Slowing Down

"In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness." 

~ Henry David Thoreau, Walden

 

It has been quite a while since I have felt inclined to write in this blog.  I write daily - but not here.  I write where my writing takes me.  That has been true for many years.  Writing seems to know in the moment where it is it needs to be, and you never really know how it might emerge some day.

I am here not exactly because I am requiring it of myself, or I would have been here sooner and more often.  The flow requires a bit of a "push" here, so I'm setting it in motion.  We will see where it leads (this time).

I was intending to start out today writing about consciously slowing things down.  Instead I started out by writing about writing.  And that makes sense.

Slowing down is what I have been reflecting upon today, as we have a tendency to think we will be more "productive" if we quicken our pace.  At this time in my life, I am choosing the opposite.  I still have work that needs to get accomplished, but a frenzied pace will not assist it.  A frenzied pace is a hindrance, not an asset.  

I choose to breathe, observe and reflect.  I choose to ensure I get plenty of rest.  Others can race all they like.  (I have done plenty of "racing" in my life, too.)  Will anyone truly "win" anything that way?  

In truth, things get done even more effectively at a mindful pace.  And we regularly restore ourselves in the process.  The "empty cup" analogy is very real.

Slowing down is not really new for me, but every once in a while, I need a very clear and conscious reminder.

Where my public expressive voice has consistently and authentically tended to be is my podcast The Frontier Beyond Fear.  I encourage you to explore the recent shows if you have not visited recently and are curious about what I've been pondering week to week.  Here are some examples, to get you started:

Tests and Peace - May 3, 2025

Earth Day Memories and Reflections - April 22, 2025

An Authentic Approach - April 16, 2025

The Power of Grace - April 10, 2025

Trusting in Trust - April 3, 2025

All of my Artificial Intelligence-related shows you will find in a convenient listing in a growing archive at Our Leap Beyond AI.  Here are some recent examples:

AI and Disempowerment - March 27, 2025

AI and the Extinction of Authenticity - March 10, 2025

AI's Counterfeit Creativity - February 27, 2025

The AI Personification Illusion - February 19, 2025

Slowing down (ironically) can actually seem to speed things into existence.  I slowed down today, and I am writing here.  I'm happy to welcome my returning readers (and listeners).  I sense I will write here again soon . . . 

Nature photo by Susan Larison Danz.  Artwork for The Frontier Beyond Fear broadcast is based on a book cover designed by talented artist Richard Crookes.

Early Spring Lessons

 "To her fair works did nature link

The human soul that through me ran"

~ William Wordsworth

What lessons can we learn from Early Spring? The poem Lines Written in Early Spring by William Wordsworth is a poignant guide, as it has much to say about the Beauty to be discovered in Nature, in contrast with a tumultuous world.  Listen to yesterday's episode of The Frontier Beyond Fear:  Early Spring Lessons

In this season of awakening, I am personally experiencing a time of re-emergence, as my voice once again is called to expand in courageous new ways.  I am also supporting others, as they share their unique and authentic perspectives.  

I am looking forward to my upcoming appearance at the New Living Expo in San Rafael, CA April 19-21, 2024, where I will be speaking daily at the Embassy Suites Hotel.  In between events, I will enjoy meeting people at Breakthrough Power Booth #25 at the beautiful Marin Center.  Tickets are now on sale.  Learn more here:

Our Leap Beyond AI: Spiritual Breakthroughs Free Lecture
Susan Larison Danz, Friday, April 19, 2024, 7-7:45 PM

Hidden Energy, AI vs. Intuition, Nikola Tesla's Intuitive Leaps Paid Workshop
Jeane Manning and Susan Larison Danz, Saturday, April 20, 2024, 5-6:30 PM - Tickets: $28 Regular/$44 VIP.

Breakthrough Science: Freeing the Truth to Save the Earth Free Panel
Moderated by Susan Larison Danz, Sunday, April 21, 2024, 5-7 PM
Expert Panelists: Jeane Manning, Dr. Beverly Rubik, Daniel P. Sheehan, Dr. Lisa M. Christie, Dr. Linda Backman

(Expo events also require the purchase of an admission pass.)

I would also like to share a groundbreaking Special Offer from Gaia, the opportunity to view Emersion, Gaia's first live global streaming event March 16-26, 2024, featuring 22 worldwide wayshowers.  Reserve your free virtual seat here.  When you explore offers such as these, it helps to support my inspirational outreach, and that is very much appreciated.  (Link fully administered by Gaia, subject to their policies and procedures.)

Early Spring provides the perfect opportunity to bring this blog to life.  Now is an important time to nurture our authentic voices.  I hope you will reflect upon what your authentic voice is attempting to tell you.  Your voice is special.  Treasure who you are.  No one else has experienced your unique path or perspective.  Listening starts within - and so does discernment.  Listen closely.

Nature photo by Susan Larison Danz.

A Spontaneous Return

 “It's a funny thing about comin' home. Looks the same, smells the same, feels the same. You'll realize what's changed is you.” ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

I hadn't really intended to return here today, though I must admit I had thought about it, recently.  How I will return is yet to be seen.  What I know is I'm here.  I kind of stumbled into it, while doing some online "housekeeping".  And so...here I am.

Have I changed?  We are always changing.  

 

My voice has not been silent.

 

There will be no more "daily writing exercises" here - my writing doesn't work that way.  I write when I write, and when I do write daily, it is not an exercise.

Given the continuing (and increasingly) unsettled state of the world, we don't always need to respond to it immediately, as if on demand.  That's what went wrong with this blog.  I started to feel like I was setting up an expectation to "write on demand", on the world's schedule, not mine, and worse yet, in alignment with whatever the "expectation of the day" happened to be.  That sort of an "exercise" does not lend itself either to authenticity or free exploration - or for that matter, to deep and honest reflection.  You will not find me echoing here "the thought of the day", whatever that happens to be, like an artificial flock of parrots. (Do uncaged parrots flock?  I really couldn't tell you.)

The blog looks the same.  It's a kind of a home.  The quote I chose for today isn't necessarily one I entirely agree with.  Usually "home", when you've been absent, does indeed change.  Some things may feel the same, but many things will be different.  And if we are noticing, we will find we too are changing.  That part of the quote is much more true.  And when we are changing, we may actually notice even "old things" in new ways - in fact, that is what we can expect, if we are noticing.

 

It feels good to return.  I may even be back tomorrow.

 

Nature photo by Susan Larison Danz.

While It's Still June . . .

 "Taking a break can lead to breakthroughs." ~ Russell Eric Dobda

I've had a note next to me on my table to write a blog post before June ends.  So here it is I'm blogging as the night draws to a close.  

I needed to take a break, and perhaps still do.  

Writing takes us where it will.  

 

 

Bird, Suspended Photo by Susan Larison Danz

 

Letting it Be

"Before the truth can set you free, you must free the truth." ~ Susan Larison Danz

It has become clear to me that these nightly writing exercises just aren't always  unfolding as deeply or as authentically as I would like, and so I very likely will not write here every night (it's difficult to predict), and that's OK - as I'll be looking for new ways to write, too.

If you want to know my honest opinion, when it comes to open expression, the kind that encourages respect for multiple empathic perspectives (and yes, there is more than one), yet goes to deep and honest places, we are struggling mightily in our world right now.  And I'm not quite sure what will change that, but it requires deeper work and not perfunctory exercises. 

So I'm going to reflect on how to go about that work, and I'll be here when so inspired.  If that is tomorrow, great!  If not, I'll trust in that.  I'm not going to force work that skims the shallows or dances elusively around the point, as that is not what I'm about, and it's deeply unsatisfying. 

We have deep and honest work to do.  Many of us.  Those who so choose.  That much is clear. 

Until next time . . . (that may be tomorrow - we will see!).  I know I'll be here Friday to let you know about Saturday's weekly radio program at 1 PM PDT.  The work continues.  More soon . . .

 

Ripples photo by Susan Larison Danz. 

Milestone

 "The true alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words." ~ William H. Gass

I realized earlier today that I may have written more entries in this blog in 2021 than in any other year since it has been in existence.  And sure enough, yes, that's true.  

What "they" say about writing is actually true as well, though I do quite a bit of it daily in other ways.  We simply need to write.  This blog is an intentional project - that will grow into others, I sense. 

 

 

Walking Stick of the Woods photo by Susan Larison Danz.

Always Space for More

 "Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers." ~ Isaac Asimov

All of my life, I have wanted to write.  And I've written.  I haven't always written in the ways I expected - in fact, generally, not at all.   "You were meant to be here, from the beginning." are the words echoing in the background, as I write tonight.  (It's Sunday night music tonight, instead of Saturday.)  

I have to be honest and say I started to wonder if this was actually worthwhile, coming in to write, every night, before midnight.  If I only write a few words, if I require it, or if I rely on something I wrote before, is it really serving a purpose?  Apparently, it is.  Because I'm here.  Every day, I write elsewhere, but here has its purpose.

What I was thinking about a little bit ago is what a glorious thing, truly, it is, to be a writer, in whatever ways we choose to write.  There's always space for more.  Sometimes, I've stopped.  And then it returns to me.  I never give up on it.  Ever.  And I never need to give up on it.  I'd like to say I've changed my expectations, and in many ways, I have.  Writing itself has changed, and the ways I can write.  It doesn't always need to have a destination, except to exist.  It gets to the point there's nothing to "give up" on.  It simply is. 

There is always space for more.  And there always will be.  That's pretty wonderful, really.

Magical Bridge photo by Susan Larison Danz.

Consistency and Depth

 A writer is an artist who uses words to paint a soul. ~ Susan Larison Danz

I have been doing my best to post in this blog each and every day, generally in the evening.  Every night, I have a "deadline".  It has been a very busy day (night), and yet I aim to be consistent.

Can a person write with any depth in such a way?  That is ever the question for those of us who choose consistency on busy days.

The key is being present.  And that's what matters.

 

 

Raindrops photo by Susan Larison Danz.

Remembering to Listen

 "Music is the universal language of mankind." ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

I don't quite understand it, though perhaps I should.  I have started more than one year with Classical music, and then as the year carries on, I listen less.  The same is true for writing, and often for reading.

Yes, of course, it's what happens in the days after January 1.  We return to the habits we choose.  I took a consciously longer walk today in the same place I walked in December.  I felt refreshed and energized.

So why don't we choose these things consistently all year?  Plenty is written about this by February, as predictable as gym parking lots emptying.  

It may be predictable and the typical way of things, but we can make the current January different, and the current year.  This is the January that matters - the one in the moment.  I aim to keep listening (and writing).

 

Winter photo by Susan Larison Danz

Almost...

"There is always a gap between intention and action." ~ Paulo Coelho

In the two or three months before Christmas, every time I went to a particular grocery store, they would ask me if I was collecting stamps for some sort of promotional program.  I always would say "Yes".  Because "Why not?"

One day last week, I noticed the woman in front of me apparently retrieving her stamps for a rather ugly serving dish, too small to do much serving.  It looked rather useless actually.

But when I got up to the register, I asked when I needed to retrieve my stamps.  "Tomorrow is the last day."

So what did I do?  I spent who knows how much time (maybe an hour?) looking for stamps obscurely stashed away in my kitchen (though I thought I had stashed them all in the same obscure place), carefully placing them one by one by one by one in little squares on a sheet I also managed to somehow find.  For 50 stamps (equating to $1000 in groceries, I think), I'd get some sort of a pan, after all, "a $14.99 value".

I didn't bother to count the stamps before I put them on the sheet.  But I saw my destination...42, 43, 44.........45...........................46...................................................

No more stamps.

I probably spent 15 minutes at least looking for 4 more stamps in my kitchen.

The sheet said I could pay $7.99 for the $14.99 pan with what I had.  Why?

And that's the question, isn't it?  Why?

I never did find the other stamps.  I would have liked to take a picture of the sheet I so carefully filled out, give it a useful purpose, but it's long gone with the recycling.

Sometimes the goals we set are not really that important.  Sometimes they are.  And sometimes it's the intent that matters most of all.

I fell asleep last night before I could write the "sheet of stickers" post already in my head, my laptop literally in my lap as I dozed off (and I forgot when I awakened and then went back to sleep for real).  I had thought I might blog every day, but my body overruled me.  When the dog awakened me just now, as she does early in the morning, I required myself to write, my "resolution" shattered.  Why?  It's really the intent that matters.  Time to get more needed rest...still, I'm kind of stubborn about such things (which is why I "almost" filled that silly sheet)...I may write twice today... ;-)  I won't require myself to post a picture now...it went out in the recycling.

Gratitude

"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others." 
~ Cicero

Tonight I find myself transported back to those days in school when I didn't want to put down a book I was enjoying, yet had homework to finish.  Back then, usually the book won (and sleep lost since I ended up staying up into the night to finish my homework!).

As the hour gets ever later, I'm called back to immerse myself in the wonderful, heartfelt book Gratitude and Beyond by Dr. Allan Hunter. 

My nightly homework now is of course this blog, due at Midnight, and since I'm the master of its content, I'm going to make it a bit easier on myself tonight.  (I have a book to read.)

A few nights ago, I mentioned resurfacing some poems from my youth. It just so happens I wrote one entitled...



Gratitude

What wonders can one person
wield in the life of another.
Unfathomable loneliness
can be vanquished in an instant
with the sting of attentive arrow.
Drudgery is easily put to death
by swing of sympathetic sword.
Melancholy moods can live no more
where marches the army of compassion.
And dreary thoughts dwindle
from lack of nourishment
when besieged by a host of happiness.

What honors have I to bestow upon
the perpetrator of these heroic deeds?
I have not titles or crowns to grant;
No medals or plaques have I.
What trophy could warrant
the feats you've accomplished?
What coinage could pay their price?
No, none of these things would
    suffice for reward.
I have only to give you my gratitude.

~ Susan Larison, 1981


P. S.  I feel this poem is as relevant today as the day I wrote it, as if speaking across time, straight from the heart.

If you missed The Frontier Beyond Fear episodes with Dr. Allan Hunter, much like his books, they are well worth spending time with, even late into the night...

Dr. Allan Hunter

Dr. Allan Hunter: Reflections from Watertown ~ April 26, 2013

Dr. Allan Hunter: Five Insights for a Fulfilled Life ~ April 10, 2013

Dr. Allan Hunter: The Path of Synchronicity ~ February 27, 2013

And tomorrow live at 12 Noon Pacific / 3 PM Eastern, I have another special returning guest coming on the show, Dr. Robert Forman, author of Enlightenment Ain't What It's Cracked Up To Be. 

Dr. Robert Forman: Leaving the Game Behind ~ April 29, 2013 

Dr. Robert Forman

I feel so very blessed to interact with such brilliant, insightful people who speak straight from the heart.  Gratitude indeed...

In Search of the Heart

This blog is playing tricks on me now.  I exchanged a couple messages with Dr. Allan Hunter today about writing from the heart, said I was going to start experimenting with this blog and just start writing, sat down in front of it, thought "I really should be doing..." (name any number of tasks, including the taxes I have delayed until the last minute), and I kid you not, somehow the New Post functionality just invoked, and here I am writing a run-on sentence and refusing to care...(if you read the last post about my internal judge, you'll understand that's a step in the right direction).

I think I have written enough about not writing for the time being...

Today I was reflecting upon what may or may not be a novel concept, yet it was on my mind.  I have been thinking about Fear, partly to prepare for a talk I'm giving in a little over a week (yet another task I keep thinking I should be working on instead of this blog) and partly because the fear-based messages in the world have become so very pervasive, they are almost impossible to ignore.  Yet what if we do indeed ignore them?  Would that be naive?  What if we simply trust?  What if we simply choose to focus on a different world, and then that's the world we see?

Beyond the Blue Moon

Yesterday I had the bright idea of jump-starting this blog during the Blue Moon.  Somehow it seemed appropriate.

The "day after" no-longer-blue moon (I procrastinated.)

Yet here it is, tomorrow...

I awoke thinking "Maybe I'll treat the blog like morning papers, write every morning..."

Yet here it is, night.  (And no, I must admit I don't write morning papers just for myself either...)

So how did I manage to finally sit down and write?

Was it because my significant other happened to change the channel to Julie & Julia and leave it running in front of my computer when he left the room?

Well, quite honestly, that only made me berate myself more for my perceived lack of progress since I first saw it in 2009. While still fresh from my heady, prolific Oprah forum days, I was certain not one, but TWO, books of mine would be published within a year.

Yet here it is, Fall 2012, no book out yet.  (Though like Julie in the film, I AM a writer, no book required...)

Let me tell you a little about my "morning papers" today, the ones written upon my heart.

A walk on another day (was supposed to be reflecting on my blog today).

My day started as it often does, with my ever-hopeful dog insisting on the park.  I listened, appreciating hints of Fall on this beautiful Oregon day, reflecting on what I might write, all but certain I would blog when I returned.

I didn't.  Instead I found myself sitting in my back yard, gazing at the neglected landscape.

A little tree is dying in the corner of my yard.  Indeed it may be dead.  The problem with this corner is I have allowed it to become virtually inaccessible (at least to me), bushes blocking much of the little path, and spiders, some big, some small, hanging from the tangled branches.

Spiders like these are everywhere in my yard.

I don't like spiders.  Especially BIG ones...

My perfect imperfect tree.

But then I noticed something else...something about one of my favorite trees...

This tree had perfect symmetry once, like the most perfect Christmas tree imaginable.  During the holidays, I have often imagined decorating it (but no ladder is that tall).  I used to literally set up a chair in front of it and stare at it, marveling at its symmetrical perfection.

A few years ago, in a spontaneous attempt to clear a path, too close to the branches to see the whole, I found myself trimming.  Then I stood back and gasped in dismay.

The symmetry was gone.

I pondered fixing it, cutting more branches on the other side, restoring the perfection.  But I knew that wouldn't really work.  So I let it be, and every time I looked at it, I sighed.

No longer perfect.

Today I noticed something else about my beautiful once-perfect tree (still special to me even so).

One of my unhappy trees the sprinklers missed.

It's turning brown.  (!!!!)

And that was it.  That was my impetus.  On this day when my local paper just happened to announce August will go down in the record books as one of the five driest ever in Portland,  I absolutely HAD to get into that corner my sprinkler system has been failing, where there are actually many trees.

And so I did.  I put on my best spider-resistant gloves, silently asked the spiders to peacefully co-exist, grabbed the shears and started clearing, this time lopping off branches on the OTHER side of the path (not my favorite tree).

I didn't see any spiders.

Inside my hidden Haven, path cleared...

Yet as I put the branches in my bin, there they were, emerging from its depths (but none too terribly large). 

Happy to finally complete a task I had put off for so long, I was left with a gift.

A haven.

How could I live in this house for over 5 years and not nurture and appreciate this little space?

And yet I didn't, so attached to staring at my computer screen have I been.

Maybe I should write outside...

Later I wandered all around my little yard, drinking in the beauty and the peace of what I somehow missed.  And the spiders were back, weaving away.  I even brought a little of the beauty in.  Or perhaps it was A LOT, far beyond the roses in my little vase.

And so it was with my "beyond the blue moon" day, a day past delay, procrastination past, a perfect day in the midst of imperfection, just like my favorite tree.

And so it is, blog mission accomplished.

I wonder what is next?

Awakening my Authentic Voice (...Again!)

I'm going to take the symbolic opportunity of Easter to resurrect my voice in this blog. For too long, I have viewed writing here as a far more involved exercise than it needs to be, surprising since in the past I have been known to write pages and pages and pages (and even more pages) per week on the Oprah discussion forum.

I think much of the blockage has had nothing to do with this blog at all, as even on the Oprah forum I have grown silent.

It has to do with finding a way to express my authentic thoughts with honesty, yet in a way that I feel helps foster peace, not division.

Ultimately I realize that it has much to do with my intent. It is my intent to be an individual contributing in my own way to peaceful co-existence on the planet. Yet if I avoid honestly expressing my genuine thoughts, even openly exposing wounds I seek to heal, there is not much point in expressing myself at all.

We will not discover peace through suppression of authenticity. We will discover peace through seeking to understand authenticity, even when we don't completely agree.

So I'm awakening this blog and my spontaneous voice once again. I hope to visit here often in the days and weeks to come, free from excessive editing, just authentically me. I'll even include authentic unpolished pictures from my genuine Oregon garden.

I will keep this entry short (in itself a novel approach for this blog! :-), but I invite you to visit a radio program I created earlier today ~ a quiet, contemplative time in which I expressed my hopes in finding common ground as we explore powerful Easter messages, transcending the often contentious particulars of specific beliefs ~ Easter Reflections on Love and Transformation.

The Fall of the A-Write-ocracy?

This morning I relished with somewhat devilish delight a provocative opinion piece appearing in today's Huffington Post entitled New Rules for Writers: Ignore Publicity, Shun Crowds, Refuse Recognition and More.

Though some have speculated that this article may actually be satirical, it echoes many of the sentiments genuinely expressed by writers consciously choosing to bypass the disempowering aspects of those in the traditional writing establishment who are not enlightened or progressive enough to empower authors. I happen to know because I'm one such writer.

The push and pull of differing opinions on this topic come up regularly on weekly #writechat discussions on Twitter, with today no exception. In fact, last week, the topic was so very raw, afterwards I may have been the first to coin the new term "a-WRITE-ocracy" to describe the elitist attitudes that are unfortunately so commonplace in the established writing world, with the many writers in waiting circulating around its ivory palaces.

No matter how shrill the denials or condescending comments, there is no escaping the fact that a genuine writer's rebellion has been underway for so long, it is essentially a fait d'accompli.

The rebellion is actually not quite as revolutionary as we may think. Although not as accessible in the days of old, its seeds were already present in everything from cheap broadside ballads, chapbooks, almanacs and alternative news sources to the unconventional approaches of the talented 19th century Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Self-publishing is the writer's entrepreneurship, not all that different from the choice to seek freedom as an independent business owner instead of a paid employee. Self-publishing need not only describe the publishing of a book. It can also encompass many forms of online writing, from blogs to discussion forums to entire web sites.

Traditional publishing may carry its rewards, but so does freedom. As with progressive employers, the most progressive publishers will survive and thrive, but only those that emphasize the empowerment of a true co-creative partnership, only those that recognize that writers really do have legitimate choices these days.

In truth, nothing can silence the voice of a writer, whether assessed by some as "talented" or not. Free, unhindered expression is writing in its purest form. And no matter how forcefully some attempt to bar the gates from the threat of the "writing rabble", the true gatekeepers are now the readers, not the publishers.

A blogless blogger finally blogs...

After essentially being a blogless blogger for a very long time, I am finally venturing formally into the blog domain. I have been writing online as bridgebldr (or BridgeBuilder) for quite some time, most visibly and frequently in the Oprah discussion forum and more recently in compressed form on Twitter.

It's truly amazing that more people haven't discovered the gratification and sense of community derived from discussion forums such as Oprah's, even the visibility. But it's a pure art straight from the heart, in many ways a throwback to earlier days online, and this is not the first discussion forum I have participated in, nor the last. There is no one who is going to pay you by popularity, no way to include ads, and the focus is somewhat more on the content of what EVERYONE has to say on a particular thread, as essentially equal participants.

It is because of a very lively discussion in that location right now, ranked #1 in popularity at this very moment on Oprah's front page, that I'm finally venturing into becoming an "official" blogger. It's not the first time I have managed to get a topic onto Oprah's front page - it's actually an amazingly approachable thing to do, though you wouldn't think so, and there is no way of planning or predicting it - it just happens when it happens. [Note: As of 1/2010, the Oprah web site no longer surfaces popular forum posts to front page.]

I do venture where others often fear to tread, but I'm used to it by now. Be aware that discussion forum threads are a bit different from blogs in format. They tend to start small with a question, then grow into blog-like responses, kind of like blogging in reverse.

And I post a completely different form of content on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/bridgebldr) - this is where you'll see my poetic side come out, one tweet at a time. I like to post affirmations that are spiritually uplifting, giving people a little boost to their day.

Ultimately I am finally doing what I love to do: WRITE

And I intend to do A LOT more of it now, in many diverse ways. I was always a writer from the day I learned to hold a pen. It was my writing that was my passion and my purpose, or so it seemed. But then a day came when my voice hushed itself into silence. Maybe we will talk about that another time.

Thankfully another day dawned, after many years of rest, and on that day, I finally found something to write about...