Ferns in Spring at Burnside

When I facilitated my first Wednesday morning workshop in Proprioceptive Writing (PW) at The Orchard, Bridge of Earn, in May, I had one student. Financially it was a washout, but no matter. She (Vanessa) was the right student, who has since begun to make huge strides in turning her life around. June was a non-starter and I could have become depressed.  (Vanessa had flown back to Kenya to discover that while the country she had lived in over 30 years had not changed, she had – a quite startling realization that enabled her to stop mourning the old and move forward with the new.) I was recovering from being hospitalized and so my energy levels low anyway.

Anne, now back at work, and Vanessa, on her way back to university

So two months passed with Vanessa keenly awaiting the next workshop, but no further apparent interest. But then a day or so before the morning session booked in June, I had a call from Anne in Falkirk. Did I have any space, she asked. Did I have any space! Yes, I replied, laughing with a kind of shocked pleasure. In fact my surprise was so intense that I forgot to take down her full name and any contact details, so was unsure until the day itself whether she would turn up or not. She did… … and yesterday along brought two more curious souls, Gail and Paul. So they were four. Not because Vanessa could attend: having decided after three years of painful transition that yes, she did live in Scotland,  she was home awaiting pets to arrive from Kenya. But due to the great surprise of a friend turning up with her Japanese partner from New Zealand to stay a few days. Jillian had done a very early writing course with me in Tokyo in 2006, so there was a magical synchronicity in her choosing to work with me again seven years on. So, from one to two to four…  with great enthusiasm all round. Keen to explore the new world of her inner being to which PW had so inspiring provided a key, Anne had done twenty-two WRITES since being introduced to the methodology in June, which I think may be a record.  While this morning Gail mailed me the photo I had taken of them on her mobile (to be posted on GALLERY asap), and said she would “see me again soon, truly!” As to Paul, he wants to take the first DOTWW writing course I can set up… As the work begins to gently roll out ahead me, and autumn schedules fall into place, I am more than encouraged. I am hugely relieved. Because without a meaning-full, use-full and help-full life, the future would be looking somewhat bleak.

Blossoming

Could we live in a more idyllic place?

And the current summer weather – the best for years, or so we’re told –   is far too beautiful for that .