Archive for January, 2012

how will you leap on Leap Day?

So, here’s the story, in short form: A book that had great impact on me as a college student: Sam Keen‘s To a Dancing God. My father had just died, and Keen’s story of the Peachseed Monkey in that book touched me deeply: Once upon a time when there were still Indians, Gypsies, bears, and bad men in the woods…
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the opportunity to have the flu

In a recent telecoaching class, a participant named Vickie stopped me with a simple statement: “I didn’t get my homework done because I had the opportunity to have the flu this week.” All of us paused. There was quiet on the line. The flu gave Vickie the opportunity to slow down, she explained. And see more. And be in her…
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VerbTribe starts in 4 sleeps!

I am so excited. I learned last year that I love teaching the art and craft of writing. My first “strong offer” online this year is VerbTribe, a 37-day class designed to focus on the writing process, to get you writing consistently (as in creating an every day writing practice). And an amazing group of people has gathered to join…
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podcast episode 1: why the recognitions?

Click here to download the PDF that accompanies this episode (Scroll to the bottom of the page to access the recording) Key Thoughts: Introducing “The Recognitions” – a biweekly podcast series from Patti Digh on living mindfully Exploring ideas, interviewing authors and intellectual mentors, and opening space for discovery Asking provocative questions 5-20 minutes in length, twice a month The…
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poetry wednesday : two heavens in the now.

Heaven for Helen -Mark Doty Helen says heaven, for her, would be complete immersion in physical process, without self-consciousness— to be the respiration of the grass, or ionized agitation just above the break of a wave, traffic in a sunflower’s thousand golden rooms. Images of exchange, and of untrammeled nature. But if we’re to become part of it all, won’t…
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becoming bendy.

I’m continuing my quest to become bendy in 2012. Sometimes I fall off the wagon. Do you? Here’s the thing I know: I need a community of people to help me, encourage me, keep me accountable, make me laugh and dust off the truffle powder and get back up. Community truly rocks. So, I’m sharing my becoming bendy journey in…
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make strong offers.

I have made a conscious decision from the moment I started writing 37days that I would not allow ads on this site, though many have asked. That I wouldn’t accept product reviews. That I wouldn’t create affiliate programs or participate in them. This means that if I write about something I love–lavender cake or a Tom Bihn bag or a…
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poetry wednesday : invent one.

Reply to the Question: “How can You Become a Poet?” -Eve Merriam take the leaf of a tree trace its exact shape the outside edges and inner lines memorize the way it is fastened to the twig (and how the twig arches from the branch) how it springs forth in April how it is panoplied in July by late August…
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you have a voice. now use it.

So. I spent the day trying to figure out how to use my microphone and Macbook Pro to create a podcast and a video. All stinkin’ day. Plugging and unplugging, trying it out, hearing nothing, flipping another switch, changing one system preference and then another. Endlessly. I felt like I was chipping little marks in a stone tablet. Finally! I…
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because i, too, have a dream.

I have found as I’ve made my way into adulthood in this life of mine, that I share his dream. And I have dreams of my own. I have a dream that we won’t fool ourselves into thinking Dr. King’s dream has been realized. I have a dream that one day we will stand in lines all night long to…
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