Even though I have not had to teach this first eight weeks of the semester, I find that I’m quite busy with Story~Power duties and other creative tasks. Which has made me realize I need to set this blog aside for awhile to find some balance.
This is something that I don’t like to admit, but have had to face in the last few weeks. I put off certain tasks when I feel overwhelmed or inadequate to the task. I get emails from groups I signed up for in the beginning of my novel writing and podcasting careers that give tips for how to market, promote and make money doing both. But when I get the emails, I usually take a cursory look at them and put them away in a folder to look at later. I’m to the point where I can’t procrastinate any longer on learning some new things about the business side of my business. That is what I have created whether I like it or not.
I’m also to the point where I can’t procrastinate on finishing Time’s Arrow, my second book. Since I’m not a good multitasker, I have to drop something to make room for these things I’ve been putting off.
I hope you will continue to, or begin listening to Story~Power every other week. I have had fantastic discussions with some very interesting and inspiring people. I think you might enjoy listening to their stories.
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, 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.
Lala Drona (b. 1988) is a Venezuelan-American painter and videaste, born in Denver, Colorado. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Colorado, Lala Drona has since published and exhibited her work internationally. Most recently, her videos and paintings exploring digital spaces and the female gaze, were shown at the Cite des Arts de Paris. Inspired by her experience of growing up with a unilateral breast agenesis, her paintings, videos, and writing explore “transitions between the virtual and the real” and “women in the digital world.” The totality of her artwork contributes to, and exists within a fictional universe and mythology established online and then recontextualized in the physical world through paint on canvas, performance, and sculpture.
Lala Drona is currently creating a documentary which recounts her experience growing up with a unilateral breast agenesis. The documentary follows her through her final reconstructive surgeries in her adult life. Topics cover “shame,” “secrets,” and the role of the human body in our everyday social interactions.
Lala Drona dealt with her secret body by creating a fictional universe from a young age, one in which she still uses today for creative inspiration http://www.basedonafact.com
“Language matters. It’s the raw material of story, it changes how we feel about ourselves and others, and it’s a portal to connection.” ~ Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart
I agree with Dumbledore, words are our most inexhaustible source of magic. They are capable of inflicting injury and healing it. So, reading Atlas of the Heart, by Brené Brown from which the above quote comes, has been an eye opening experience for me. It explores eighty-seven emotions that we can experience. The book’s purpose is to help us gain a better understanding of ourselves. When I read the definitions of some of them, I was finally able to put a word to some long unexpressed emotions that I had not had words for previously.
For example, when I read the definition for anguish, I wept because I was finally able to put a name to the way I felt twenty years ago when I was forced out of a most beloved teaching position. The definition expressed perfectly my lack of focus, of being in a fog, of shock and humiliation. (Humiliation is another of the emotions described in the book.) I wept and then I felt awe at how the Universe works. Because losing that job propelled me into deep self-examination and search for meaning. It also allowed me to become open to other bigger possibilities for my life. And in the end, I’m so grateful that I wasn’t allowed to continue teaching at that school because I love the life I have built. I was forced to come up with grander dreams that bring me so much joy.
In another section of the book, I was taken aback by Brené’s definition and discussion of contempt. She credits two writers, Arthur C. Brooks who in an article he wrote for The New York Times in March of 2019, sites an article in the 2014 publication, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences about “motive attribution asymmetry.” Motive attribution asymmetry perfectly describes the wide ideological divide between political groups all over the world. Each group thinks that they are driven by benevolence, while their opponents are driven by hatred. It’s evident among Republicans and Democrats, Palestinians and Israelis, conservative and progressive religious organizations. The list goes on and on.
When I first read this section of the book, I wanted to deny that I feel that my side of the political landscape is all about helping our citizens live better lives, while the other side is selfish and all about gaining more and more wealth. Hmm, I suffer from motive attribution asymmetry. That was a little hard to swallow.
In the days since these realizations, I’ve been paying a lot more attention to the words I speak and those spoken to me. I’m noticing my emotions because naming my feelings is the only way to release them. I could go through life not doing any kind of self-examination. If I chose to do that, I would assume that everything that happens to me comes from the outside and I have no control over it. But, if I track my experiences and acknowledge that my response is internal, I have control. I can heal the dark places within and move on.
I hope you’ll consider reading this book, because we can’t do any real change if we don’t understand how we feel about our experiences.
Blessings to all of you who follow me, both old and new.
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, 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.
“You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work for his own improvement and, at the same time, share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful.” ~ Marie Curie
Ever since the Neil Young, Joe Rogan news broke, I’ve been thinking about what we owe our fellow human beings. I’ve only heard snippets of the controversy but I ask myself, is it okay to allow misinformation to spread? Is it okay to take a stand against a social media company for the content they allow? Do public figures have the right to share their opinion or to explore controversial subjects? And is it okay for us to vilify another person for the things they say and do that we don’t agree with?
A few days later, the Whoopi Goldberg controversy was in the news referring to her statements about the Holocaust. Some public figures accused ABC of overreacting for suspending Whoopi when she said that “…the Holocaust was not about race, it was about man’s inhumanity to man.” Whoopi clarified on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, that she thought she and her fellow View hosts were having a conversation. One where everyone had a chance to share their opinion, then explore the different facets of the issue and hopefully learn something from the discussion. She also said that her opinion is that the Holocaust is about ethnicity, not about race, which she explained to Stephen Colbert. But, she also said she’s willing to learn from further conversation, if she’s wrong.
A day or so ago, Barry told me about a recent StarTalk Radio episode where Neil deGrasse Tyson talked with with sociologist Nicholas Christakis about his book Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Corona Virus on the Way We Live. This episode aired on January 18, 2022. It’s interesting to hear that plagues, and pandemics throughout human history were also rife with misinformation. In a way, that was comforting to hear, in another way it’s sad that we haven’t learned much from the past.
One thing that occurred to me as I was thinking about what I’d write in this post, is the fact that I’m a public figure. My audience isn’t very large, but my blog posts and podcast episodes are out in the world for anyone to consume. So far, people seem to like what I write and the conversations I have with my guests. Yet, the day will most likely come when someone will take exception to an opinion I or one of my guests express. In such a situation, what is my responsibility to my consumers?
It’s happened to me before. When I was in college, the campus minister delivered a very conservative Valentine’s Day sermon about chastity, and … well you know the drill. Rick Sarre, an Australian friend of ours wrote an op ed piece in the school newspaper challenging the minister and his point of view. That started a controversy, which my op ed piece defending and expanding on Rick’s turned into a conflagration. Both Rick and I were vilified, not just by current students, but by alumni as well. Many of the objections to what we wrote had nothing to do with a true discussion. They were about schooling us in our incorrect thinking. We challenged the status quo, and THAT was our offense.
What I believe, because I was taught this, is that I do have a responsibility to my fellow human beings, to listen to and care for them even if they have vastly different experiences and opinions from my own. But it’s also my responsibility to share my own point of view. That’s how true conversations are supposed to go. I express my opinion, you express yours, which might be different, and we keep examining the different aspects of the issue until we either come to a consensus, or we agree to disagree. The challenge and hope is that in the end, we can still appreciate each other’s right to our point of view, and even learn something vital from them.
Maybe what we need to do is learn how to converse with each other again. Caring for someone is committing to actually listening to them on an active level; listening with our thoughts, and emotions. As Brené Brown’s latest book, Atlas of the Heart examines, we all have the same emotions even if we don’t live in the same location on the planet. So, if we are paying attention, have compassion, and empathy for one another, we can find some common ground. But to do that, it takes willingness to be open and vulnerable. That’s hard to do sometimes especially when we’re wounded ourselves. That’s why working on ourselves is so important. It’s pretty hard to show compassion for someone when all we want to do is protect ourselves.
I’m still thinking about my responsibility to all of you. For now, I’ll be as honest about what’s going on with me and what I’m thinking as I possibly can.
Welcome new followers. Thanks to all of you who read, like, and comment on these posts.
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, 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.
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