On the Rise 

The first in series of pre-writing guided meditations.

Inspiration and beauty for this podcast

On writing the memoir Messy... Learning to love in this moment, and the next... Finding what I never lost, and losing it over and over, to find it again.

Our current home on a friend's' farm is up for sale this year, so my husband is building us a tiny house, despite a recent diagnosis of Parkinson's. Anxious as I watch him adjust to his shifting abilities, and grieving for the homestead we are about to loses, a relapse of digestive challenges has me waking me up multiple times each night with uncomfortable symptoms.

Because of our commitment to staying tender and open with each other, as we respond to the challenges as best we can, we are experiencing new levels of intimacy and tenderness. 

Thirteen years I've been walking through these gates. Metaphors for opening the heart into relationship. 

Amidst the chaos and uncertainty of these turbulent times, my husband of 20 years was diagnosed with Parkinson's. My anxiety for his shifting abilities, and for the 13-year homestead we are about to lose when our friends' sell the farm we have been living on together, sometimes translates into wrenching gut attacks 2 or 3 times a night.  My husband is building us a tiny house but we don't know where we will park it. I have not felt this much anxiety, well, it is an old friend. 

As a writer, this is one of the ways I take care of myself, offer my heart the soothing attention it needs, while practicing being here with what is. I offer what I am learning to you so that I may inspire and encourage your own heartful tending.

There were over 36 gates when we first moved to the farm. I was in the midst of writing my thesis for my doctorate in Language and Literacy Education. 

Ahava Shira