August 20, 2013
Hi [[firstname]]
Welcome to all new subscribers. My intention is help make your life a little bit better. I want to metaphorically Speaking, blow on the embers of hope and creativity within you. Yahoo.
One Request and Three Recommendations
First of all, I have a favor to ask. In 2003 after my mother died, I spent two years writing a book, Woman with a Voice: Daring to Live Authentically Ever After.
A friend told me later that my book and I co-created each other. She was right. Every day for months and months I summoned up all my courage to write through my shame and self-doubt: Who did I think I was anyway? I was making a fool of myself, being self-indulgent, narcissistic, and pathetic. And, besides that, I couldn’t write.
Still I wrote, seconds away from “select all/delete.” In 2005 I self-published my creation, only to be hit with a crashing wave of fear. I would be killed for telling my story. “They” would kill me.
So, as it turns out, stepping out in the world and being just ourselves turns out to be a heroic act for anyone who does it. My book, full of flaws I’m sure, is also one thing for sure: a courageous act of living wide open.
Here’s the favor I ask of you: my book is now available on Kindle and in other places electronically. I ask you to download my book and write an honest review. Dip in, read a bit, and see what you think.
Asking this makes me feel vulnerable. I’m hoping, though, that if you have gotten any benefit from my newsletters over the years, you will seriously consider my request.
Here is where you can get Woman with a Voice: Daring to Live Authentically Ever After on Kindle from Amazon.com and other places electronically:
Amazon.com
Barnes and Noble
Thank you. More, please.
First Recommendation: A Sweet Movie
HappyThankyouMorePlease – My first recommendation is a quirky, sweet, well-written movie about love, art, vulnerability, and trust. It’s on Netflix.
Second Recommendation
A book, Tattoos On The Heart by Gregory Boyle, the priest who has worked for decades with gangs in the barrios. Poetic, surprising, and full of heart-breaking yet inspiring stories, this is a book that changed my DNA. I’m listening to it again and plan to listen to it regularly as one of my spiritual practices. For those of you who believe in God, this is religion at its best. For those of you who don’t, it’s religion at its best, what living with a big God heart inside you can do for the world and for you.
Third Recommendation
Another movie. Raw Faith : Alive Mind Cinema, a documentary about Marilyn Sewell, an outspoken and socially progressive Unitarian minister. This movie is also about love, vulnerability, and trust. I got the phrase “living wide open” from her.
All three of these recommendations are treats for the soul, what we need to ingest so we can keep waking up willing to live wide open and be filled with gratitude for all of our blessings as we take on our challenges, and the challenges of those we love.
Here’s my audio with more thoughts about Living Wide Open: 
Click HERE
As usual, I invite you to follow your bliss or it will stalk you,
Vicki
