On friendship, living our dharma, and the power of a writing community

Why we need to answer to the call of our gifts and resist doubt

Hello, friends!

This week, inspiration to guide the four “Cs’ of my life seemed to be everywhere. Whether it was a podcast I was listening to, a poem I was reading, a song that had me in tears, a conversation with a friend where I felt truly seen—it was all around me:

• Clarity (illuminating the way in difficult moments of our lives)

• Connection (the beautiful moment when one soul recognizes another)

• Community (the comfort of knowing you are not alone)

• Creativity (the invitation to express our full humanity)

Welcome to this weekly list of curated recommendations. Every Thursday, in addition to my free Tuesday newsletter, I share a second newsletter for paid subscribers on: what I’ve been reading (books, poetry, essays, Substacks, thoughtful social media shares); watching (TV, movies, videos, live cultural performances, the natural world); listening to (music, podcasts, conversations with smart and funny friends), and learning from (courses, programs, teachers with deep wisdom and compassion).

Here are how the four Cs made themselves present for me this past week:

Clarity

I am a seeker. It’s as intrinsic to my identity as being a writer and a mother. And I have long been interested in the ancient, 700-verse scripture that is the Bhagavad Gita. To study the Gita, as it’s called, can take months or years, depending on your approach. So I was happy to be introduced to the concepts of the Gita through the work of the Kripalu yoga teacher and author and scholar Stephen Cope and his extremely accessible book, The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide to the Journey of Your True Calling.

The Bhagavad Gita, image by nmoodley from Pixabay.

In the Gita, Krishna talks about a certain kind of action that leads to freedom and fulfillment and is aligned with our true nature. This action, Cope writes, is motivated by dharma—action taken in the service of our sacred calling, our duty, our vocation. I loved this concept. I understood immediately that my sacred calling, my Gift, was my creative writing but that doubt, the “paralyzing affliction” had caused me to lose my way. The clarity this brought me was healing but also anxiety-provoking. By the time I read Cope’s book, in the spring of 2022, I was 62, stretching the limits of what can be considered midlife. But Cope shared a story about his friend Brian that comforted me:

Brian discovered deep in midlife that his gift of music was still calling out to him from somewhere deep inside. Along with it there was a growing ache. And a growing unwillingness to live out the rest of his days without going for it. The older he got, the less able he was to maintain the ruse of the false self….

Learning to embrace The Gift at midlife is complicated. Because naming The Gift and celebrating it also means grieving for loss opportunities…facing squarely the suffering of self-betrayal. Not only that, Brian was terrified that, having carved out space, he might fail at the expression of The Gift….

There is no way around it: Dharma always involves, at some point, a leap off a cliff in the dark.

With this Substack, I am taking my own leap off a cliff in the dark. Thank you for being here so I don’t have to leap alone.

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