{"id":1000,"date":"2018-03-19T15:30:45","date_gmt":"2018-03-19T19:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sallybsedgwick.com\/conversation\/?p=1000"},"modified":"2018-03-20T14:44:27","modified_gmt":"2018-03-20T18:44:27","slug":"angstbeing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spiritmoxie.com\/conversation\/angstbeing\/","title":{"rendered":"Angst and Being"},"content":{"rendered":"

To be<\/a> is an incredible minute by minute way to live and I started a conversation post to share it with you. But last week I ran flat into its opposite.The space where nothing seems right. I\u2019ll bet you know that place too! Suddenly I was where nothing I do is clear, no one understands the power and importance of Spirit Moxie, the book that I think I want to publish isn\u2019t useful, and I am probably fat and ugly to boot. Nope. Not a place to \u201cjust be.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, I\u2019ve been working on all of the \u201cbe\u201d pieces for over a year now so I knew this wasn\u2019t true. But even with breathing and intellectual appreciation, old habits stopped by. Self-indulgence. Self-doubt. Feeling vulnerable\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been writing a book to explain Spirit Moxie. No, I have written a book to explain Spirit Moxie. And FYI, the book\u2019s working title is Mattering.<\/i> A book to encourage anyone who thinks that what they do doesn\u2019t matter. And to support those (like you) that know their day to day actions do matter, but still welcome encouragement and challenge. It\u2019s been read by a friend in Maine. It needs serious editing. And a title.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"HandSo last week I met with my friend Linda for a brainstorming session to begin the process of naming the book. (You met Linda in \u201cMoxie and Miracles\u201d<\/a> as the librarian who only appears to me at work when I need her. ) After a great hour or so we came up with: <\/span><\/p>\n

1) Make a Difference: merely matter
\n<\/i><\/span>2) Merely Matter: a simple guide for your every day<\/i><\/p>\n

We liked the alliteration of \u201cmerely\u201d with\u201cmatter\u201d and how \u201cmerely\u201d implies how easy and basic making a difference can be.<\/span><\/p>\n

The next day I shared these options in three different places on Facebook: 1) the Spirit Moxie page;<\/a> 2) my personal feed; 3) a private group for creatives curated by the incomparable Samantha Bennett and\u00a0The\u00a0Organized Artist Company.<\/a> There were three very different responses. <\/span><\/p>\n

On the Spirit Moxie page, people mainly just voted (mostly for #2) or made alternative suggestions such as Mattering: a guide for your every day,<\/i> Matter,<\/i> and What Matters?<\/i>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On my personal page there was an intense discussion of the word \u201cmerely,\u201d which was seen as implying \u201cminor\u201d and \u201cunimportant\u201d to one respondent. Which then promoted a debate that \u201cminor and unimportant\u201d was, perhaps, the point and for another prompted the poem shared towards the end of this conversation. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"figureBut the most revealing conversation was in the private group where it was very clear that despite my explanations not only didn\u2019t the title work at all for someone who hadn\u2019t heard about the vision of Spirit Moxie, but that the idea of mattering wasn\u2019t obvious and by implication a book wouldn\u2019t have an audience if it had that focus much less benefit by having the word in the title. OK. So I\u2019m exaggerating.\u00a0 <\/span>Slightly. While humbled by the scope and intensity of the answers and versed enough in criticism and \u201cbeing\u201d to appreciate the input, I was, being merely human, and shall we say \u201cdisheartened.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

My internal dialog went something like, \u201cNo one really wants the insights of Spirit Moxie. And while people say that helping people see how they make a difference is exciting, in print it\u2019s confusing and useless. This will never work. There\u2019s no way to respond. Etc.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Bed\"Does any of this sound familiar? So I went to bed. As soon as I lay down my mind said, \u201cYou need to write about this. The heck with a gentle post about the day by day – this is about \u2018angst\u2019 and people need to know this happens.\u201d Somehow I didn\u2019t jump up and start writing. Sleep. \u201cSleep\u201d is actually one of the topics in \u201cthe\u201d book as one of the things that changes the world and perhaps I should practice what I, as they say, preach. Finally I slept.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So what is the point of this? Even being in the day to day, angst, despair, whatever will creep in. But breathe. Like it all. For anything appearing this way is just information. Yes, despite all of the above, all I\u2019ve been told is that I\/we need a title. And we know that. <\/span><\/p>\n

Where does angst creep in for you? Is it simply information?<\/span><\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the word \u201cmerely\u201d which prompted this response from Spirit Moxie follower Brian Johnson:<\/span><\/p>\n

‘Merely’ a snowflake helped move tons of snow,
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0fed rivers with life,
\nhelped seasons come and go.<\/p>\n

‘Merely’ a smile, a hug, a kiss, a hand to hold\u2026
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0brought hope to the paining,
\nthe lost lonely souls.<\/p>\n

\u2018Merely\u2019 a step closer, to extend a loving hand,
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0bring back and heal family, universally
\ndistributed throughout the lands.<\/p>\n

Help overcome darkness by bringing the light,
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0of selflessness, caring, sharing
\nand ‘mere’ might. \u2661<\/p>\n

\"AloneSo in summary: The above title suggestions don\u2019t grab a lot of people. The reason for the book is that people are confused about the need and importance for claiming their every day actions. Most people like the name \u201cSpirit Moxie.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>As I wandered through this I came up with one more suggestion: <\/span><\/p>\n

Moxie Moves: 10 ways to change the world<\/i> or 10 ways to make a difference.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

But I\/we need your <\/i>suggestions. That\u2019s how little things work\u00a0 <\/span>So leave a message here,\u00a0 <\/span>call me for a drink or a walk, or rant in an email. For the whole Spirit Moxie premise is that we can only do this together.<\/span><\/p>\n

________________________________<\/p>\n

Image credits from the top:<\/p>\n

Brainstorming session \u2014 Spirit Moxie
\nLogo for Tango with Time<\/a> created through Organized Artist Company connections
\nby Jazlyn James during the above “angst”
\nBed \u2014 David A. Lynch
\nHelen Keller quote in Main Library of Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County<\/a>\u00a0\u2014
\nSpirit Moxie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To be is an incredible minute by minute way to live and I started a conversation post to share it with you. But last week I ran flat into its opposite.The space where nothing seems right. I\u2019ll bet you know … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asides"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6DJHl-g8","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spiritmoxie.com\/conversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spiritmoxie.com\/conversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spiritmoxie.com\/conversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spiritmoxie.com\/conversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spiritmoxie.com\/conversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1000"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.spiritmoxie.com\/conversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1011,"href":"https:\/\/www.spiritmoxie.com\/conversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000\/revisions\/1011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spiritmoxie.com\/conversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spiritmoxie.com\/conversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spiritmoxie.com\/conversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}