That Time When It Hits You

Barbed Wire Fence at a Concentration Camp

“If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt

“There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong directions; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.” ~ J.K. Rowling

“This is your life. You are responsible for it. You will not live forever. Don’t wait.” ~ Natalie Goldberg

Do you remember that time when you realized that the hurtful situation that you blamed on someone else, was either partly, or all your fault? Remember that terrible feeling in the pit of your stomach? You knew you had to take responsibility for it and when you did, you grew up a little bit more. The process wasn’t easy but it was worth it.

I think that individuals are not the only ones who go through this kind of situation, groups, corporations, nations, and humanity as a whole go through it. I think we’re going through a time like that right now. Humanity as a whole is having to face up to some really hard truths. We can be cruel beyond belief. Sometimes we turn away and fail to do something for someone in need. We don’t want to share what we have with others. We don’t want change.

Barry and I finished watching the latest Ken Burns documentary series, The U.S. and the Holocaust last night. And even though I wasn’t alive during the Second World War, I’m feeling that awful feeling in the pit of my stomach. The problem of discounting a whole group of people has not gone away. We’re still dealing with it. We still have that us and them mentality because we’re so afraid. I can’t really understand what we’re afraid of? To me, people are people. We may worship differently, or speak different languages, have different customs, but we all want the same things. We want to be heard and understood, we want to be loved and appreciated for who we are. Ken Burns told Stephen Colbert he hoped people understood after watching this documentary, that “We are one human race,” He’s right. I love what Morgan Freeman’s character says in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. An English child asks him, “Did God paint you?” To which Freeman replies, “For sure, because Allah loves infinite variety.”

I’m asking myself hard questions, why don’t we love infinite variety? Why do white people think they are superior to other “races”? What makes us think we have more of God’s favor? What makes us so hard hearted? 

I know, not all white people are hard hearted, not all people of color are blameless. But I just wonder what makes us want to hurt others and what can I do to help us grow up and accept each other as wondrous beings? I’m not sure what I can do. But I’m going to continue to “Sit with the question,” as Owen Wilson’s character says in Marry Me, “until I get an answer.”

Maybe Story-Power, this blog, and the course I’m creating about using stories as a personal growth tool, are part of the answer. I certainly hope humanity is waking up. I hope we’re letting go of fear and becoming more open minded and open hearted. I guess we’ll see.

I hope things are going well in your world. Welcome to my new followers. Please feel free to make a comment or a like.

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.

The Downside of Being Self-Employed

Let’s Get Working

I love being self-employed, and yet, I have to admit that sometimes I get an idea for a new project and go headlong into creating it before I have the last one completed, or at least up and running smoothly.

In April I started a Patreon Community. Then I went on a three week vacation before I had fully learned how to manage my channel. When I got back I did a bit of work promoting it, but then I got the fantastic idea to create an online class.

I have to admit, I’m having a hard time juggling those two projects in addition to my blog and podcast duties. 

It wouldn’t be so bad if I had an assistant who could help me keep up with social media promotion of all I do, but I’m a one person workforce and that’s not good.

Even so, I am excited about both my Patreon Community and the new class I’m creating. It’s titled “Saving the World One Story at a Time.” It’s going to be on Ûdemy. I’m doing the set up of my landing page already and have some episodes video taped, though I may have to do that again. I sent a test video and there were a couple of minor issues, which are easy to fix, but still, I don’t want the problems they pointed out on any of the video lesson segments.

Maybe I get bored once something is running smoothly. After two years of producing Story-Power, I’m glad I have a year’s worth of recordings ready to edit. I can take a long break from recording and learn new things with both Patreon and the Ûdemy class.

I just edited and scheduled the next Story-Power episode with Gina Clark, a Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coach. After listening to our conversation again, I realized that once you let go of the fears that often come up around being creative, it’s a little like a drug. You want to keep creating. For me though, I’ve got to learn to slow down, finish one project, or at least get it running smoothly and then move on to the next fun thing.

I’ll let you know when I have the final trailer for the class ready. I’ll add it here so you can give your evaluations. And if the course sounds good to you and you want to take it, I’ll give you a coupon to take it for free once it’s live. The only thing I ask, is that you give me a star rating and a review so other potential students will know whether they want to take the class or not. Thanks in advance.

I hope you are getting to do something fun and creative this weekend.

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.

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.