Thank you for this, dear Camilla! As usual, I relate to so much of your writing, from the mantras and kirtans that bring you courage, to the inner divinity we connect to when writing from the heart and not the head.
Hi Bridget, my pleasure, thanks for reading, and thank you for the reminder to connect with my heart! I find that because my ego and mind are so strong, I have to continually remind myself to surrender into my heart! It's an ongoing practice♥️🙏🕊
Fascinating post Camilla. I appreciated the hand movements as a way to see our lives. I call it the horizontality and verticality of our lives. The horizontal as our lived experience, the past present and future. The vertical as this moment. Living both the immanent and the transcendent at the same time. Being in our lived experience but seeing it from a greater perspective. Witnessing as you said.
And the mantras! I was in a Hindu tradition for 18 years and 5 years in another one. Loved chanting. I even learned to play the harmonium. Mantras have such power and depth. It is like eating the orange analogy, you don't know what the orange tastes like till you eat it. Same with chanting and mantras. It is an experience. I have also chanted some Sikh matras, but the one you describe sounds very profound. Love that it brought courage into your life!
Hi Julie, thanks so much for reading, and for your engagement and support! And yes, Eckhart Tolle also talks about the horizontal and vertical dimensions in life, with which I also resonate.
And yes to the eating the orange metaphor. I would not have understood my experience to be possible before having committed to a daily practice with that mantra for around 9 months!
This was wonderful, Camilla. Both to hear how writing your memoir was transformative for you, but also on a personal level. . .
See, for a while now I’ve been working on a first draft of what I thought of when I began as ‘a book about skateboarding’ but the more I write the more I’m realising the book is closer to a memoir about how following my passion for skateboarding has bestowed me with countless life lessons and opportunities for personal growth. At first I was resisting the idea that the book is closer to a memoir than I thought, but I’m warming up to the idea — and your piece definitely helped with that.
Hi Michael, I'm so happy to hear this post was meaningful for you. And yes, I think that one of the secrets about memoir is that it's actually not about "me" but it's about universal themes and spiritual principles that my life happens to illustrate.
When you write, "following my passion for skateboarding has bestowed me with countless life lessons and opportunities for personal growth" to me that also sounds original and fun. Maybe kind of a skateboarding self-help? I hope you share some of your chapters on Substack - you can set them up so they move behind the paywall one month after publication. Most agents and publishers seem to be okay with this - i.e. it can be still published in book form. (p.s. if you haven't read Eleanor Anstruther's substack, this post is great: https://eleanoranstruther.substack.com/p/8-questions-and-answers-on-why-im
And I totally agree with you when you said: “your book will tell you what it wants to be”.
As for categorising it as this or that, I think it’s still too early to tell what it is yet, so at the moment I’m enjoying just writing the first draft and letting my thoughts come out. Same with posting it on substack, if that is something I decide to do it’s still not ready to be shared anyways.
But I must say the whole thing is very exciting :)
Thank you for this, dear Camilla! As usual, I relate to so much of your writing, from the mantras and kirtans that bring you courage, to the inner divinity we connect to when writing from the heart and not the head.
❤️❤️❤️
Hi Bridget, my pleasure, thanks for reading, and thank you for the reminder to connect with my heart! I find that because my ego and mind are so strong, I have to continually remind myself to surrender into my heart! It's an ongoing practice♥️🙏🕊
Fascinating post Camilla. I appreciated the hand movements as a way to see our lives. I call it the horizontality and verticality of our lives. The horizontal as our lived experience, the past present and future. The vertical as this moment. Living both the immanent and the transcendent at the same time. Being in our lived experience but seeing it from a greater perspective. Witnessing as you said.
And the mantras! I was in a Hindu tradition for 18 years and 5 years in another one. Loved chanting. I even learned to play the harmonium. Mantras have such power and depth. It is like eating the orange analogy, you don't know what the orange tastes like till you eat it. Same with chanting and mantras. It is an experience. I have also chanted some Sikh matras, but the one you describe sounds very profound. Love that it brought courage into your life!
Hi Julie, thanks so much for reading, and for your engagement and support! And yes, Eckhart Tolle also talks about the horizontal and vertical dimensions in life, with which I also resonate.
And yes, Rev. Dr. Stephanie Rutt made those hand movements when she was discussing the Bhagavad Gita’s Chapter 13: The Field and the Knower (which I write about here too: https://camillasanderson.substack.com/p/chapter-17-the-bhagavad-gita-and)
And yes to the eating the orange metaphor. I would not have understood my experience to be possible before having committed to a daily practice with that mantra for around 9 months!
This was wonderful, Camilla. Both to hear how writing your memoir was transformative for you, but also on a personal level. . .
See, for a while now I’ve been working on a first draft of what I thought of when I began as ‘a book about skateboarding’ but the more I write the more I’m realising the book is closer to a memoir about how following my passion for skateboarding has bestowed me with countless life lessons and opportunities for personal growth. At first I was resisting the idea that the book is closer to a memoir than I thought, but I’m warming up to the idea — and your piece definitely helped with that.
Hi Michael, I'm so happy to hear this post was meaningful for you. And yes, I think that one of the secrets about memoir is that it's actually not about "me" but it's about universal themes and spiritual principles that my life happens to illustrate.
When you write, "following my passion for skateboarding has bestowed me with countless life lessons and opportunities for personal growth" to me that also sounds original and fun. Maybe kind of a skateboarding self-help? I hope you share some of your chapters on Substack - you can set them up so they move behind the paywall one month after publication. Most agents and publishers seem to be okay with this - i.e. it can be still published in book form. (p.s. if you haven't read Eleanor Anstruther's substack, this post is great: https://eleanoranstruther.substack.com/p/8-questions-and-answers-on-why-im
Looking forward to reading more of your "story"😁
Thanks Camilla. That’s all super helpful advice.
And I totally agree with you when you said: “your book will tell you what it wants to be”.
As for categorising it as this or that, I think it’s still too early to tell what it is yet, so at the moment I’m enjoying just writing the first draft and letting my thoughts come out. Same with posting it on substack, if that is something I decide to do it’s still not ready to be shared anyways.
But I must say the whole thing is very exciting :)
Thanks Camilla
As always, I look forward to reading your writing ♥️🙏🕊