News and Updates
A Mission StatementGive Us What You’ve Got
“Give us what you’ve got” is the last sentence in The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.
“Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.”
And that is what happens on this website week in and week out. Just me at the Mac decanting stuff from my psyche to yours. I consider this sacred space and have committed myself to its continuance.
It began as a trail of tears back and forth to the chemo room when my husband
was enduring multiple myeloma. It continues as my sole experience. But maybe it’s not. Maybe it belongs to each of us. I like to think so.
Vicki Woodyard on Facebook
February 4, 2010--Consider making a Valentine's Day Donation. Read Happy Valentine's on Fishpond. I'm all about writing and speaking and learning to spit and eating chocolate. How's 'bout you? I just wrote a poem about my child on Fishpond Thoughts called She Came to Us. It's worth a trip to the pond to ponder it. And it is also on Audio. Thank you for opening your heart to my work, a valentine to truth.
February 2, 2010--Listen to I'm No Saint on 2010 Audio. It's different from the essay below. I recorded it after I wrote the essay.
I’m No Saint
I’m no saint. I have maintained this website for years, finding my voice and using it here. It has lost money, on the whole. It’s only been during the last three or four years that I even put up a Donate button. Most people don’t bother and two people, believe it or not, have paid the operating expenses for a whole year. That tells me I am going in the right direction.
I try and leave a trail of breadcrumbs back home to where we all live and move and have our being. Lord knows, most of the time the crumbs get eaten by hungry birds and we lose our way. Then it is we sit in darkness and curse it. But what happens when we just sit there and let it be? That is what we are called to do on the path of awakening. To trust that higher forces are watching us and will not leave us comfortless.
What does it mean to awaken? It means to be so familiar with your state of sleep that you know when you are beginning to snore. When you see yourself sleepwalking and bumping into the furniture of your fellow human beings...that you have reduced them to things that get in your way. The bruises on the shins of your soul are an angry purple and your face is red with anger. That is sleep with a capital S.
I’m no sinner, either. (See first paragraph) Vernon Howard said, “You are not your strengths and you are not your weaknesses.” To see that, you must be in a state of wakefulness. And to be in a state of wakefulness is to be in a state of grace. But today I must go to the dentist and get my teeth cleaned. I dread going, I always do. But if I didn’t go, I would ultimately be sorry. There are parts of life that we do because we “must.” There are other parts we do because we are fed by doing them. Trying to awaken feeds not only us, but the multitudes.
I fail every day and so do you. We get up and try again. The path is in front of us and behind us. It is all around us. It IS us. As you follow it, be mindful of yourself and how dreadfully difficult it is. It’s hard-going and the route seems to keep changing. Sometimes I sit down and cry. But I get back up because something is impelling me that is not my ego. The mystery is pushing me out of the birth canal and who will there be to catch me? I am not a baby, either. I am full-grown.
So together let us say a prayer: “Lord, keep me going.”
Now listen to the MP3...I'm No Saint.
Jan. 29, 10-Uploaded Being is the New Doing on Fishpond Thoughts.
Jan. 25, 10--Just uploaded In the Guru’s Hands on Fishpond. Go there and rest....
Jan. 21--It’s bitter cold here down south and I am holed up with the Mac and a box of Dunkin Donuts. Guess which is calling my name?....Added No Shit, Part II, to Audio 2010.
Jan. 15--I just uploaded Everything Matt
Jan. 18, 10--Added Going Deeper as Part II to Suffering as a Gateway on Audio 2010.
Jerry Katz is running No Shit on his blog this week. Thanks, Jerry. Also posted My Friend Peter on 2010.
Jan. 17, 10--I have just begun a new page for my 2010 MP3's. The old ones are still here as
Audio Archives. I started to delete them, but decided it was easier to keep them in case someone wants to listen. Come along with me this year for a journey of awakening on Audio2010.
Jan. 17, 10--Here’s a fun MP3 about meeting a teacher on Maui. This year I want
to be free to talk about anything I like. So maybe one week I will tell a story
and the next week I will do something different. You like?
(It's on Audio 2010)Jan. 13, 10--I got up at four-thirty and recorded No Shit. It could also have been called Oh, Shit. Be that as it may....every word is true. If you are offended, good. It’s part of my story....why apologize?
It's on Audio. If you have feedback on it, my email is Vicki.
Jan. 15--I just uploaded Everything Matters to Audio. I had been working on some of my writing and it hit me that everything mattered. I stopped what I was doing to record my thoughts about
that. Also, there is a new essay on Fishpond. It’s called You Are Bigger Than The World.
Jan. 08, 10--I have just archived the 2009 Updates and am starting anew. As I told you, I will be
posting more essays on Fishpond Thoughts, as that seems to be a popular place. Also, there is an MP3 called My Friend Peter posted there. Please give it a listen as I think you will enjoy it very much.
It’s bitter cold here down south and I am holed up with the Mac and a box of Dunkin Donuts. Guess which is calling my name?....
Jan. 03, 10--I am posting the first new essay of the year on Fishpond Thoughts. Welcome back to my faithful readers and welcome to all of you new ones. Fishpond seems to be the favorite page, so why not feature more essays there? Indeed. I am going to be working on putting my essays into a book. As many of you know, this has been an ongoing task for me. I appreciate your taking the time to visit and enjoy my writing, which is always from the heart. You will find no intellectual analysis here, for that time has past. It is high time we simply are....and that is grace.
Love, Vicki
If you have the time to guide your friends to the site, please do. There is a lot of competition for spiritual sites and I can assure you that this one is worth a visit :). Thank you for your time, input and occasional donations.
January 1, 2010--There is a new audio called Be There When You Happen. I will be archiving some older MP3’s. As I begin 2010, I am giving thought to what I want to do next. As most of you know, the site began around 2001 and I have been working hard at maintaining the quality since then. I have found my voice here, learned to make recordings here, shared my life as deeply as I could.
That may all be changing. Someone has been kind enough to fund the site until spring of 2010, but donations are sparse, as they probably are with all spiritual sites. I never get feedback, although I know some of you are out there reading or listening.
If you can help, scroll up to the Donate button and help spread the light. Thank you.
Love, Vicki
