Begin again.
Singing and reciting poetry were pleasures my father and I shared. He spent time with me, holding me in his rocking chair in the evening, and we sang and laughed together. My daddy taught me that music and poetry are expressions of love and soulfulness, and they will be with me forever.
What memories from your childhood resonate to this day? They are the keys to revealing your strengths, and they sustain you.
For many years, I taught English and world literature at the college-level. My delight was in reading and analyzing poetry with my students, particularly with the liberal arts majors since we were kindred spirits. My classroom became a temple on our best days, and we were astonished by the imaginations of disparate people. Ancient texts from world religions, lyrical poems from the English Romantics, hard-edged poems from Americans in the ‘60s: we heard voices singing the glory and pain of the human condition or telling a story to capture a time, place or lesson learned.
Academic work made a career for me that provided some financial security, but happily, it allowed me to enjoy the essence of who I am and am becoming.
What are your touchstones? What brought you joy before you became self-conscious and worldly?
The answers will remind you who you are—and are becoming.
