by Heather Plett | Aug 9, 2010 | Wisdom
For many years
I searched for wisdom.
I read endless books,
asked many wise teachers
took more courses than I can remember.
I turned to my father, my mother, my brothers, my sister.
I gathered friends and colleagues.
“Do you have wisdom?”
I asked of the sages, the philosophers, the saints.
“Can I have a piece of what you have?”
I begged of the writers, the teachers, the bloggers.
I gathered it all like a desperate hoarder,
clutching at pieces of whatever I could find.
Praying they wouldn’t slip away
like bugs scampering away from an overturned rock.
And like a harvester,
I winnowed and sifted the good from the bad.
I turned to the wilderness,
and for long days I searched there,
among the trees, the frogs, the rocks,
“Is wisdom stored in you?”
I asked them all.
“Come sit with me,” said the rock.
“Just sit. Stop searching and rest for awhile.”
“But I have work to do,” said I. “Wisdom still needs to be found.”
“Sitting helps,” said the frog. “Just try it.”
And so I tried to sit.
But my body was restless, yearning to move.
To turn over one more rock, to beg of one more sage.
My mind ached at all that I was missing.
“There’s a book I haven’t read!” I cried.
“I must go!”
My heart cried out for more conversation.
“There’s a sage I haven’t talked to! Surely she will know the way!”
The tree sighed.
“Sit,” she said. “Rest from your endless gathering.”
And so I sat.
And sat.
And sat.
And waited.
And prayed.
I tried to get up again and again, to carry on with the search.
But the rocks, trees, frogs, and rivers pleaded with me.
“Sit.”
And slowly, with the morning sun poking over the horizon,
wisdom appeared where I’d forgotten to look for it.
Deep in the places God had buried it so deep I didn’t think to look.
In my mind, my soul, my heart, my body.
Wisdom was there all along.
by Heather Plett | Aug 6, 2010 | Uncategorized
Once upon a time there was a book.
It was a very special book, with a pretty pink cover,
and lots of pretty pages where people could write things, glue things, or paint things.
This book had only one pupose in life –
to remind people of all of the reasons they had to be happy.
Because of that, they called her
The Happy Book.
(All here friends called her HB for short.)
HB was a globe trotter.
She loved to fly from city to city,
meeting people everywhere she went and reminding them
of all the happy stories they had in their memory banks.
HB didn’t mind if people were sad once in awhile – she knew that sadness was an important part of life –
but HB wanted people to remember that happiness was always there, under the surface, waiting to be found again.
One day, HB arrived in a Canadian city named Winnipeg.
HB was very excited about her next adventure.
She was going on a CANOE TRIP with a new group of friends!
Packed safely in a dry-bag (HB didn’t want to get wet and soggy if she got dropped in a lake),
she traveled by van, by canoe, and by foot
to a beautiful place on Lake Manoman where her new friends set up camp
and let her sleep in a tent for the first time in her life!
HB loved traveling with her new friends because they did a lot of laughing – even when it rained!
She was especially fond of the evenings when the seven women would sit around a campfire
and she would hear all about the stories of their lives.
She heard about their children, their husbands, their jobs, and about all of the things
that filled these women’s lives with both happiness and sadness.
It was all very good, especially when HB got passed around the circle
and got to meet these special women one-on-one.
The whole weekend was exciting for HB…
but there was one moment when HB was happiest of all.
HB was carried to the beach and… while she sat quietly on the rock…
the women, who were giggling and a little self-conscious,
took off their clothes and went
SKINNY-DIPPING!
What made HB especially happy at this moment was that
these women decided that they weren’t going to care if they were fat, skinny, lopsided, hairy, jiggling with cellulite, or sporting big boobs or small (or even surgically altered) –
at this moment – far away from any eyes other than those of these lovely women whom they trusted –
they were all FREE and comfortable in their bodies
and HAPPY!
(HB even heard one of them say she felt like she was safe and fresh in a womb.)
Soon after that, HB, carrying a picture of that moment with her, set off on her next adventure.
*Note: This is my contribution to the Happy Book Mailaround.
by Heather Plett | Aug 5, 2010 | journey
So there’s a big secret I’ve been keeping from you. It’s been hard to keep it because I love to share things with you, my beloved readers, but I had to keep it quiet until a few important people knew about it. And now that they know, I can share it…
I AM QUITTING MY JOB!
It’s true! I gave my notice a couple of weeks ago, and now that all of my staff have been informed, I can share it with the big wide world. I’ll be finished here at the end of September.
It’s one of the scariest things I’ve ever done. Even scarier than skydiving. I am leaping and hoping that the net will appear.
I’m going to be self employed. (“Joyfully jobless” as one of my favourite Twitter friends says.) I’m going to follow that dream that has been niggling at the back of my heart for so long. I’m going to create my own version of a consulting company and do the things I love to do – write, teach, provide communications/public relations advice and expertise, facilitate workshops, do public speaking, and maybe produce a few videos of interesting international development projects, if that kind of work comes along. I expect that some of it will take the shape of “Sophia Leadership” which I talked about last month.
The day that I came home from work and told Marcel that I really felt like the timing was right to quit (even though he hasn’t found full time work yet, and we’d always said that would be when I’d make the leap), he agreed and we both felt quite peaceful about the decision. Minutes after we talked about it, I opened my email and there was an email from the University wondering if I’d be interested in teaching a “Writing for Public Relations” course! My first contract and I get to TEACH! (A contract, by the way, that came about partly through a referral and partly because of this blog!) That little email felt like just the kind of encouragement I needed to believe this is the right decision.
Today – the day after I made the announcement to staff and some of my network of colleagues – I am feeling a mix of nostalgia, excitement, fear, and relief. I’m getting flooded with friendly emails, phone calls, and visits from colleagues and associates who have become friends, and it’s so nice to hear from the people whose lives I have touch and who have touched my life. I will miss this place and all of the wonderful things it has brought to my life.
I would be lying if I didn’t admit that this job has burnt me out somewhat (managing up to 17 people and a million dollar budget can be really, really hard some days), but I have had so many wonderful opportunities here and learned so very much about the world, about myself, and about what it takes to be a leader.
None-the-less, even though I’m walking away from what has been one of the most perfect jobs I could imagine, I feel at peace about this decision. There is something new waiting to be born in my life and I am ready to see what that is.
The chrysallis is emerging from the cocoon and the butterfly is ready to try her new wings.
by Heather Plett | Aug 4, 2010 | Uncategorized
On the canoe trip this past weekend, my friend Jayne remarked that in the nine years she’s known me, she never knew how much I enjoy solitude. This comment came after I woke up early in the morning to sit for an hour alone gazing out over the magical foggy lake, and after I’d wandered off into the woods in the middle of the afternoon for a bit of quiet meditation on a moss-covered rock.
It’s true – solitude and I are old familiar friends. I can barely function without a little solitude in my life, whether it’s my bike ride to and from work, a wander through a bookstore in the middle of a busy weekend, or a business trip that offers me a few evenings with nothing to do but wander alone through a new city.
It’s not that I’m extremely introverted – I’m not. That’s why it surprised my friend Jayne. She’s mostly seen me as an outgoing leader/communicator who’s always willing to contribute to group discussions, host parties, facilitate workshops, etc. In the 4 or 5 times I’ve taken a Myers-Briggs survey, in fact, I’ve fallen just over the line into the extrovert category (though I tend to be a fence-sitter on that one).
But solitude… oh how I love it! It has to be in balance with the outgoing communicator stuff – I’d go a little crazy with nothing but solitude – but without it, I think I’d be a stressed out zombie much of the time.
I didn’t always embrace solitude. Back in my twenties, in fact, I thought solitude was something to be avoided. I was pretty sure if I spent too much time alone I would look pathetic and anti-social. So I did everything I could to make sure I was seen to be an active member of the social scene.
But then things changed around the time I turned thirty. Partly it was marriage and motherhood that changed me. Having people always present in my home made me realize that sometimes – though I loved these people dearly – I just needed some quiet time alone. Thankfully, my introverted husband understood, and started figuring out that if he’d occasionally send me out of the house for some alone time, I’d come back a much happier woman.
Embracing solitude can be a little scary at first. The first time you eat alone in a restaurant, for example, you worry that you might be the person everyone is staring at and feeling sorry for. But once you’ve done it a few times, you begin to sink into it and learn to appreciate the opportunity to quietly enjoy your food and do all the people-watching your heart desires. I used to take a book or magazine along to help fill the space between ordering and receiving my food, but I don’t always need that anymore.
I think that the more comfortable we are with ourselves – all of the good stuff AND the bad stuff – the more confident we can be in our solitude. We start to care less about what other people think and start to feel more relaxed just having our own thoughts for company. When we’re feeling insecure, it’s hard to sit still with our own thoughts. Mostly we want to keep busy and keep a little noise in our lives to drown out the sound of our own voice.
When I was in the woods on the weekend, the idea came to me that I should challenge myself one of these days to see just how much solitude I can handle – just how comfortable I am with my own thoughts. Perhaps I’ll do a vision quest – find a place in the woods where it’s just me, my thoughts, nature, and God. Will I embrace it, or will I run back to civilization when things get too quiet? I don’t know, but I think I’ll try – even though it feels a little scary. I’ve done lots of solo trips, but there’s a big difference between sitting alone in the woods and sitting alone in a hotel room.
This little video has been floating around the internet and I’m sure many of you have seen it by now. It’s a good little reminder of the beauty of being alone.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7X7sZzSXYs]
by Heather Plett | Aug 2, 2010 | Uncategorized
I have been away. Venturing out into the wilderness with six other adventurous women. We did a canoe trip that included 4 lakes; 4 portages; 2 campsites; approximately 7 campfires; a dozen or so scratches and bruises; loads of great conversation; a few refreshing swims (not all of which included bathing suits – hey we were miles from civilization :-)); a whole lot of laughs; no disagreements; a few wild blueberry patches; lots of loons, ducks, and other birds; one thunderstorm in which we huddled cozily under a tarp; lots of good food; and no contact with the outside world.
The most memorable part of the adventure came right near the end, on our way home. It was a nearly impossible portage up the Devil’s Staircase in the mud – from one lake to the next. The only people who’d been there before were almost completely convinced we couldn’t make it through that portage without strong and agile men to carry our canoes up the treacherous path (imagine rock climbing up a nearly vertical cliff with a canoe on your back), but we were running out of time and couldn’t find the alternate portage. So we proved our own strength and determination by conquering it. And we did it together, all of us pitching in and proving that women working together can prevail against almost insurmountable odds. It was a beautiful moment that we celebrated by diving into the water and cleansing our exhausted, muddy bodies.
It was so very, very good to spend time in nature with supportive women, reminding ourselves of our connection to each other, to the earth, and to our Creator.
Here are just a few of the pictures from the trip. I meant to put together a more thorough video that included video clips and other things, but the technology isn’t cooperating tonight, so this is what I have to offer. Enjoy.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68NHXAcFSAg]
