![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Bella.1-1.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Bella.2.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This reminds me of\u00a0a stanza in\u00a0Mary Oliver<\/a>\u2019s poem, \u201cSometimes<\/a>\u201d: A neighbor left these treats out for UPS, Amazon, FedEx, and USPS employees to thank them for their fine work delivering packages. It inspired me to ask,\u00a0How can I be more thoughtful and generous this holiday season?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This made me smile. I love these trees, and have used their berries to make wreaths and floral arrangements throughout the 20+ years we\u2019ve lived in Studio City. As I write this, it\u2019s early Christmas morning, 2019. It will be a quiet day here at Chateau Cullen, except for the swishing of a broom while I sweep the porch and the hum of the washer and dryer, getting ready for our holiday party this weekend and for my granddaughter\u2019s third birthday. Today will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[104],"tags":[732,1029,1294,1295],"class_list":["post-8779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-bloggers","tag-bella-mahaya-carter","tag-mary-oliver","tag-online-writing-classes","tag-sometimes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s43Dj8-8779","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8779"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8791,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8779\/revisions\/8791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Instructions for living a life:<\/strong><\/em>
Pay attention.<\/strong><\/em>
Be astonished.<\/strong><\/em>
Tell about it.<\/strong><\/em>
I feel like I don\u2019t do these things often enough. But it\u2019s what I love most about my creative life.\u00a0
Now that the holiday season is in full swing, a snarky inner voice says, \u201cYeah, right. Get real. You don\u2019t have time for this.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0
But I\u2019m learning to ignore this voice, which I know is stale, conditioned thought, and instead listen to my wisdom. My wisdom reminds me that my sense of joy and well-being goes up exponentially when I follow Oliver\u2019s instructions, and also, my busyness is up to me.
I\u2019m at a place in my life where much of what I do is by\u00a0choice<\/em>, and not a requirement. Even when I was younger, a lot of what I thought I\u00a0had<\/em>\u00a0to do came from within. It seemed like I had to achieve certain things, or behave (or appear) a certain way, but I realize now that I was taking orders from an inner voice that wasn\u2019t particularly kind, expansive, or helpful. It sounded more like a drill sergeant than a wise guide. Mary Oliver is a nourishing companion. Her \u201cinstructions\u201d are both simple and complex. Let\u2019s take a closer look.
Pay attention.<\/strong>
We are\u00a0<\/strong>designed<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0to pay attention.\u00a0<\/strong>But we forget and become distracted. If you\u2019re like me, you might spend too much time judging, expecting, evaluating, proclaiming, analyzing, defending, and protecting, which is the\u00a0opposite<\/em>\u00a0of paying attention. However, the instant we remember to pay attention, everything changes. A world of possibility opens to us and we are free to observe (and relate to) what\u2019s here in new ways.
Be astonished.<\/strong>
Life\u00a0is<\/em>\u00a0astonishing\u2014especially when you\u2019re able to see the beauty around you (particularly during busy or turbulent times). Allowing yourself to be astonished might mean shifting from a fearful perspective to a loving one. And we cannot be astonished if we\u2019re not paying attention, which happens when we\u2019re hijacked by our thinking. We also cannot experience astonishment when we think we know what to expect. In this context uncertainty is a gift–if<\/em>\u00a0we can embrace, rather than fear it.
Tell about it.<\/strong>
Even after thirty-plus year\u2019s writing I still have inner voices that heckle, taunt, and say things like:\u00a0Don\u2019t write that. Don\u2019t share it. It\u2019s no good. You\u2019ve said this all before. Who cares? Who do you think you are?<\/em>
Many writers worry about speaking their truth. They don\u2019t want to make waves, or they\u2019re afraid of hurting someone they love, or they believe old, limiting, fearful beliefs that stifle or even paralyze them. Many don\u2019t realize that their vulnerability is their strength and also their gateway to creative freedom. When you relinquish your\u00a0illusion<\/em>\u00a0of control you invite something large and luminous to come\u00a0through<\/em>\u00a0you. Your job is to get out of your own way and share it.
I have\u00a0my own instructions for living a life<\/strong>. They were given to me over time, in small doses, during meditations, when I needed help in my life. I had to get out of my own way and become quiet to hear them.
Bella\u2019s Instructions for living a life<\/strong>
(especially during the holidays):<\/strong>
Slow down<\/strong><\/em>.<\/strong>
Stop fighting<\/strong><\/em>.<\/strong>
Let go<\/strong><\/em>.<\/strong>
Trust life<\/strong><\/em>.<\/strong>
I will unpack these \u201cinstructions\u201d in a future post.
Meanwhile, I began\u00a0this<\/em>\u00a0one saying that I feel like I don\u2019t pay attention, allow myself to be astonished, or tell about it often enough. I\u2019m realizing that the key is to make room for these opportunities, to give ourselves these gifts\u00a0daily<\/em>, if only for a few moments.
If you\u2019re ready to explore what\u2019s possible in terms of \u201cpay[ing] attention, be[ing] astonished, and \u201ctell[ing] about it,\u201d check out my\u00a0upcoming writing circles<\/a>\u00a0(online and on-site), which are almost full. I have two openings in my online class and three in my on-site class. Happy to answer any questions you may have. Start the new year (and decade!) savoring your life, speaking your truth, and sharing your wisdom!\u00a0
I also have two private coaching openings if you’d like to work with me one-on-one.\u00a0Contact me<\/a>\u00a0if you’re interested.
My memoir, Raw<\/em>, is for sale through my\u00a0website<\/a>.
Here are two bonus photos from this morning\u2019s walk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Bella.3.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Bella.4.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
I appreciate having neighbors who bring beauty and joy to our neighborhood\u2014and I appreciate\u00a0you<\/em>\u00a0for being part of my journey!
Happy Holidays. I’ll see you in the new year!
Blessings and gratitude,
Bella Mahaya Carter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"