Volume VIII, Issue 9
March 4, 2019
Dear ,
Happy holiday(s)! March 4th is a really special day for me, and not just because it's National Grammar Day, certainly a cause near and dear to my heart. (It turns out, according to the folks at National Day Calendar, that it's also National Hug a G.I. Day, National Marching Music Day, and National Pound Cake Day.) March 4th is also my mother's birthday, and though I lost her in 2002, I never fail to think of her life, and her death, on this day.
One of the blessings that the time of losing my mother brought was an introduction to Hospice. How fitting that the word hospice shares the same root as the words hostel, hotel, host, hospital,
hospitable, and hospitality—the Latin hospes, meaning guest or stranger.
The Hospice volunteers who cared for my mother and ministered to me and my family were, I realized, the most perfect hosts there could be to welcome us to this new country of loss we were strangers to and to shepherd our mother into her own "new country." Seven years later, Hospice care shepherded us through our father's
death with the same love and grace.
A few years after I lost my mom, one of my beloved students, Linda Matney, lost her husband. Linda's positive attitude and commitment to serving others have never ceased to amaze me, and this time was no exception: She "wrestled with the angel" of this tragedy and "would not let it go until it blessed her"—and many others.
Because of Linda's loss, everyone who visits Novant Hospital in Charlotte can visit the Jack Matney Memorial Labyrinth and Rose Garden and find peace and healing there.
And everyone can imagine heaven, in his or her own way, a little more clearly, because Linda took on giving people an opportunity through that through her vision of an anthology called Imagining Heaven. I'll let Linda tell you about this in her own words:
"Imagining Heaven was conceived through my own heavenly envisioning of reuniting with my husband Jack. These thoughts brought me great comfort and helped me to get through the dark days after his death. It occurred to me that the joy-filled process of imagining heaven that allowed me to move forward with my life might be helpful for others as
well.
An anthology of ideas about heaven—personal reflections about the greatest unknown human beings face—could promote thought and conversations about the great adventure that awaits us after our lives on earth, and perhaps even transform the fear of death so many of us experience into anticipation."
I was thrilled when Charlotte TV station WBT featured an interview with Linda recently so that she could share her thoughts about hospice and imagining heaven with our community. It uplifted and inspired me all over again, as I believe it will uplift and inspire you. I know immediately I wanted to share this interview with you today, on my mom's birthday. It's very short and I promise it's well worth
your time. Linda is quite a hospitable host herself! Just click here. You'll get to know her better below, as she shares her own writing for Imagining Heaven and her story of coming to write it.
Love and light,
Maureen
Upcoming WordPlay
THE SEVEN ENERGIES OF WRITING
A Holistic, Whole Brain Approach, With Accompanying Tools and Strategies To Enhance Creativity, Productivity, and Writing Pleasure
If you’ve ever had a hard time getting started writing, finishing what you’ve begun, or gotten stuck in the middle (AKA writer’s block), knowing how to engage in the most helpful “energy of writing” for you at each stage of your process—and on any given day—will be a game-changer. In this class, we’ll explore—and practice—the ins, outs, and benefits of all seven energies of writing.
You’ll learn invaluable tools and strategies you’ll use again and again to write with maximum ease and effectiveness. Yes, you can be more productive, creative, and fulfilled, no matter what kind of writing you do or how experienced you are.
WHEN: Saturday, March 30th, 1 – 4:30 p.m.
WHERE: The WordPlay Studio, South Charlotte
COST for Workshop and Materials: $67
TO REGISTER: To register for The Seven Energies of Writing online, click here.
Or email info@wordplaynow.com for details on registering by check via mail.
Class size limited to 12
-----------------------------------------------------------
WRITE LIKE A GENIUS
AT THE JOHN C. CAMPBELL FOLK SCHOOL
(Expanding Our Creativity; Learning New Tools for Our Writing and Our Lives; Creating New Writing)
Discover your own genius as you learn to apply seven fascinating approaches of Leonardo da Vinci to your writing. These techniques enliven non-fiction, poetry and fiction. Expect fun, inspiration and writing galore in your preferred genre, with opportunities to share
your work.
WHERE: John Campbell Folk School, 1 Folk School Road, Brasstown, NC 28902
WHEN: Sunday, May 26th – Saturday, June 1st, 2019
COST is $630 for one week-long session
(lodging and meals are additional – options can be found on the Folk School website)
TO REGISTER: To register, please click this link to register through the John Campbell Folk School website.
Class size limited to 8.
-----------------------------------------------------------
CLASSES AT CHAUTAUQUA INSTITUTION
WRITING OUR WAY TO HAPPINESS
(Week 2)
Come explore research-tested ways writing can increase your happiness level. You’ll learn how to use writing as a tool to increase your sense of well-being, as well as jumpstart your pen and provide inspiration and knowledge about the process of creative writing, whether you want to write memoir, fiction,
nonfiction, or poetry. For writers of all levels, including beginners, who are interested in expanding their writing practice—for personal fulfillment or for publication.
WHERE: Chautauqua Institution. 1 Ames Ave, Chautauqua, NY 14722. Alumni Hall Poetry Room
WHEN: Monday, July 1st – Friday, July 5th, 2019. 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
COST: TBA
TO REGISTER: Registration for this class will open in April. Please check back then.
TELLING YOUR LIFE STORIES WITH GRACE
(Week 7)
Our life stories are a precious legacy, imbued with grace we can often see only in hindsight. Capturing these stories “gracefully” in words is a gift, not only to ourselves, but to those who love us – they’ll be treasured for generations to come. Come learn engaging tools and techniques to retrieve and
record your adventures, loves, losses, successes, mistakes, and more with ease and, yes, grace, no matter where you are in the process.
WHERE: Chautauqua Institution. 1 Ames Ave, Chautauqua, NY 14722. Hultquist 201B
WHEN: Monday, August 5th – Thursday, August 8th, 2019. 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
COST: TBA
TO REGISTER: Registration for this class will open in April. Please check back then.
DELICIOUS MEMORIES
(Week 9)
Food not only nurtures and sustains us, it’s also a rich source for writing. We’ll explore our culinary connections as we write of when, where, what, with whom, how — and even why — we ate. We’ll also learn from the work of accomplished writers. You can use the tools you’ll learn to create a family cookbook,
individual essays, stories, or poems, scenes in fiction or memoir, a food blog—or just for your own pleasure.
WHERE: Chautauqua Institution. 1 Ames Ave, Chautauqua, NY 14722. Hultquist 201A
WHEN: Monday, August 19th – Thursday, August 22nd, 2019. 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
COST: TBA
TO REGISTER: Registration for this class will open in April. Please check back then.
More WordPlay opportunities here.
"[Maureen] is an engaging teacher and an enduring friend, mentor, coach, editor, gift-in-my-life."
Linda is a founding member and retired General Partner of a Southeastern investment management firm. She envisioned and spearheaded the building of the Jack Matney Memorial Labyrinth in the center of Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, in collaboration with Novant Health Hospice and Palliative Care, Novant Health
Presbyterian Medical Center Foundation, and the generosity of loving friends. She also created the anthology, Imagining Heaven. You can find out more about Imagining Heaven here. All proceeds support Novant
Health Hospice and Palliative Care. Linda has since begun classes in watercolor painting and is serving on the Boards of Novant Health PMC Foundation and the Novant Health Volunteer Council.
Orders for LInda's book may be sent to Sheri Lowe at sheri.lowe@novanthealth.org.
What Linda says about WordPlay
In September of 2005, I enrolled in a class called "The Artist's Way" led by Maureen Ryan Griffin as a first step to inventing the rest of my life! To say that God sent her as a guide to my second adulthood is not an exaggeration.
At the time she was teaching this class, Maureen was also putting the finishing touches on her own book, Spinning Words into Gold (THE best guide to the craft of writing). One day about halfway through our weeks together, I came to class with the news that my beloved husband had been diagnosed with liver cancer.
Five months later Jack died. I felt called to Romans 8:28, "...all things work for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose." For me those words meant God could bring something good out of something immeasurably painful.
In one of my many subsequent classes with Maureen, I mentioned how much joy it gave me to imagine being in heaven with Jack and wondered if others might get the same sense of peace from their own imaginings.
One thing led to another and before I knew it one of the "...(some)thing...good's" that came was the book Imagining Heaven—midwifed by Maureen. Through Maureen's many teaching venues, lots of word-of-mouth, much prayer and many sleepless nights, 110 authors contributed pieces that have, so far, raised over $26,000 for Novant Health Hospice & Palliative Care!
Maureen lives Julia Cameron's admonition that we are meant to "midwife dreams for one another." I had written off and on during my life (mostly off) and Maureen reawakened that love. She is an engaging teacher and an enduring friend, mentor, coach, editor, gift-in-my-life.
Remember the ‘70s TV show about the bionic man, “we can rebuild him, make him better.” That’s the thought that came to me this morning. I’ve been rebuilt by God. Not physically, but
spiritually.
When my husband died, so many “parts” of me died with him. Actually, I died. The me that had been in existence, lived and loved for 25 years, died. I was no longer Mrs. Jack Matney, wife, friend, lover, listener, encourager, dream-sharer. All of a sudden I had a life I didn’t know how to live.
I still don’t really remember the details of that “year-of-firsts” my grief counselor talked me through ~ and, believe me, I don’t want to. When I say to you that I have no idea what happened on this or that holiday while my husband was sick, please, please, I beg you, don’t remind me. For you they are words, “Don’t you remember, you were…” No, I didn’t remember. And, now I do. And it is painful. Because, your words pull up vivid
pictures…and though the pain is duller, it is still there.
Somehow, over that year, and the next, and the next, God replaced the parts that had died. He gave me new parts; new eyes to see the world that still exists, a new heart to love those who love me, new lungs to breathe again…someday.
Although I’m certainly not as indestructible as the original bionic “creation,” I am stronger. I know God has a plan for this new life He has given me. I’m equally sure I don’t know what it will involve. But, then, I thought I knew where the old one was going. So, I’m content to wait, to hope that God sends me someone to share my life with, “the last of life for which the first was made,” to do what God puts in my path each day,
asking only that He make smooth the path He wants me to take, bumpy the road He wants me to avoid, and that He doesn’t let me trip figuring out which one He wants me to take.
I know He is a God who loves me beyond the encompassing love I have for my husband, and that I am, at one and the same time, His favorite child and His most vexing project. But then, He is God. He is…the creator of the creatures for whom He made creation. The everlasting joy of my life is to know that I will be in His presence and with “the best earthly present He ever gave me” one day ~ in my Imagined Heaven.
WordPlay Now! Writing Prompt
This is WordPlay—so why not revel in the power and potential of one good word after another? This week, it's "host."
PROMPT: When have you, someone you know, or a character experienced an especially hospitable host who provided a safe, warm welcome to a new time or place? Write about this experience, is any genre
you like.
It's fun to play with prompts in community with fellow writers, and to be able to share the results when you're done. You can find out about WordPlay classes, workshops, and retreats here.
MAUREEN RYAN GRIFFIN, an award-winning poetry and nonfiction writer, is the author of Spinning Words into Gold, a Hands-On Guide
to the Craft of Writing, a grief workbook entitled I Will Never Forget You, and three collections of poetry, Ten Thousand Cicadas Can't Be Wrong, This Scatter of Blossoms and When the Leaves Are in the Water.
She believes, as author Julia Cameron says, "We are meant to midwife dreams for one another." Maureen also believes that serious "word work" requires serious WordPlay, as play is how we humans best
learn—and perform. What she loves best is witnessing all the other dreams that come true for her clients along the way. Language, when used with intentionality and focus, is, after all, serious fuel for joy. Here's to yours!
|
|
|
|
