Thoughts on Duty

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Queen Elizabeth II is dead and a word most used about her was that she was devoted to her duty. 

I’ve been thinking about duty off and on since the whole brouhaha created when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left their royal DUTIES. As an American, I can understand wanting to navigate their own lives rather than have their every move scrutinized and dare I say criticized, by the press, and dictated to them by the institution of the Monarchy.

On the other hand, I guess we all have our roles to play in this world. Even commoners have certain things we think of as duties, like work, and taking care of the house, children, and family members. Yet we can make choices from a wide range of possibilities. But sometimes our outer duty bumps up against a need to take care of ourselves before we take care of others. We, at least, are able to call for help when we need it. There is usually someone else who can take up the slack until we can find a better balance. I’m not sure it’s like that for Royals. Looking at it from the outside, they have a strict set of rules they must abide by. I’m not sure that’s fair.

I can only imagine the weight of having tremendous responsibility thrust upon you because of your birth into a royal family. What must it have been like for young Elizabeth when her uncle, Prince Edward abdicated his duty to become king and her father became the next in line? All of a sudden that meant at some point she would become the ruling monarch? And what was it like to be insulated from the everyday lives of her subjects? I wonder if she ever felt despair that she couldn’t live a life free from being the figure head everyone looked to for comfort and stability?

I didn’t know Queen Elizabeth II, of course. Maybe her personality was perfectly suited for such a role. These questions come from my curiosity about the lives of other people. My life is easy compared to hers. I get to navigate my own path without much interference, or even notice from others. Everyone seems to think they have the right to comment on everything her family says and does. I’m so glad I don’t have to live with that kind of pressure.

I guess what I’m really wondering, is the old idea of duty an outdated thing? Does it seem that the tension between duty to self and duty to others is growing bigger? And what is the true meaning of duty anyway? Is it an obligation or a task chosen with joy and love?

Today is the 21st anniversary of the attack on the U.S. via the World Trade Center and The Pentagon. I think of the many people who felt a strong duty to help save as many people as they could and if they couldn’t save them, to at least recover their bodies for their families. I ask myself, is there any difference between those men and women and Queen Elizabeth II?

I’ll leave my thoughts there because I don’t have any answers. These are just my musings at this momentous time. 

To give some perspective, Elizabeth became Queen a little over a year before I was born, so even though I’m not British, she was a kind of constant in the background of my life. I wonder what’s going to happen as King Charles III takes over. Will the idea of Monarchy change? I’ll be interested to see what happens.

I hope you are all doing well and taking good care of yourselves during these difficult times. I’m a big proponent of the idea that the things I learn, and how I care for myself, affects everyone else because we’re all connected.

To my new followers, thanks for joining me. I appreciate your comments and likes. 

Lucinda Sage-Midgorden © 2022

The Space Between Time

Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, an award finalist in the “Fiction: Fantasy” category of the 2017 Best Book Awards.

Have you ever experienced life shattering events? Yeah, after the last few years, most of us have. In The Space Between Time, Jenna Holden gets slammed by her fiancé walking out, her mother’s untimely death, and losing her job all in one week. But she receives unexpected help when she finds her three-times great-grandmother’s journals and begins the adventure of a lifetime.

The Space Between Time is available in all ebook formats at Smashwords and for Kindle at Amazon, or you can find the ebook at iBooks or Barnes and Noble. If you prefer a physical copy, you can find a print-on-demand version at Amazon. Stay tuned for news when the audiobook version is published.

Lucinda is also the host of Story-Power a podcast where she and her guests discuss their creative endeavors, and/or the stories that have changed their lives. It’s available here on Sage Woman Chronicles and on Apple, Google, and Spotify podcast apps. Please rate and leave a review. It helps people find me.

Patreon

I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power podcast and Patreon communities so I’d have an excuse to talk story with other story lovers. If you’re passionate about stories too, and want to talk about what you’ve learned from your favorites, come join me at patreon.com/StoryPower.

PodMatch

If you are a podcaster, or have a message or fantastic product you want to share with the world, I encourage you to check out PodMatch. Use the affiliate link and tell them, Lucinda sent you. Then contact me so we can set up a Story-Power chat.

Recovering from Trauma and Telling Your Story

Lauren Hunter is a writer who loves exploring the big picture of the journey we are all on together. Her career spans more than two decades in public relations, content marketing, freelance writing, and publishing. She is married to her high school sweetheart, and they live in Northern California with their four children. She can be found online at https://laurenhunter.net.

Lauren’s website, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest

Lauren’s books: Write Your Journey: A Step-by-Step Guide to Write Your Life Story Fast,

Leaving Christian Science: 10 Stories of New Faith in Jesus Christ

The Kingdom of Cults: The Definitive Work on the Subject, The Kingdom of the Occult, by Dr. Walter Martin

Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience, by Brené Brown

Combatting Cult Mind Control: The Guide to Protection, Rescue and Recovery from Destructive Cults, Steven Hassan, PhD, website

Rev.com, Where the human voice is understood

Toxic Faith, Steven Arterburn and Jack Felton

The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus, Lee Strobel

Nicene Creed, adopted in 325 by The First Council of Nicaea.

How to Write Your Own Life Story: The Classic Guide for the Nonprofessional Writer, Lois Daniel

“Humans are not ideally set up to understand logic; they are ideally set up to understand stories.” ~ Roger C. Schank, Cognitive Scientist

PodMatch

This episode is brought to you by PodMatch, the dating service for podcasters. They introduced me to Lauren Hunter, and I’m so glad they did. I hope you’ve enjoyed our conversation and remember that if you have a podcast or something to share with the world, check out PodMatch and tell them Lucinda sent you.

Patreon

I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power podcast and Patreon communities so I’d have an excuse to talk story with other story lovers. If you’re passionate about stories too, and want to talk about what you’ve learned from your favorites, come join me at patreon.com/StoryPower.

Hanging Out In Shangri-la

Olympic Mountains in Washington State

I wonder if you’re like me and just wish you could unplug from all the media noise, social and other wise, and go to an idyllic place to rest, relax, and rejuvenate. I did that for three weeks in July but it didn’t take long to join the rat race again. I was feeling a bit frazzled again a week or so ago, and decided to read a couple of books by James Hilton. The first was Random Harvest, the basis for one of my favorite movies of the same name. The other was Lost Horizon, again the basis of a movie. Both star Ronald Coleman, an actor with one of the most famous, and my favorite, voices in film history. 

Both books were soothing to my soul, but the idea of going to place like Shangri-la away from all the current strife was really appealing. Just reading the book was restful. The main character Conroy, suffered great stress and maybe even PTSD from four years fighting in WW I. The usual striving for success and prestige mean little to him after such an experience. He’s in the British diplomatic corps, but is at a very junior level, which suits him fine. But rebellion breaks out in China where he’s posted and he must get all the Europeans out safely. He and his assistant and two others, an American businessman and a woman missionary are the last to leave. But they are kidnapped and taken to a remote hidden village and monastery in the Tibetan Himalayas, a place called Shangri-la. It’s just the place Conroy needed. The American and woman missionary find reasons to stay, but Conroy’s assistant, a young man in his twenties, has ambitions and is constantly trying to get commitments from the leaders to organize a caravan so he can get back to civilization. He wants Conroy to go with him. But the struggle for Conroy is that, though he likes and even feels responsible for his assistant, he’s content to stay. 

It seemed to me that Conroy and his assistant represent two opposing view points we are struggling with today. Conroy is an older person who has gone through enough traumas and setbacks to know that solving problems often takes patience and emotional intelligence. Whereas the young assistant thinks that constant pushing is how you get things done. But constant pushing is exhausting and oftentimes fruitless. 

Maybe the pandemic made us realize that Conroy’s way of doing things is best. That trying to soothe our fear by pushing through is not the best way to feel better. That allowing ourselves to feel our fear and then letting it go so the answers to our current situation can come to us, is best.

What I learned from Lost Horizon is that I can access a kind of Shangri-la at any time. All I have to do is stop my fussing and be still. The answers will come if I stop pushing.

I highly recommend both Random Harvest and Lost Horizon both in book and movie forms. James Hilton’s style of writing is different than any I’ve read to date. He tells the main character’s story through a third person, which I found fascinating. The movies are not like that, of course, but still they are both worth a watch.

This is a long weekend for us in the U.S. I hope you are all well and getting ready for the change of seasons. This year Autumn feels different to me since I’m not teaching. From now on August will not bring a flurry of activity trying to get ready for the new school year. I was never ready to give up summer in August. But now September is here I do feel ready to embrace a kind of getting cozy and slowing down my working pace. Since I’m officially retired, it’s time to enjoy just being in my own Shangri-la as much as possible.

Welcome to my new followers. I appreciate your comments, likes and even shares.

Have a blessed weekend wherever you are in the world.

Lucinda Sage-Midgorden © 2022

The Space Between Time

Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, an award finalist in the “Fiction: Fantasy” category of the 2017 Best Book Awards.

Have you ever experienced life shattering events? Yeah, after the last few years, most of us have. In The Space Between Time, Jenna Holden gets slammed by her fiancé walking out, her mother’s untimely death, and losing her job all in one week. But she receives unexpected help when she finds her three-times great-grandmother’s journals and begins the adventure of a lifetime.

The Space Between Time is available in all ebook formats at Smashwords and for Kindle at Amazon, or you can find the ebook at iBooks or Barnes and Noble. If you prefer a physical copy, you can find a print-on-demand version at Amazon. Stay tuned for news when the audiobook version is published.

Lucinda is also the host of Story-Power a podcast where she and her guests discuss their creative endeavors, and/or the stories that have changed their lives. It’s available here on Sage Woman Chronicles and on Apple, Google, and Spotify podcast apps. Please rate and leave a review. It helps people find me.

Patreon

I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power podcast and Patreon communities so I’d have an excuse to talk story. You may have seen my Story-Power posts here. If you’re passionate about stories too, and want to talk about your favorite stories, come join me at either SageWoman.life, or patreon.com/StoryPower.

PodMatch

If you are a podcaster, or have a message or fantastic product you want to share with the world, I encourage you to check out PodMatch. Use the affiliate link and tell them, Lucinda sent you. Then contact me so we can set up a Story-Power chat.

Theatre Support Jobs Galore

Emily McGill is a spiritual seeker, tarot reader, storytelling strategist, and a deep believer in the power of community.  After nearly a decade and a half working in entertainment in New York City as a Broadway and entertainment publicist and communications consultant, her path of self-exploration led to healing and evolution – and reading tarot cards professionally.  

Invited to read tarot for virtual Burning Man 2021 and Brooklyn’s dry speakeasy Club Curious, Emily has also been featured by The Tamron Hall Show, the NY Post, and Thrive Global.  She writes Playbill’s Broadway Horoscopes, and currently in development is her own deck, The Broadway Tarot.

Emily’s passions are unlocking the magic in others, amplifying marginalized voices, offering platforms for open dialogue, and creating meaningful experiences while cultivating community.  She is the co-founder of S.N.O.B. (Sunday Night on Broadway), a popup Broadway industry dance party, a founding member of PR collective Spiral5, and a co-author of S5’s signature course The Career Rebel’s Guide to Modern PR.  

With 20 Broadway credits, Emily has represented the Tony Award-winning productions of A Raisin in the Sun starring Denzel Washington, Memphis, Billy Elliot, and Disney’s The Lion King, plus Disney’s Aladdin, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s School of Rock and CATS, George Takei’s Allegiance, This Is Our Youth, Rock of Ages, Ghost, Elf, and First Date. Since her theatrical start, she’s expanded out to other forms of entertainment, including music, film/TV/streaming, and worked with companies large and small (from Disney, HBO, and Amazon Studios, to boutique talent agencies, internet startups, non-profits, and string quartets. Plus male strippers. Yes, male strippers).

She is also a crazy plant lady and loves to cook.

Emily’s social media: Emily’s website, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok

A Raisin in the Sun (2014) Kenny Leon, Director, Denzel Washington, Walter Lee Younger, Ethel Barrymore Theatre

Valerie Harper, (1939 – 2019) The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Billy Elliot: The Musical (Nov. 2008 – Jan. 2012 ) Stephen Daldry, Director, Music by Elton John

Memphis (Oct. 2009 – Aug. 2012) Christopher Ashley, Music by David Bryan

Ghost The Musical (April 2012 – Aug. 2012) Matthew Warchus, Director

First Date (Aug. 2013 – Jan. 2014) Bill Berry, Director

A Raisin in the Sun (2004) Kenny Leon, Director, Sean Combs, Walter Lee Younger, Royal Theatre

Fences (April 2010 – July 2010) Kenny Leon, Director, Denzel Washington, Tory Maxon, Viola Davis, Rose, Tory’s wife

Medicine Cards: The Discovery of Power Through the Ways of Animals, Jamie Same and David Carson, Bear and Company, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Disney on Broadway, The Lion King, Aladdin

Story-Power podcast

Tarot of the Divine, Yoshi Yoshitani

Pippin First Broadway show (Oct. 1972 – June 1977)

Wicked, Original Elphaba, Idina Menzel, Joe Mantello, Director

Lincoln Center, New York City

42nd Street, (Aug. 1980 – Jan. 1989) Gower Champion, Director

Grand Hotel, Two hits for this title. Not sure which one Emily meant

Passion, Stephen Sondheim, Music and Lyrics, Book and Direction, James Lapine

Titanic (April 1997 – March 1999) Richard Jones, Director, Maury Yeston, Music and Lyrics, Book, Peter Stone

Violet, (April 2014 – Aug. 2014) Leigh Silverman, Director, Jeanine Tesori, Music, Brian Crawley, Lyrics and Book

Joseph Campbell,American mythologist, writer, lecturer

The Fountain Tarot, Written by Jason Gruhl, Art by Andi Todaro 

Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience, (2021) Brené Brown

Marie Forleo

Pam Grout, The Course in Miracles Experiment: A Starter Kit for Rewiring Your Mind (and Therefore the World)

S.N.O.B: Sunday Night on Broadway

Tina Turner: The Musical

The Pictorial Key to the Tarot Arthur Edward Waite, Author, Pamela Colman Smith, Designs

“Humans are not ideally set up to understand logic; they are ideally set up to understand stories.” ~ Roger C. Schank, Cognitive Scientist

PodMatch

This episode is brought to you by PodMatch, the dating service for podcasters. They introduced me to Emily McGill, and I’m so glad they did. I hope you’ve enjoyed our conversation and remember that if you have a podcast or something to share with the world, check out PodMatch and tell them Lucinda sent you.

Patreon

I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power podcast and Patreon communities so I’d have an excuse to talk story with other story lovers. If you’re passionate about stories too, and want to talk about what you’ve learned from your favorites, come join me at patreon.com/StoryPower.

Movie Healing

I’ve heard so many stories of people learning things and even healing from the books they’ve read, but I don’t often hear people say that the latest movie they saw helped them heal. Most of us think of movies as pure entertainment.

I can’t say that I healed from seeing Mr. Harvey Lights a Candle, (2005) but it certainly was a feel good movie and Mr. Harvey did some healing during the movie. His students also learned that he wasn’t such a cranky old man after all.

The movie centers around a school trip to Salisbury Cathedral on the Salisbury Plain in Southern England. Barry and I chose to watch it because we visited Salisbury Cathedral when we were in England in 1996. It was part of our tour to see Avebury Circle, West Kennet Long Barrow, Silbury Hill, and Stonehenge. The Cathedral was physically beautiful, but for us there was no special spiritual feeling about it. However, the movie gives a different feeling about the place.

I love movies with characters who go on an emotional journey. Mr. Harvey is, as he eventually shares with his students, cranky most of the time, because it was in Salisbury Cathedral that he and his wife became engaged. But some years later she became deeply depressed and killed herself. He spent years wondering if he could have prevented her suicide by paying closer attention to what was happening in her life. Now, all these years later he’s ready to light a candle, ask her forgiveness, and move on with his life. 

A side story line is about one of his students who is feeling very depressed. The audience gets indications that her home life is not good and she has low self-esteem, which one of the boys on the trip takes advantage of. He uses her then chooses another girl to hang out with for the rest of the trip. Mr. Harvey comes to her rescue when he finds her at the top of the Cathedral where repair work is being done. They sit and have a quiet chat which helps the girl begin to feel better about herself and her teacher. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but I hope you’ll go check out the movie. It’s available on Prime Video.

Sometimes I need a quiet story to help me rest and get a new perspective on life. This story fit that bill for me. I hope it will for you.

In related news, I’m working hard on my story centered online course. I hope to get it up and running this fall. It’s all about how stories can teach us so much about relating to our fellow human beings. And how the great ones can help us heal ourselves as well.

I hope you have a great weekend. Thanks for reading, liking, and commenting.

Blessings,

Lucinda Sage-Midgorden © 2022

The Space Between Time

Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, an award finalist in the “Fiction: Fantasy” category of the 2017 Best Book Awards.

Have you ever experienced life shattering events? Yeah, after the last few years, most of us have. In The Space Between Time, Jenna Holden gets slammed by her fiancé walking out, her mother’s untimely death, and losing her job all in one week. But she receives unexpected help when she finds her three-times great-grandmother’s journals and begins the adventure of a lifetime.

The Space Between Time is available in all ebook formats at Smashwords and for Kindle at Amazon, or you can find the ebook at iBooks or Barnes and Noble. If you prefer a physical copy, you can find a print-on-demand version at Amazon. Stay tuned for news when the audiobook version is published.

Lucinda is also the host of Story-Power a podcast where she and her guests discuss their creative endeavors, and/or the stories that have changed their lives. It’s available here on Sage Woman Chronicles and on Apple, Google, and Spotify podcast apps. Please rate and leave a review. It helps people find me.

Patreon

I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power podcast and Patreon communities so I’d have an excuse to talk story. You may have seen my Story-Power posts here. If you’re passionate about stories too, and want to talk about your favorite stories, come join me at either SageWoman.life, or patreon.com/StoryPower.

PodMatch

If you are a podcaster, or have a message or fantastic product you want to share with the world, I encourage you to check out PodMatch. Use the affiliate link and tell them, Lucinda sent you. Then contact me so we can set up a Story-Power chat.