An invitation to guest post on Quiet Writing on Wholehearted Stories
There’s an exciting opportunity to guest post on Quiet Writing sharing wholehearted stories!
Quiet Writing celebrates wholehearted living and writing, career and creativity and positive transitions
But what does wholehearted mean to me – and you?
It’s a word I found coming out of my mouth in a negative sense firstly. Before I began my transition journey in earnest, I found myself saying, “I am just not feeling wholehearted any more.” And this triggered a deep search and shift to a more wholehearted way of creating and living that is expressing itself in many ways.
This is through Quiet Writing here, in my writing in being a Personality Type Coach, becoming certified in personality type assessment and in working more with intuitive tools such as tarot. And it’s also expressed in my work in life coaching supporting women who want to transition to more creative, self-inspired, self-directed lives.
So this space is open for hearing more voices around wholehearted living and what it means to us here at Quiet Writing.
I am offering you the opportunity to consider guest posting here at Quiet Writing on ‘My Wholehearted Story’. One per month is featured here so that we can learn from each other’s journeys of the heart in this space.
The first stories are being gathered together into an ebook publication and this will be ongoing. I feel that there is a wealth of wholehearted stories to tap into to support us all, as a resource that we can add to and connect with over time.
“Let no one keep you from your journey”
In the early stages of my transition journey, I listened to Elizabeth Gilbert’s Magic Lessons podcast “Who gets to decide if you’re a legitimate artist?‘ with poet, teacher, storyteller and artist, Mark Nepo. In discussing how to help Cecilia, a poet who has become marooned with writing because of not feeling good enough, being rejected and not being able to get into an MFA program, Mark offers her the word ‘wholehearted’ as advice and reads his beautiful poem, Breaking Surface.
This poem starts with the words:
Let no one keep you from your journey
I listened to Mark Nepo reading this poem on the podcast again today and cried (again). It touches me so deeply and is what Quiet Writing is all about: letting no one keep us from our journey and being the creative explorer of our hearts.
Sharing our stories is a way of supporting each other in our journeys, ones that are often uncharted and full of challenge. Reading other’s stories and sharing our own helps us feel less alone and more connected as we navigate uncertain times.
What are Wholehearted Stories?
So here’s a summary of what I am thinking of and looking for:
What is wholehearted?
- bringing your whole self to career and creative practice
- not leaving parts of you, especially the creative, poetic, spiritual aspects, at the door, any door
- being whole, being authentic, being light, being present
- self-care and care of and connection with others
- yin and yang, dark and light, strength and weakness, shadow explorations
- living our unique passions, gifts and influences
- being our body of work in the world
How does it connect with Quiet Writing?
Quiet Writing focuses on the core values of being
creative, intuitive, flowing, poetic and connected
It’s about the strength that comes from working steadily without fanfare in writing and other spheres to coalesce, create, influence and connect. And it’s about honouring the process as much as the product; the being, becoming and journey, as much as the arrival. It’s about the artistry behind closed doors and how it merges and weaves into that of everyday life.
This beautiful quote, from Irene Claremont de Castillejo, in the frontispiece to The Heart Aroused by David Whyte captures the feeling for me around this more soulful kind of living:
Only a few achieve the colossal task of holding together, without being split asunder, the clarity of their vision alongside an ability to take their place in a materialistic world. They are the modern heroes….Artists at least have a form within which they can hold their own conflicting opposites together. But there are some who have no recognised artistic form to serve this purpose, they are the artists of the living. To my mind these last are the supreme heroes in our soulless society.”
And being an artist of the living can take many forms including writer, reader, photographer, intuitive work, visual artist, art therapist, teacher, coach, healer, parent. I invite you to tell me about how you are doing the work of an artist of the living.
What might you write about?
I’m interested in the ways that you have strived to build all or any of these values – creative, flowing, intuitive, poetic and connected – into living more wholeheartedly. And how you have worked and written and created quietly to make this happen, behind the scenes, as a form of the art of the living.
I’m interested in guest blog posts and writing around these types of questions:
- What makes you feel wholehearted and what does it mean to you?
- What has your learning been about being whole in heart and mind?
- What tools, tips, practices, do you have for others?
- Which intuitive tools, exercise, learning, skills or courses have made a significant difference for you?
- How have you worked your strengths and weaknesses to blend and find wholeness?
- What have been the challenges, the shadow journeys and how have you overcome them?
- What fears have you faced and wrangled on the way and what have you learnt from this?
- Which passions and loves come together to make you feel whole?
- What have been the features of connecting to feeling more whole: rhythms, women’s voices, cycles, the journeys of others?
- What cultural, societal and ancestral issues have impacted on you feeling whole and how have you dealt with them?
- What have been your key influences: which book or other inspiration helped make sense of all this for you?
- What aspects of your identity or personality journey have you worked through eg introversion, extraversion, understanding of your personality, your artistic or poetic self?
- Which critical learnings about an aspect of your personality made all the difference in feeling whole and comfortable in your uniqueness?
- What symbols, archetypes or natural cycles work for you and how do you work with them?
- How have you practised self-leadership to feel more wholehearted?
As you can see, there are so many ways of looking at this concept of wholeheartedness and what makes us sing and be able to do our unique work in the world. I’d love to hear your story!
What can I contribute?
To guest post, contact me as below by email. You would need to contribute:
- a 2000 word (maximum) blog post draft to me at least a week in advance of an agreed date for publication
- any suggested accompanying images and photos that you would like to include
- a bio and accompanying photo
- links you would like included for your social media/website
The list of wholehearted stories published so far is also below to give you an idea of how you might focus your post.
You might also wish to respond to wholehearted stories writers in some way!
Readers have responded to wholehearted stories writers in many ways including in the form of letter-style responses such as this beautiful response by Olivia Sprinkel. I invite you to dance with others in the Quiet Writing community. Comment on their wholehearted stories on the post or on social media. Share them with others. And contact me by email if you’d like to submit a guest post letter of response like Olivia’s.
What are the benefits?
The benefits for you are:
- being featured as a creative and connected voice in the Quiet Writing community
- the opportunity to share your work, business, writing and learning
- the opportunity to flex your writing muscles in new ways
- the chance to reflect on your journey and experience in being wholehearted and share this
- increased connection with like-minded others
- being published in the Wholehearted Stories ebook collection
The benefits for the Quiet Writing community are:
- our voices coming together to celebrate being creative, flowing, intuitive, poetic and connected
- sharing journeys to living more wholeheartedly so we can help each other to shine
- feeling more connected with a community of like-minded people around creative living and blending this with career and other aspects of life
- the opportunity for publishing as a collective of voices to help inspire others in wholehearted creative living
Wholehearted Stories published so far
Here are the wholehearted stories published so far:
The silent whispers of my mind – journeying from fragmented to wholehearted – Valerie Lewis
Writing the way through – a wholehearted story – Sally Morgan
Lusciously Nurtured – a wholehearted interview with Dawne Gowrie Zetterstrom
Learning to live on the slow path and love the little things that light me up – Kamsin Kaneko
Year of Magic, Year of Sadness – A Wholehearted Story – Lisa Dunford
From halfhearted to wholehearted living – my journey – Emily Lewis
The courageous magic of a life unlived – a wholehearted story – Bek Ireland
Dancing all the way – or listening to our little voice as a guide for wholehearted living – Olivia Sprinkel
Tackling trauma and “not enough” with empathy and vision – a wholehearted story – Maura McCarley Torkidson
When the inner voice calls, and calls again – my journey to wholehearted living – Heidi Washburn
Maps to Self: my wholehearted story – Sylvia Barnowski
The Journey to Write Here – my wholehearted story – Penelope Love
Ancestral Patterns, Tarot Numerology and breaking through – my wholehearted story – Sylvie Kirsch
Message from the middle – my wholehearted story – Amie Ritchie
The journey of a lifetime – a wholehearted story – Chantal Simon
Gathering my lessons – a wholehearted story – Shalagh Hogan
Grief and pain can be our most important teachers – a wholehearted story – Kerstin Pilz
Breakdown to breakthrough – my wholehearted life – Lynn Hanford-Day
Embracing a creative life – a wholehearted story – Jade Herriman
Becoming who I really am – a wholehearted story – Colleen Reagon
Finding my home – a wholehearted story – Natalie Gaul
My wild soul is calling – a wholehearted story – Elizabeth Milligan
Our heart always knows the way – a wholehearted story – Katherine Bell
How knowing your authentic heart can make you shine – Terri Connellan
If you are interested…
If you are interested in Wholehearted Stories guest blogging, please contact me at terri@quietwriting.com with your thoughts on what you would like to focus on for your piece.
I’ll provide more details on specifics including the Contributor Guidelines following this but I’d love your initial thoughts first. I also need to manage the publishing schedule.
Provide any thoughts on the concept of ‘Wholehearted Stories’ in the comments or via email. I’d love to hear your thoughts and can’t wait to receive your responses!
Keep in touch
Quiet Writing is on Facebook Instagram and Twitter so keep in touch and interact with the growing Quiet Writing community. Look forward to connecting with you and inspiring your wholehearted story!
