Finding Wisdom

And daring greatly

Long before Brené Brown asked us to dare greatly and spoke on the power of vulnerability, I learned some valuable wisdom on the subject from another one of my guiding lights, David Whyte.

It was April 26, 2008, my sister and I went to hear my poet crush, David Whyte, speak at the Washington, DC National Cathedral. I first discovered David’s poetry through Clear Mind Wild Heart: Finding Courage and Clarity Through Poetry cassette tapes. Now they come in digital downloads - so obviously I’ve been a follower for a long time.

His poetry and his powerful presentations have always resonated deeply with me. “The language of poetry takes us outside of our small selves and calls us to look at ourselves and the world with open eyes,” teaches David.

I can still feel the anguish of my small self sitting under the cathedral’s 300-foot central tower, deciding whether to write down the nuggets of wisdom he fired on a regular basis or just be present and listen. If I tried to remember what he had just said long enough to write it down, then I lost the next piece of wisdom that followed. Yet some phrases just begged to be inscribed. I had to swallow them whole, make them a forever part of me.

The talk's theme was the secret voice of everyday life, but, as always, David just talked to us, letting his words and thoughts create wisdom as he went. He admitted to us that night that he, too, is often struck by what he just said. That sometimes he doesn’t know what he is revealing until he has said it, and he has to pause to gather the full impact of the insight and wisdom. He allows himself to be vulnerable even standing in front of hundreds. He says it is our job to share ourselves with the world by being vulnerable.

At the end of the lecture, one man asked, “How is one to be vulnerable?” David said it is different for a man and a woman. “A man must be vulnerable by being invisible, but a woman makes herself vulnerable by being seen in the world.”

That makes so much sense to me, not just because I am a woman, but because I have learned to be vulnerable through sharing my art, my words, my soul. I felt he was speaking directly to me when he said, “Live at the center of the conversation you were meant for.”

At the end, David advised that we must “get used to living in that beautiful confusion between what you think is you and what you think is not you.”

It is hard to see clearly through confusion, especially when you are in the midst of it in your day-to-day routines. I still listen to Clear Mind Wild Heart and re-read my collections of David’s poetry. It helps to have a constant reminder and the voice of wisdom at hand - a touchstone, perhaps. In quiet moments or when I feel small, uncertain, or lost, I will immerse myself in David’s poems and the work of many others.

David Whyte is just one of the guiding lights who has led me to where I am today, by validating my vulnerability and yet emboldening me to “live at the center of the conversation I was meant for.” In my 73 years, I have traveled from the outer edges of myself toward a life at the center, my center. And I’m still traveling, and daring greatly.

Update: New items and slashed prices, with everything still 50% off. The sale ends, and the shop closes on March 17 at midnight. New mixed media grab bags, cyanotypes, notions, and fabric grab bags have been created and added as I scoop up the last few things I’ve found in my studio and office. Shop STASH for some great finds.

Quotes of the Week

There can be no growth if we do not remain open and vulnerable to what is new and different. I have never seen anyone take a risk for growth that was not rewarded a thousand times over.
John O’Donahue

To change is to be vulnerable. And to be vulnerable is to be alive.
Alexis Deveaux

Be vibrantly vulnerable. Share things that are interior. People won’t help but be magnetized to the exterior.
Scott Ginsberg