Answer to prompt The Power of Four
By Helen Sadler
Four Directions to
Surviving Quarantine
When I wrote this prompt, I was looking forward to getting
hella creative with it. I had all kinds of fancy plans, although nothing was
really sticking. I was certain I didn’t want to write about the past two months.
At. All.
But then, the Trail Brazens started posting. And I read
Laurie’s promises, Annmarie’s power statements and guiding poems, and Natalie’s
reclamation. Then I knew I could not avoid it. I knew I needed to lend my voice
here as well, as we continue to document our journey together on this blog.
I’ve tapped into the four things that helped stabilize and
regulate me during this time. For a while emotions were running so high and
low, I sometimes didn’t feel like I knew myself at all. I am happy now to
document the things that I have found most helpful, although there are
certainly others. I’m keying in on the top four, but I could also add exercise,
fresh food, and solid sleep.
I am including an added dimension: the meaning of the four
directions in Native American culture as a connector.
EAST: asking for wisdom and understanding, seeing
things as they really are.
Ye Tang Che
I’m aware I already wrote a blog post about this, but I have
to state it again: in times of my greatest despair, this is repeatedly the
thought or philosophy that helps me through the most. I am still grateful for
the day the Pema Chodron’s book When
Things Fall Apart dropped into my lap. I cannot get enough of Chapter 7,
where Ye Tang Che is explained in all
its balanced wisdom and frank talk. It helped me just let things be what they
are. Once I grabbed onto that once again, I found everything stabilizing for
me, and I haven’t shed many tears since then – except for the day I went to my
classroom. But that was a blog
post, too!
SOUTH: warmth, growth, the sun’s rays
Music in different forms
Anyone who knows me knows music is a huge and significant to
me. Early on in this quarantine, I
purchased a vinyl record player. Its presence in my life has added a dimension
I didn’t even know I was missing.
Slowly, and deliberately, I have listened to many of my old
vinyls. I even bought a few new ones. The best way for me to deeply listen is
to lie on the floor with the speakers on either side of my ear, just like I did
as a young person. Revisiting the album covers and inserts proved a delightful
treat as I rediscovered things I forgot were even there – such as James
Taylor’s handwritten words to all the songs on Sweet Baby James.
But even more than that, it is what I am finding in the
grooves that uplifted me. I found the roots of everything I love about music. I
heard artists, such as Phoebe Snow, from an entirely new perspective and
appreciation. Albums I thought would sound dated or weird have surprisingly
held up. They are all intricately connected to a time in my life when I was
forming myself, so to hear these songs now is truly finding pieces of myself
that went missing in the name of electronics.
But that isn’t the only music. The other delight in my life
is the Saturday night live stream broadcast of The Grand Ole Opry, albeit an
empty auditorium, but artists who are pouring their heart and soul into keeping
the circle unbroken. Vince Gill, Marty Stuart, Keith Urban, Terri Clark, Amy
Grant, Kelsea Ballerini, Garth and Trisha, among others. I fell in love with
Ashley McBryde. I gained appreciation for Lauren Alaina, Trace Adkins, and Luke
Combs. There have been many fine moments in this show, but my ultimate favorite
was during the final moments of the Garth and Trisha edition, when Trisha
launched into an acapella version of Patsy Cline’s “Sweet Dreams,” her voice
echoing through the Opry hall, moving me to tears. That was a music moment to
remember from this unsettling time.
WEST: introspection and insight, source of the water
of life
A Lamp in the Darkness by Jack Kornfield
Every morning I wake and read something inspirational. About
four weeks into the quarantine, I became disillusioned with the text I had been
reading. It was striking me as shallow, and not helping me at all. I tried a couple of other books I had
here, but nothing was doing what I needed it to do.
Then something came up in Facebook memories: a book I
studied in 2012, and used to create inspirational messages for my seniors that
year. The full title of the book
is A Lamp in the Darkness: Illuminating the Path Through Difficult Times. At
the end of the school year in 2012, I
wrote various quotes from the book on index cards, then had the seniors choose
one randomly. We then sat in a circle and they talked about why they felt that
message was for them.
I obviously passed one of these messages on to my coworker
Natalie, because that same day she sent me the text of the message I had given
her eight years ago. It meant something to her that day, and then I knew that I
had to pull Jack’s book back off the shelf.
Good move!
This wise and wonderful book provides gentle instructions
and enlightening stories for getting through difficult times. After nearly
every chapter there is a meditation (a CD is also included for verbal
guidance), and even though I have yet to actually do any of the meditations,
just the illuminating text has helped me find something solid inside myself
that I deeply needed during this ordeal. Or, should I say, helped me light my
own lamp. It, along with Ye Tang Che,
is bringing me back to a level of equanimity and peace that had been eluding
me. It also helped me form a vow, at Jack’s suggestion:
I vow in the midst of difficulties to listen deeply and love.
As Laurie and Annmarie stated on this blog before me, I am
willing to keep a promise to myself, beyond the chaos, and see what is helpful
and real. This is the ultimate liberation.
North: cleansing, endurance, patience, receiving energy
Write Around the Corner
When my friend Laurie mentioned starting an online writing
group, I had every reason to say yes. I love writing and I love talking about
writing (duh!). She opened it up
to invite others, and I invited quite a few people, three who have accepted and
stuck around. Two are people I knew in high school who still live in Ohio– one
whom I had just seen in February and she asked me about what kind of online writing
group she could join. (Synchronicity!)
I also invited a rather new friend from work, and it has deepened our
relationship being in this incredibly safe writing space.
[Disclaimer: this absolutely does NOT replace the awesome TB
group – EVER!]
Laurie has done an inspiring job facilitating our 90-minute
Zoom meetings. Please know, I can barely tolerate Zoom in many cases. But in
this context, it works just great. There are people from all over
participating, and there is no way we could all get together. So this is
perfect.
The group has its own FB page, Padlet, and some other fun
outer activities. Each week I find
my love and gratitude for this group growing. Last weekend is a case in point.
I came away from the meeting totally rejuvenated, and by the next day I had
developed an idea for a writing project I am super excited about! Considering I haven’t had much of an
interest in pursuing a project in over two years, this was something.
There are three more things I want to add in this regard.
Write Around the Corner is a perfect title for this group,
because when we started we had no idea what was around the corner. As we
proceed, we still don’t know. But we are navigating together.
This group has become a North Star for me – leading me to my
best multi-dimensional self. What more can I ask?
And finally, the interactions in this group have helped me
dream again. And that, my dear friends, is the ultimate healing power of
writing.
These video seems to sum up quite a bit here. This is Trisha singing "Sweet Dreams" in 1999 when she was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. She begins acapella. Try to imagine no audience noise, no other instrumentation. The power of music. The power of dreams coming true.
I ran across a prompt that challenged writers to create a love story based on all three of these quotes about love:
