In-Spir-Ation
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Hello friends, I started this newsletter at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, and named it Keep Breathing. The name was partially in reference to this new, frightening illness, but also harkened back to everything I’d taught and practiced for years: To pause and take a conscious breath is to be present with what is. To pause and take a conscious breath is to open to possibility. There is life in a single breath. And there is magic. We breathe with the trees and the plants. We breathe with the stars. We breathe with every other living thing. We breathe. We create music with our breath. As a young poet, reading aloud in the cafés of Los Angeles and San Francisco, I learned to mark meter and use commas to indicate breath. I do the same now, writing fiction and other prose... My editors are amused, because my commas look like rogue markings on the page, not always following standard grammatical rules. But those commas telegraph something important: This thought pauses here, and then moves on. That character inhales here, then springs to action. And so my writing becomes a living thing, filled with the power of breath. I, and my art form, continue to breathe and be inspired. In-spir-ation. To breathe into. In-spir-ation. To be breathed into by a divine source. Breath. The start of magic. The origin of art. The beginning of so much of life on earth. What are you breathing into being? Best wishes - Thorn Need a break? How about a visit with corgi sleuths Klaus and Marsha?
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T. Thorn Coyle
Hello friends, We’re in the dark months here in the northern hemisphere. This is the time when many people kindle extra light. Those lights are beacons of hope, tiny stars brought down to earth. We all have an inner light, as well. A light that connects us with others. The light of creativity and kindness. But some days, we’re too tired to shine. Some days, we’re too afraid to shine. Some days, we feel too beaten down to shine. And that’s okay. Darkness is a time of rest, as well. It’s okay...
Hello friends, Some passion flares in the night, burning out quickly. Other passion is slow growing, changing over seasons. A vine roots into earth and climbs, forming buds, then flowers, then fruit, before changing yet again. The bright flares of passion are enlivening and can fill us with a sense that life is vital and our tasks are important. This sort of passion can sometimes leave us feeling like a burnt out husk. Slow growing passion requires persistence and the ability to grow with...
Hello friends, This morning, the rose city of Portland Oregon is shrouded in fog. Just yesterday afternoon, I walked in cool, crisp air and autumn sunlight. Tomorrow, it will rain. And such is life… days shifting from sun to fog to rain and back again. This past week, very little work has gotten done. Well, not the work on my schedule. Not the emails that need answering or the novel I’m almost finished writing. Not getting necessary paperwork to the book keeper. Not the ordering of books for...