Stepping Stones

Looking for some great links to follow up? Links to posts that inspire and enlighten? Links to blogs that invite us to look at the world with fresh eyes, to appreciate, to engage, to respond? Well, look no further, as I have collected some great links for you to view over this weekend!

  • Chris Garrett had a very inspirational post this week called The Magic Ingredient in which he addresses an issue which effects many of us. Does this sound familiar to you?

Whenever I achieve something in my life, two things often occur. One, the first, is I have to silence that small voice in my head that says “If I managed it then it can’t have been all that hard”. The second is I seem to attract people who say to me “I could have done that if only I _____” or “You see it’s easy for you, because ______”.

  • Ellen Wilson, of Wilson’s Words and Pictures, had a wonderful post, Bringing Your Daughter to Work Day, about encouraging children’s creativity. Reminding us of just how important it is to support our children’s artistic endeavours, Ellen writes about her own daughter’s burgeoning creativity and shares one way in which Ellen actively encourages her:

And I did mention to her that I would be displaying her artwork online. She is really excited about that. It seems she was born with a crayon in her hand, and being only 8 years old she is a top notch artist.

  • Next up is a post I missed from last week, but it really does deserve sharing here. It’s by Jo(e) who, if you don’t know, you really should. This post, If Every Woman Had A Cape, is an excellent introduction to her blog, Writing as Jo(e):

It was a comic book movie, except with human actors and actresses instead of drawings, and I couldn’t help but analyze the corny dialogue as we listened. The movie was a wonderful illustration of the black-and-white thinking in which people fall neatly into the categories of villain, victim, or hero. Even with all kinds of cool special effects, it’s incredible how tiresome those narrative can be. And more than tiresome; it’s downright sad. I know real life people who get stuck in those narratives.

In the search for a purposeful and passionate life you start to look for the important things. You take a good look at your life (the jar) and identify a couple of them. Some are real clear, some are only barely visible. There are all kinds of pebbles and blocking your view. And then there’s that strange mud that smells of beer…

  • Bob of Heroes Not Zombies, who some of you may know is my dad, had a post up this week which I really wanted to share with you all here. It’s called Making Sense of Life and it looks at the role stories play as we attempt to gain understanding and construct meanings:

How do you know what another person senses, feels or thinks? Through the sharing of stories. Our key tool in organising all these elements and conveying these experiences to others is narrative. We put things together in our heads in the form of stories. Remember, a story is created by telling of the present as it is emerging from the past in the light of future possibilities.

  • Last for this week is Joanna Young’s post, Powerful Writing in 30 Words Or Less: E-Book of One-Liners in which she announces that she has compiled all the entries that she received answering the question, ‘What does powerful writing mean to you?, and that she is making it available as a pdf download. The e-book is free, but she is requesting donations for a very special charity:

It’s in support of MAD About Art, a small educational charity that works with young people in South Africa whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS. Using a mix of narrative and art therapy they support the young people to tell the most powerful stories. Find out more about MAD and the connection with powerful writing…

Well, that’s it for this latest edition of Links Less Ordinary. What posts really inspired you this week?

P.S. David Masters shares some link love over here and there are some great posts to check out there too!