Follow your spirit
Not your plans.
This was told to me one time in a community meeting – Follow your spirit, not your plans.
How many reinventions have I had?
Joan Didion said, “I can’t remember half the people I used to be.”
Reinvention is reinforcement against a world that is forever crumbling.
Everyone is rushing back to their lives, I don’t want to go. I want less cars on the road, less scheduled time, less pollution, less consumption, less of everything. And I have had to accept that means less of what I was striving for – less security, less money, less certainty.
When I lived in San Francisco, I went to see Jane Hirshfield read her poetry and I was gobsmacked. This is one of my favorites – I read it at my 40th birthday dinner:
Da Capo
By Jane Hirshfield
Take the used-up heart like a pebble
and throw it far out.
Soon there is nothing left.
Soon the last ripple exhausts itself
in the weeds.
Returning home, slice carrots, onions, celery.
Glaze them in oil before adding
the lentils, water, and herbs.
Then the roasted chestnuts, a little pepper, the salt.
Finish with goat cheese and parsley. Eat.
You may do this, I tell you, it is permitted.
Begin again the story of your life.
