This morning I was having an online conversation with my friend, Laurie Wagner. I had posted on Facebook that I had stumbled into Pinterest and couldn't get out. Laurie commented back about Pinterest being "the land of possibility."

Aint that the truth.

I want to go THERE. I want to see THAT. I want to be HER. I want to wear THAT. And then I look up from the computer, and the bed is unmade and yesterday's coffee mug is still in my bedroom, half-filled with stale coffee. Where's the Art Deco glassware? Where's that amazing spiral staircase? Where's the girl with the fishnet stockings?

It might be easy to fall into a place of scarcity and discontent around comparing the beautiful world that I just created on Pinterest with the reality of my apartment on Mission Street. But my conversation with Laurie led me to someplace alive and abundant. I saw that there is a way to love who we are in our imagination — without comparing it to our real lives and making it seem like we've failed in some way.

When I'm fantasizing about my Pinterest life and I'm lost in rich velvet, my real life looks like shabby cotton. But when I can tell the truth about that, when I can weave both worlds together, they become real to me. They both become my life.

And then it struck me that "Telling True Stories" is the bridge. When I am sharing the truth, like Laurie and I were doing this morning, there is room for everything to exist and to be beautiful in its own way. It is all just a part of this rollicking, wondrous, mysterious life I have. It's multi-layered and crazy collage and it's full of wild dents and flowering, bumpy things. It's like some unique new fabric blend.

Laurie's ability to engage in these kinds of conversations is one of the things I love most about her. She always seeks what is true, not what is classically beautiful. But then, like some word-wrangling magician, she holds the truth up for us to see — and it is more brilliant than diamonds.

This week, Laurie is launching her new online writing class, Telling True Stories, and you can bet I'll be there. I'm dedicated to seeking, revealing, and falling in love with my own truth. And I'm also committed to feeding the part of me who wants to feel creative and self-expressive, without the need for approval or results.

Laurie tells me that folks can sign up throughout this week. If you wanna join in the conversation around the virtual firepit, sign up now. $135. Five weeks of touching in with who you really are. Who doesn't deserve that? Hope to see you there!

xo
Sherry

 

 

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