Wanting to Emerge

This is what an early April morning looks like in the North Carolina mountains. The air is crisp and serene. A friend I’ve made in recent days is up ahead and I ask her to pause so I can take a pic because this moment feels like perfection. We’re walking back to our cabins after sprinting up the hill to watch the sunrise - now we’re walking down the hill, high on endorphins, clinging to our cups of steaming coffee.

She's much younger than I am but it doesn’t matter - we’ve made a bond.

Isn’t it great to make friends who are both younger and older than us? It’s all about fostering that diversity in our lives - because we grow from points of view that are unique to ours.

I’m deeply enjoying getting to know her ‘true essence’ - you get to connect more fully when you’re out in nature and have only two days together - when you both ache to live beyond the surface. We devour deep secrets - we confess follies and laugh with both lightness and irreverence at our absurdities.

We’re all here because we love and admire @jedediahjenkins who’s leading this weekend writer’s retreat. It's inspiring to witness him living his life with full intention and purpose and, after a weekend with him, it rubs off on all of us just that much more. We’re all joined here with this common value. Any person who lives with intention asks direct and thought-provoking questions. “What is wanting to emerge?” Jedidiah asks us to journal on that during our last session. Isn’t that a great question? That response is an entire journal entry of its own.

There are so many incarnations of us. Like sunrises, new versions of ourselves are always wanting to emerge - our souls are constantly looking to land in that feeling of home. This entire weekend has been a reminder to me that, among the thousand daily distractions, it’s vital to take time out, pay attention and ask myself, "What is wanting to emerge?" It's a very creative question based on how I want to feel - not how I "should" feel or what I "should" do.

Paying attention is how I know I’m fully alive. I don’t always do it, but I am at my best when I infuse actions and ordinary moments with love and intention. I’m not saying it’s the best way to be - I’m just happiest when I live my life this way.