Renewal is an Ongoing Cycle

We experience love, grief, loss, transformation...in no particular order

Looking into a new year

Hello Friends, new & old, each of you coming here with your unique mix of human experiences~

Welcome to our second prompt about Renewal. For everyone who jumped into Journey with the Seasons recently, a quick intro: each month we explore a theme connected to your inner & outer landscape. Each week, I share a reflection & a creative self-expression prompt for you related to the theme.

Jump in. These prompts are like standing at these rocks on the edge of the ocean. Approach them with your curiosity & intuition, excitement & also whatever doubts are there.

I love to receive your responses to these prompts. Keep sharing. There’s a community of us here, even if we never meet or know each other. I believe our connections go deeper than what we can visualize. A depth we can sometimes sense.

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A personal story:

When I was six years old, just a few months after my beloved grandfather Georg’s death, I accidentally learned about the existence of the Shoah from older kids at my Sunday school. Soon after that, I learned that my grandfathers’ family had been murdered in the Shoah. I’ve felt an immense sense of grief for them ever since that time. I’ve struggled to name the grief.

For many years, I tried to ameliorate it by reading about the history of this time period, watching documentaries, trying to process not only the horror of what happened to my family but hatred and cruelty, in a global sense.

None of that work brought me peace (though I did learn a lot about history).

A few years ago, I started to imagine the people we lost in our family and things began to shift.

I won’t tell you too much about this process now because it’s long and windy and complex and involves me healing from cancer and learning to listen to my intuition and so I’m writing a book about it. (Just working on the first draft. It’s gonna take some time).

But this last week, something amazing connected to Renewal happened in terms of my family and transforming my grief.

I discovered (not gonna tell you how—remember there will be a book down the road!) that there is a stumbling stone for my great-grandmother Olga, my grandfather’s mom. The stone is embedded in the sidewalk outside of the flat in Amsterdam where she was living before being arrested and sent to a camp.

My great-grandmother’s stone

A website with her name and some of her story exists. We never knew that until a week ago.

When I saw this photo of her name on the stone, something similar to hope and faith and connection surged through me.

I never imagined that there was a public memorial for her, anywhere. I never imagined how I might feel if I knew that one exists.

Each time some moment like that happens now (there have been a number of them), I’m reminded that grief transforms in its own time.

I want to go and see her name there on the sidewalk someday.

I think of the people who made this memorial come to life: the ones who carved her name on the stone, the ones who built the code for her webpage, those who fundraise to make her memory alive in this way. People who have no idea about us, her descendants, who mourn for her. Who remember.

If you had told me a year ago about this discovery, I might not have thought it possible.

We never know what’s possible, I think now.

In this moment in your life, I wonder about the mix of love and loss and hope and grief that you’re holding. This week’s prompt invites you to imagine a sense of renewal arriving, somewhere that you least expect it. Give it a try.

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Writing Practice: Set aside 5-7 minutes for this practice. Write in a journal or open a ‘Journey with The Season’ document where you can return each Sunday.

Prompt: Take a few deep breaths and settle into your writing time.

Make a list of anything and everything happening in your life that needs some renewal—a bit of energy, a shift, some hope.

This list might include things happening now—or experiences from your past that you hope to release or transform in some. way.

Look over your list and select one item that really draws your attention.

Write a fantasy story about the impossible happening—about renewal coming, even magically, to where you really need it.

Look over your story after you read it. You may want to return to it later in the week and write from what you’re feeling that day.

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Deepening Practice: Imagine something in the collective world that’s broken down and in need of repair.

Try the same fantasy exercise with this broken thing. Imagine an effort, an action or even a miracle that restores what is broken, something that breathes new life into a difficult problem or situation.

I’d love to read your responses and encourage you to share!

I’m really excited about my upcoming Autumn Expression Writing Circle! All sessions (October 22 & 29, November 5 & 12) are recorded so that you can participate at your own convenience.

Because you’re a Journey With The Seasons subscriber, I’m offering a discount code of $7 off when you register: EFYY8GNA

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