From Gareth Higgins: It was my birthday this week, and the whole day I was smiling at the kindnesses coming my way from friends around the world, people taking a minute to tell me they love me, they remember me, I matter.
And so do you.
It wasn’t one of those birthdays that warrants a big party or a sense of shifting from one era to the next. Then again, every birthday is significant.
It’s a miracle that I’m here in the first place, and I’ve weathered unique storms and received blessings just as unique. I may not be turning 21 or 50 or 75 (the photo above shows what 48 looks like, for me at least); I’m not graduating college or retiring, or getting married. I’m just marking the gift of another year, grateful to be alive, grateful for community, grateful for purpose.
And I think of those who spent their birthday alone or in pain, and a sense of calling is reaffirmed, as an individual and with The Porch community reading this email:
To nurture meaning and connection, reduce violence and support creativity no matter what else is happening.
We do this first of all by the stories we tell. To contend with the sorrows and terrors of life, we need stories that take suffering seriously without replicating it; and to fully experience the glories and graces, we need stories capable of naming them.
We won’t get through the hardest parts of the enormous world, or of the small day, without stronger stories; and if we don’t learn stories that move toward the everyday miraculous we may miss the best of life.
I’ll write more about this soon, but before we get there I want to let you know about a few things we’re doing in the coming few months - all of it in the spirit of helping us reframe our stories and our lives in this direction. I'd love to see you in person.
Portland, OR - I’m speaking about How Not to be Afraid on Thursday February 16th at 7pm; and with David Wilcox I’m doing a daylong Medicine Stories: Weaving Story & Song workshop on Saturday February 18th. Details here: https://www.eventcreate.com/e/medicinestories2023
Asheville, NC - The Porch Gathering of Transformative Storytelling, with music, movies, conversation and connection takes place on March 9th-12th. Registration is going quickly, so now’s the time to confirm if you want to join us. Details are at www.theporchgathering.com.
Ireland/Northern Ireland - Our series of transformative storytelling, landscape-honoring, community-connecting, and common good-oriented retreats is posted at www.irelandretreats.com. Join me and Brian Ammons co-hosting small groups of people seeking a better story - along with special guests including Kathleen Norris, Over the Rhine, and Mark Silver.
And in The Porch we’ve recently published some gorgeous and thoughtful pieces each of which is in the centre of our vision of a slow conversation about beautiful, and difficult things, including:
Sheryl Spencer’s Fragments: An Incomplete Encyclopedia of a Post-Menopausal Life
Rick Rekedal on Close Encounters of the Family Kind
Katherine Hauswirth’s Big Brother Blue Jay
and Garrett Mostowski’s Blessing for a New Way
Read these and more of our slow conversation about beautiful and difficult things at https://www.theporchmagazine.com/essays (subscribers only, but subscriptions are available free of charge to anyone who needs one).
