Sharing the Seeds”

1. Betty Plevney says:

   May 12, 2011 at 7:56 am

   Mary,
   I have enjoyed reading each of the seeds of creative process that you send out to the world. Today, the poem by Jimenez struck a chord in me. Thank you for the time you take to cultivate your thinking and share it.
   Betty

   Reply
2. Mary Corrigan says:

   May 13, 2011 at 10:10 am

   Betty – Cultivation is one of the key components of creativity which I hadn’t explicitly been able to name before. Thanks for the contribution.
   Enjoy – MC

   Reply