turning a corner
This past weekend something in my mind reached a critical mass. Monday morning I was laying on my back under a live oak, gazing vaguely into an incomperable blue sky when I finally realized that my heart wasn't in the trip anymore, not the way I'd originally planned it, anyway. So I let go of the Pacific Crest Trail, for this year anyway, and with a sense of perfect relief, I went down by the water--Jacob's Well, a 10-foot diameter, 32-foot-deep crystal-clear artesian spring--and wrote and swam all day, talking on and off with Geoff, who might be biking with me to Big Bend when I decide to head out that way. I'll probably be in town for the RUST workshop at Rhizome the weekend of the 24th, and then all things are open again. I've also updated my so-called itinerary.
What instigated this? Two weekends of workshops which were informative, but didn't leave me feeling more empowered. My previous commitment to empowering others with accessable knowledge. A long afternoon with someone I deeply care about. And the dawning understanding that I'm not doing anything to empower others by simply learning, highlighted by the Encuentro workshops where I felt I'd gained a lot but didn't know how to pass it on. Call it a new stage of life: From student to educator in a split-second's realization. Not educator in the traditional sense, mind you, but the skills I haven't even begun to master are in great demand, and there has been more encouragement than I know what to do with to create workshops for massage, yoga, bike repair, breakdancing...half of which I don't even know myself, and none of which I'm prepared to teach; I've decided to change that. I want at least to have a workable intro to massage workshop by the next skillshare I get to, and I intend to look into yoga teacher training. Among other things. From now on, notes I take will be focused as much on how information is transmitted as what the actual content is.
I'll be back in New York by around May 5th for my sister Julia's wedding. I don't like the guy she's marrying at all, but I love my little sister, so I'll be there for her. And without flying. And then...
What instigated this? Two weekends of workshops which were informative, but didn't leave me feeling more empowered. My previous commitment to empowering others with accessable knowledge. A long afternoon with someone I deeply care about. And the dawning understanding that I'm not doing anything to empower others by simply learning, highlighted by the Encuentro workshops where I felt I'd gained a lot but didn't know how to pass it on. Call it a new stage of life: From student to educator in a split-second's realization. Not educator in the traditional sense, mind you, but the skills I haven't even begun to master are in great demand, and there has been more encouragement than I know what to do with to create workshops for massage, yoga, bike repair, breakdancing...half of which I don't even know myself, and none of which I'm prepared to teach; I've decided to change that. I want at least to have a workable intro to massage workshop by the next skillshare I get to, and I intend to look into yoga teacher training. Among other things. From now on, notes I take will be focused as much on how information is transmitted as what the actual content is.
I'll be back in New York by around May 5th for my sister Julia's wedding. I don't like the guy she's marrying at all, but I love my little sister, so I'll be there for her. And without flying. And then...