Renee you are such a starlight of a person! Your newsletter are highly appreciated, even if I might not read them immediately as you publish, but in my moments of solitude I keep coming back to your pieces, each one poignant and stirring in its own ways.
“To touch the stars, we need to launch with the fuel of immaterial qualities of the spiritual, such as gratitude.” Yes, a thousand times yes. I absolutely love this line. The path is always more beautiful than the destination even if objectively we need the destination to be on the path but we usually go on because we love walking down the path. One can only know this as true when their spiritual side is awakened and when they glue themselves to gratitude. Your illustrations and the poem are also lovely. Thank you for sharing such beauty and wisdom with us!
Thank you very much, Swarna! Your presence is so appreciated. You've been such a wonderful supporter of sharing my writings for the first time to the public and that is a gift beyond words.
Your writings are beyond beautiful and I am going to dive into your most recent article this evening!
Renee, I love your poem at the beginning of this post. And congratulations on closing in on submitting your novel. I purposely wrote "congratulations" instead of "good luck" (which I also wish you) because to have gotten this far is a massive accomplishment.
Thank you very much, Meta. I love the congratulations instead of good luck! Creating an entire world as a story really is such a sense of accomplishment. My husband always says, as he listens to each chapter after each revision (good husband!) that publication isn't necessary for the enjoyment of the creation, even though it would be exciting.
I think you should go by your intuition. If that doesn't guide you, just keep on with what you're doing. Life will soon let you know if you should be following a different path :-)
Thank you, Terry. As always, your attention to this journey of mine through words is such nice support, and I appreciate it greatly.
I love that you said intuition, because instead of new year's resolutions this year, I wrote on a piece of paper 'intuition' and have it on my desk to guide me. Now, I'd like to be able to distinguish between fear and intuition soon. If I could clarify that inside, I'd consider that whatever happens this year a huge success!
Any advice on intuition would be awesome. In fact, that would be a great article from either or both of us?
PS "I’m a hot second away from sending out my novel to agents." Fantastic: good luck, Renee! Just remember the words of Lord Krishna to Arjuna: Be without the fruits of action -- meaning (as I see it), act, and then what happens as a result of that is out of your hands, so there's nothing more you can do
From my teen protagonist's voice, "If Brahma should grant me a little grace in this matter and hand out a bit of fruit to quench my parched soul, I'll fall to my knees and consider that God might actually exist."
From me-- the practice of letting go is incredible freedom, one I hope to master in this life. ***And I just might have to write Lord Krishna's words under the word 'intuition'.
My dearest Renee, I love your encouraging words. They help me center myself and I’m so excited for you on your journey of writing have strength you are very loved. You’re helping people think about their goals and help them on their journey to get through this crazy life. Love you, auntie Denise
I get excited about your posts and look forward to them. I read them, listen to them, and reread them, pondering for days. This one is charming.
> "the realization of the goal, after the initial high, will leave us feeling empty and fearful."
You are lucky to have this realization.
Success doesn't necessarily bring fear, but it certainly doesn't bring fulfillment. Fulfillment is gained along the journey of life at all stages. Success is a just another milestone. Once your book is published, then comes pressure to produce another, and another, and merchandising, & marketing, & compromises, & new liabilities.
Right now, in this period of waiting, you have quiet, you have time, you have ease.
In a way, I'm in this boat with you, but I'm holding off on my opportunity to reach my career goals. I like this period of limited stress. I like savoring this time as if it were the "golden years". I like having down time to play. I like not having the pressure on high.
Your success is not an "if" but a "when," and when it happens, I hope that you are still able to find time to simply be. 💙🤍
Thank you, Phia, for such heart-warming words. I've been thinking about what you wrote for a few hours because it hit home so beautifully. The idea of a period of waiting and ease having such wonder and meaning furthers the idea of my sister perfectly. When we are both ready to strike forward it will be perfect timing. And thank you, for the not 'if' but 'when'. I love that! I'm enjoying the golden years with you!
"As the years unfurl, it’s more obvious to me that gratitude is the launchpad, and our goal is the rocket." I love this line. I've never thought of gratitude this way before!
Congratulations on sending out your queries! I'm also in the beginning stages of querying agents. If you're open to it, I'd love to connect and offer feedback on our letters or the process if it's helpful! I know I could use some encouragement along the way- sometimes being a writer and sending out your work into the void can feel rather lonesome!
Isn't it difficult, this querying process? Doubts and hesitations seem to creep in a little too easily.
I've already sent the letter for my current project for this round, but I'm very much open to connect about the process or future queries. It is an isolating process full of emotions.
I couldn't agree more! Kudos to your bravery and wishing you the best of luck! Yes, I plan on making some tweaks to my letter/synopsis so if you're ever looking for a feedback or workshop partner, let me know! :)
Renee, your creations are all so beautiful. I don't think you need any luck on your journey—you know exactly where you are and where you are going, because you are right where you need to be. Sending love to your corner of the world.💚🙏🏻
Beautiful poem Renee! You and your sister have touched on something profound here. We often get caught up chasing the next milestone that we forget the journey IS the destination. We’re so focused on the next high from the achievement we attain that we forget it’s about who we become along the way. Focusing on the future rewires our brain to find happiness in the future and thus feeling like the present is never enough.
It’s ok to not have your work shared with the world right away, or ever. It doesn’t mean it is any less valuable.
Sending you love and appreciate you for all the energy you put into sharing such beautiful words. ❤️🙏🏽
This is a fabulous insight into all we do and why. Your words of wisdom can be taken with us daily as we navigate our thoughts, actions and progress towards what we think will make us happy in life. This one I will listen to so many times.
Thank you so much. I'm fortunate because I have a mom who passes on her wisdom and love and that allows me to stay calm enough to contemplate these things.
Thank you, David. I think I commented on your last post, but in case I didn't, it was wonderful and I thought a lot about early morning writing with a mug of hot coffee this morning!
Renee you are such a starlight of a person! Your newsletter are highly appreciated, even if I might not read them immediately as you publish, but in my moments of solitude I keep coming back to your pieces, each one poignant and stirring in its own ways.
“To touch the stars, we need to launch with the fuel of immaterial qualities of the spiritual, such as gratitude.” Yes, a thousand times yes. I absolutely love this line. The path is always more beautiful than the destination even if objectively we need the destination to be on the path but we usually go on because we love walking down the path. One can only know this as true when their spiritual side is awakened and when they glue themselves to gratitude. Your illustrations and the poem are also lovely. Thank you for sharing such beauty and wisdom with us!
Thank you very much, Swarna! Your presence is so appreciated. You've been such a wonderful supporter of sharing my writings for the first time to the public and that is a gift beyond words.
Your writings are beyond beautiful and I am going to dive into your most recent article this evening!
Renee, I love your poem at the beginning of this post. And congratulations on closing in on submitting your novel. I purposely wrote "congratulations" instead of "good luck" (which I also wish you) because to have gotten this far is a massive accomplishment.
Thank you very much, Meta. I love the congratulations instead of good luck! Creating an entire world as a story really is such a sense of accomplishment. My husband always says, as he listens to each chapter after each revision (good husband!) that publication isn't necessary for the enjoyment of the creation, even though it would be exciting.
Lovely poem and lovely drawing.
I think you should go by your intuition. If that doesn't guide you, just keep on with what you're doing. Life will soon let you know if you should be following a different path :-)
Thank you, Terry. As always, your attention to this journey of mine through words is such nice support, and I appreciate it greatly.
I love that you said intuition, because instead of new year's resolutions this year, I wrote on a piece of paper 'intuition' and have it on my desk to guide me. Now, I'd like to be able to distinguish between fear and intuition soon. If I could clarify that inside, I'd consider that whatever happens this year a huge success!
Any advice on intuition would be awesome. In fact, that would be a great article from either or both of us?
Thanks for the invite to write about intuition, Renee. I honestly don't feel I'm able to at the moment. I'm in a state of transition, this being:
1. Not following intuition
2. Making a conscious decision to follow intuition
3. Always following intuition without even thinking about it.
4. Intuition and intellect are in perfect accord with each other.
In think I am somewhere between numbers 2 and 3!
I understand! I really like your intuition list. May I use it in a future article?
I think I'm between 2 and 3 also. Some days I do fall backwards and get lost in #1!
of course! thx for asking. Maybe I'll use it too, and we can compare results!
Thank you! If we do, I'll be excited to see the comparison!
PS "I’m a hot second away from sending out my novel to agents." Fantastic: good luck, Renee! Just remember the words of Lord Krishna to Arjuna: Be without the fruits of action -- meaning (as I see it), act, and then what happens as a result of that is out of your hands, so there's nothing more you can do
Thank you!
From my teen protagonist's voice, "If Brahma should grant me a little grace in this matter and hand out a bit of fruit to quench my parched soul, I'll fall to my knees and consider that God might actually exist."
From me-- the practice of letting go is incredible freedom, one I hope to master in this life. ***And I just might have to write Lord Krishna's words under the word 'intuition'.
"the practice of letting go is incredible freedom, one I hope to master in this life. " Don't we all 😂
My dearest Renee, I love your encouraging words. They help me center myself and I’m so excited for you on your journey of writing have strength you are very loved. You’re helping people think about their goals and help them on their journey to get through this crazy life. Love you, auntie Denise
Thank you so much Auntie Denise! The knowledge you appreciate this little nook online puts so much wind in my sails. I love you!!!!!
I get excited about your posts and look forward to them. I read them, listen to them, and reread them, pondering for days. This one is charming.
> "the realization of the goal, after the initial high, will leave us feeling empty and fearful."
You are lucky to have this realization.
Success doesn't necessarily bring fear, but it certainly doesn't bring fulfillment. Fulfillment is gained along the journey of life at all stages. Success is a just another milestone. Once your book is published, then comes pressure to produce another, and another, and merchandising, & marketing, & compromises, & new liabilities.
Right now, in this period of waiting, you have quiet, you have time, you have ease.
In a way, I'm in this boat with you, but I'm holding off on my opportunity to reach my career goals. I like this period of limited stress. I like savoring this time as if it were the "golden years". I like having down time to play. I like not having the pressure on high.
Your success is not an "if" but a "when," and when it happens, I hope that you are still able to find time to simply be. 💙🤍
Thank you, Phia, for such heart-warming words. I've been thinking about what you wrote for a few hours because it hit home so beautifully. The idea of a period of waiting and ease having such wonder and meaning furthers the idea of my sister perfectly. When we are both ready to strike forward it will be perfect timing. And thank you, for the not 'if' but 'when'. I love that! I'm enjoying the golden years with you!
I love your illustrations!!
Thank you so much, Kimberly!
"As the years unfurl, it’s more obvious to me that gratitude is the launchpad, and our goal is the rocket." I love this line. I've never thought of gratitude this way before!
Congratulations on sending out your queries! I'm also in the beginning stages of querying agents. If you're open to it, I'd love to connect and offer feedback on our letters or the process if it's helpful! I know I could use some encouragement along the way- sometimes being a writer and sending out your work into the void can feel rather lonesome!
Thank you, Mariah!
Isn't it difficult, this querying process? Doubts and hesitations seem to creep in a little too easily.
I've already sent the letter for my current project for this round, but I'm very much open to connect about the process or future queries. It is an isolating process full of emotions.
I couldn't agree more! Kudos to your bravery and wishing you the best of luck! Yes, I plan on making some tweaks to my letter/synopsis so if you're ever looking for a feedback or workshop partner, let me know! :)
And to your bravery, too! I look forward to a workshop partner. Excited to connect on this journey. What genre do you write in?
Thank you! I wrote a novel that’s a fictionalized memoir and I also write poetry. 💗
Big fan here
Renee, your creations are all so beautiful. I don't think you need any luck on your journey—you know exactly where you are and where you are going, because you are right where you need to be. Sending love to your corner of the world.💚🙏🏻
My goodness, your words, Alice, are sunlight to my budding journey into storytelling. I can't thank you enough.
Beautiful poem Renee! You and your sister have touched on something profound here. We often get caught up chasing the next milestone that we forget the journey IS the destination. We’re so focused on the next high from the achievement we attain that we forget it’s about who we become along the way. Focusing on the future rewires our brain to find happiness in the future and thus feeling like the present is never enough.
It’s ok to not have your work shared with the world right away, or ever. It doesn’t mean it is any less valuable.
Sending you love and appreciate you for all the energy you put into sharing such beautiful words. ❤️🙏🏽
Thank you, Vipul. What you wrote about rewired brains for future happiness is profound.
And I really value the idea you shared about the value of work not dependent on sharing it or not. I take that into my heart.
I'm looking forward to reading more of your work! So happy our Substacks are supporting each other.
😊❤️🙏🏽
ALSO LOVE YOUR ILLUSTRATIONS-
Thank you! It's such a different approach than my "fine" art. More difficult in some ways (for me at least)
This is a fabulous insight into all we do and why. Your words of wisdom can be taken with us daily as we navigate our thoughts, actions and progress towards what we think will make us happy in life. This one I will listen to so many times.
Thank you so much. I'm fortunate because I have a mom who passes on her wisdom and love and that allows me to stay calm enough to contemplate these things.
Beautifully said, Renee. My best wishes are with you.
Thank you, Bonnie. Your wishes are felt.
What inspiring words! Thanks for sharing your droplets of courage, wisdom and kindness. Congrats on your writing. Stretch your wings and fly high : )
Thank you, Julia. Your message made my heart smile, and thank you for being part of The Creator's Compass!
'Our true north, allow goals to harmonise' love these words
Thank you, David. I think I commented on your last post, but in case I didn't, it was wonderful and I thought a lot about early morning writing with a mug of hot coffee this morning!