Tag Archives: Patti Digh

Wishcasting Wednesday

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image from Jamie's post

What do you wish to experience?

Contentment. Satisfaction and peace, surrender and acceptance, ease and relaxation, fearlessness and joy, simplicity and engagement.

Love. On every channel, all the time, 24/7. Know it, feel it, be it. Love, love, love. And then, more love. Keep it coming, keep it going.

Health. Full body and full life wholehearted and embodied wellness. I want to light up, shine with it, glow, radiate.

Confidence. Certainty, courage, daring, determination, faith, tenacity.

Self-love. This is most likely a combination or culmination of the rest, what is at the center, the heart of everything else, its foundation, but it seems to be worth an independent mention. I want to move through the hours and days of my life with supreme confidence in my innate wisdom, compassion, strength, and fundamental goodness.

That part of the list is states of being, but there are also “things” I wish to experience.

Playing the ukulele well enough that I wouldn’t embarrass myself. The secret wish underneath is to someday be able to do a duet with Danielle Ate the Sandwich. Just once, please. But I have a lot of work to do first, like learning to play.

Publication. I’m okay without it. I have a full writing life, even if it never happens. Writing is like prayer for me, a spiritual practice, and I am utterly devoted to it. But…I’d also like to be published, as in paid for my work, as in people curled up in hammocks or in front of a fire on the couch cuddling with their dog reading my books.

Paid work that isn’t work, but rather pure love, aligned with my calling, maybe even God’s work. I’ve said it before and it bears repeating that I don’t need what I love to pay my rent, or turn into a business, and yet…it might not be the worst thing if what I love, the work I would do regardless, the thing that wakes me up in the middle of the night thinking and planning, the stuff that makes me wake up and rise at 4:30 am every morning, and the money, the means to take care of what needs taken care of, would be in the same location at the same time, would feed each other, work together, and then I could just do what I love, all the time, instead of trying to juggle full-time paid work with everything else I want to do. It is sometimes like trying to live two lives, and that can be exhausting, and lonely.

Hike the Appalachian Trail with Eric.

My very own writing cabin.

A whole summer in Amsterdam.

Dathun, a month long meditation retreat at Shambhala Mountain Center.

An in-person workshop with Brene’ Brown.

P.S. The magic power of wishing, part two: Holy wow! Brene’ is going to be in Boulder for a two day workshop in May, and I am going.

A yoga retreat with my friend and yoga teacher Jessica.

A writing workshop with Natalie Goldberg.

Church with Anne Lamott.

A meet-up with Susannah Conway. Really, what I would love is a long weekend on the beach with her, writing and blogging and taking pictures and talking and taking long naps and eating and laughing.

P.S. The magic power of wishing: I just found out this morning, less than 24 hours after making this post, that Susannah is going to be at the World Domination Summit, and has proposed a writing workshop. Even if the workshop doesn’t go (it so will), there is a very real chance that I am going to be able to at least tell her in person how much I adore her. I can hardly believe it, but it’s true!

Walk and talk with Mary Oliver. This is most likely the craziest wish on this list, but I would just love to be near her and able to tell her just once in-person how much I love her, how much her words have meant to me.

Swim without fear.

Hike with Judy Clement Wall.
A walk on the beach with Julia.
Take pictures or paint with Andrea Scher.
Sit with Jen Lemen at her kitchen table.
Sit in stillness with Erica Staab.
Meditate with Susan Piver, (oh wait, I actually get to do this in a few weeks!).
Discuss writing with Margaret Atwood, and not embarrass myself.
Trust over a cup of tea with Kristin Noelle.
Make art with Patti Digh.
Take a yoga class with Jennifer Louden.
Ask Pema Chödrön one million questions.
Take a Nia class with Jamie Ridler.
Go on tour with Aimee Mann.
Teach an art and writing class for girls with Kandyce.
Draw with Hugh MacLeod.
Listen to Neil Gaiman read.

I could keep going with this list forever and ever…so many good people doing so much good stuff and I want to just hang out with them and soak up all that goodness and tell them to their sweet faces how much I adore them.

Three Truths and One Wish

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A Secret: I think today’s Three Truths and One Wish might just be a Something Good post in disguise, and it’s all about the love, Baby.

poster gift from Patti Digh to her mailing list

1. Truth: All the love you need, you already have. No need to look outside yourself, no reason to wait for someone to save you, no need to attach to any person, program, or possession–none of that, none of them, will give you anything you don’t already have. You are not a hole to be filled or wound to be healed, you are not empty or broken. You are enough, just as you are, and your fundamental nature is basic goodness, wisdom and love.

When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it’s bottomless, that it doesn’t have any resolution, that this heart is huge, vast, and limitless. You begin to discover how much warmth and gentleness is there, as well as how much space. ~Pema Chödrön

Everything in the universe is within you. Ask all from yourself. ~Rumi

2. Truth: You are your own soul mate, the love of your life. There’s not some magic other half “out there” that will complete you, save you, make your life happy and safe, make you whole–(see truth #1). Yes, you might find a mate, a good and healthy match for you the enriches your life in so many ways, but it won’t fix everything, and it will bring struggle and suffering of its own. YOU are the only one who will always love you, be with you from birth to death, who knows just how to love you and give you exactly what you need.

You wander from room to room
Hunting for the diamond necklace
That is already around your neck!
~Rumi

3. Truth: No one will ever love you like you do. If you aren’t utterly head over heels in love with yourself, if you aren’t showing yourself that level of attention and care, make changing that your mission. Whatever you want, whatever you need or feel is missing, figure out how you can give that to yourself. If you are waiting for someone to give you the love you need and deserve, stop waiting and love yourself.

Learning how to be kind to ourselves, learning how to respect ourselves, is important. The reason it’s important is that, fundamentally, when we look into our own hearts and begin to discover what is confused and what is brilliant, what is bitter and what is sweet, it isn’t just ourselves that we’re discovering. We’re discovering the universe. ~Pema Chödrön

Wherever you are, and whatever you do, be in love. ~Rumi

One Wish: If you aren’t already completely committed to loving yourself, that you discover that wonder, that strength, that wisdom, that joy, that contentment in your life, quickly and without obstacle. I wish this for myself as well, that I not only intellectually accept these three truths, but that I embody them, manifest self-love in my life, and that in turn, I am able to give love to the world.

What is love?

A few loving things you might consider doing for yourself, with yourself today that have the potential to generate more love in the world:

:: Read Daniel Collinsworth’s post on Kind Over Matter, “Random Acts of Unconditional Love,” in which he proposes “making it a day of random acts of unconditional love — small gestures of kindness for all the people you interact with throughout your day.”

:: Watch this video that Daniel shared at the end of his post. I watched it, and it made my whole day. So, even if you don’t read his post, trust me that it will be worth your time and watch this video, (but really, I think you should read his post too).

:: Join the “Generosity Day” Cause, “We’re rebooting Valentine’s Day as Generosity Day: one day of sharing love with everyone, of being generous to everyone, to see how it feels and to practice saying ‘Yes.’ Let’s make the day about love, action and human connection – because we can do better than smarmy greeting cards, overpriced roses, and stressed-out couples trying to create romantic meals on the fly.”

:: Read “The Last Thing We Want To Do Is Love” by Fiona Robyn at Writing Our Way Home:

image from Fiona's post

“In the midst of total uncertainty, we can love.” This is what Terrance Keenan has to say. He doesn’t say, we can feel that we are loved. He says, we can love.

Easier said than done. When there isn’t any ground under our feet, when we feel we’re being let down by people and situations and the whole world, the LAST thing we want to do is love.

And yet…What is the alternative? Closing down. Putting up walls. Looking after ourselves. Not seeing the pain of the other, not being softened by the pain of others, not dissolving into scary sweetness…

It happens to be Valentine’s Day today, which is mostly a contrived commercial holiday that is a pale, weak substitute for the full measure of love and generosity we are capable of, so on this day, instead of flowers or chocolate, live up to the full potential of your vulnerable, tender, brave, wide open heart. Gentleness is your superpower. You are a warrior of wisdom and kindness–act like it.

calligraphy by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche