Project Update
And a call to action in this urgent moment in time
Since I retired in 2018 writing has become my work. Figuring out how to write a non-fiction book with no previous book writing experience has been a long journey but a deeply rewarding one. If I had had any idea of the amount of work, time and financial investment it would involve I probably would never have started. The experience of these last 3 years has been a huge learning curve for me and I am glad I heeded its call.
In January I set a goal to get the first draft written by the end of this year. This has involved putting in more time. Now I am devoting my weekday mornings to writing. I get coaching to help me establish realistic goals and stay on track. There are also tasks that need to be done that aren't writing, such as building an audience, outreach, collecting data and input, and finding outlets for publishing articles related to the book and potential educational podcasters. These tasks have often proved a distraction from the writing. Once I stop writing to attend to other things I lose the flow and it takes a lot to get myself back into it. But I am committed to this project. I have a writing coach, a tech coach and an amazing group of writers from around the world from whom I get support and feedback. I have my partner who has read much of my writing and given me invaluable feedback and I have TUBA (The Unity Business Alliance), a wonderful group of healers and way showers who have listened to chapters of my book and provided support and input. And I have you, my readers and supporters. You have no idea how much you mean to me in this process. Thank you for your support and for believing in me and this project.
One of my biggest challenges is marketing myself. This is where I am going to ask you for help. I need to build an audience and you can help me by sharing my work with others who you think might be interested (or even those who aren’t!) and with any groups you are in. Helping me to get more subscribers on Substack would be very helpful. And also sharing my writing on your social media sites helps to get the word out. I also want to ask you to click the “like” button at the end of an article if it is something you liked and I always appreciate your comments. If you know of any educational publications or podcasters please send them my way.
The moment we are in right now requires some urgency. My book will provide some much needed ideas for moving us forward as well as tangible examples of what that would look like and how to get there. I see the current state of our society as toxically damaged and we have all played a part in this. We fail to engage with our leaders and the policies they propose, we are moved to stay in our own silos rather than engaging with people who might be different than us and we have no established values or spiritual guidelines to keep us united and on the same path. We have failed to give that to our children, yes many families have their own set of values but there is no guiding star that leads the way for us as a nation.
I believe that this can be an invitation for transformation. We must find ways to become the very best version of ourselves. This might require seeking a spiritual path or might involve introspection and reflection in order to heed the calls to grow and connect with others. Some people can do this work alone, others need a community. I am grateful for the people and spiritual communities in my life who are there to help me discern my path and stay on track. But, still, I stray a lot. I get discouraged, I feel angry, wounded and disempowered at times. But I come back and choose to have hope and believe that we can overcome anything if we keep our eyes on the prize and stay focused on love; isn’t that the glue that holds us together.
I often think about this quote from the prominent German pastor, Martin Niemöller, who spent 8 years in a concentration camp:
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
After World War II, Niemöller openly spoke about his own early complicity in Nazism and his eventual change of heart. His powerful words about guilt and responsibility still resonate today. We don’t have to end up in a concentration camp in order to have a change of heart, although it is harder if everything is going well in our lives. We can and must be unafraid to confront injustice and the suffering imposed on some groups of people in the name of our government. We must work towards building communities and neighborhoods that share and grow together and that face and respond to injustice together with compassion and kindness. I see it happening in pockets of my town and I know it’s happening in many other places, but we need a massive movement of people in every neighborhood supporting each other. For it is never powers and principalities that change the world; change always starts with small groups of people. Let’s be those people!