And Then There Is Rest

Maybe getting back into a schedule after Spring Break triggered my malaise. Or perhaps my unrest was triggered by working on financial requirements for medical bills with one friend diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer. Or maybe the dullness enveloped me as I waited for news from another friend who spent the week in the hospital with her husband in the Critical Care Unit.

Off and on during the week I also had thoughts about an essay I had just completed. "Is it worthy of trying to find a publication for it?" Writing the essay had taken more than a month of multiple rewrites and intensive mental energy—it came at a price.

I had achieved an important goal. I thought I would be elated. Instead, I felt strangely lost and disgusted with the work.

Worse, not a single creative idea for writing came through for days. I reminded myself that I give my offerings without expectation of return. And consoled myself that even if the piece is worthless, I used my time honestly with clear intention to give something to others with love.

After thinking this through, I went about my days, but something was bothering me. "What's wrong?" I kept thinking. It seems I'm always either actually dealing with something "wrong," or expecting something to be awry, or anticipating and trying to avoid suffering.

Pain, suffering, death, disease, and all the "wrong" things about life are foreign, incompatible experiences for the soul. So it's not surprising that while we're in the physical world we often find ourselves perched on a look out with a telescoping lens.

I'd fallen back into a comfortable routine after Spring Break, my friend's husband pulled through well, and helping my other friend with breast cancer wasn't a burden but a joy. After a full week searching for the cause of my dissatisfaction, it dawned on me:

I'm in the rest part of the creative cycle.

After a day of activity we sleep to process our mental and

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Living Life as a Waking Dream: Video Interview with Richard Whitehurst

PODCAST

I received a lot of feedback from the blog: "Hero/ine of Your Journey" so to further the dialogue, I decided to interview Richard Whitehurst, author, speaker, and Ericksonian psychotherapist who has been practicing living life from the perspective as a waking dream for two decades.

Below the video are typed highlights of the interview. Richard's audio had a technical difficulty that created some echo. Think of it as a special effect to take you into another realm--the realm of the waking dream. ;)

VIDEOCAST

In the interview Richard discusses:

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