Category Archives: growth

Standing up…

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Conversation may be the beginning of connection.  Continuing the conversation is a way to deepen connection.  I suppose not every conversation needs to be continued. Maybe some are pretty complete in and of themselves.   But those that bring understanding and growth?  I think we are in desperate need of continuing those.

I wondered which GrowthLines conversations were waiting to be continued.  I wanted to see which posts struck the deepest chord with readers.  I was a little surprised to discover that Dominoes falling, had been viewedDSC_0090 more times than any other. I reread the words looking for clues to their impact.

When the dominoes of life start falling, words have the power to help and to heal.  Words offer understanding.  They give us permission to stumble in our grief.  Words bear witness to what we already know by experience.  That loss will come, over and over again, and will lay us low.  We need those words of understanding, both silent and spoken when we’re swept under waves of loss and grief.

Maybe we also need words that bear witness to what we’re not so certain of.  That we can stand again. That we can pull ourselves upright.  Put one foot in front of the other.  And begin to walk, again.  Choose to sit and speak words of comDSC_1428fort to someone today.  And when they are ready to rise and walk, stand with them and speak words of hope and encouragement.  I know we will fall under the weight of loss.  I believe we can stand again.

“The art of conversation is the art of hearing as well as of being heard.”
― William Hazlitt, Selected Essays, 1778-1830

Breathe, hold on, and keep talking…

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Five years ago I began with a question.  “Why blog?”.  I saw writing as a way to think out loud.  A way to start a conversation, both within myself and with others.  Since that first conversation there have been days that words came easily, almost faster than I could record them.  Some days the words were slow to come, filled with rough edges and poor fits. Then there were dry spells.  Sometimes brief.  Sometimes lasting months.  It was after a prolonged word drought that I asked myself, “Why keep blogging?”.Cabin-Brothers

Starting the conversation is important.  I have experienced and observed the harm done when we are afraid to begin talking about hard, uncomfortable things.  The willingness to keep talking is critical.  It is in the ongoing conversation that we know ourselves better. The good, the bad, and the ugly.  Continuing the conversation creates connection and relationship.  When we keep talking, we weave the threads of connection into the fabric of community.

Conversation is about talking.  Conversation is also about being, breathing.  In the discomfort of the dry spell we”re at risk of believing the connection and the conversation are over.  But maybe it’s just winter.  A time to slow down, crawl inside ourselves. To breathe and reflect. To emerge again to listen to the words of others.  To speak the words of community.  So, I will take a breathe, listen, and continue the conversation.