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About
Learning to live a more
centered, creative, and joyful life
Spiritual Direction, Coaching, Podcast, Blog
READ THIS FIRST
Creating this website came about as a result of a coaching conversation I had with
Terry Barkman,
my Business Coach.
I was talking to him about my need to separate my writing, spiritual direction, and coaching from another blog and brand that my spouse and I created called
Stillwater Magazine
because I felt like the content I was producing was off-brand, , but still, something I wanted to give more of my time and attention to.
During our conversation, we talked about my love of the outdoors and how it's a place of deep connection and inspiration for me and so many other people too. Most of the articles, photos, and videos that I make are inspired by the outdoors and I told Terry how I wanted that to be communicated on this website too.
Terry suggested a couple of names related to nature and my contemplative journey that would have been great, but the domains were already taken.
As I was looking up domains I thought of one of my favorite poems by Mary Oliver called
"When I Am Among The Trees."
Her poem expressed how I felt when I was "among the trees" and I have met several others who love this poem for the same reason. I looked the poem up to see if there was a word or phrase that might become a domain name and a name for this website and the services I have to offer. That's when the words "hints of gladness" jumped out at me.
A very tangible reason that phrase resonates with me is that one of my favorite things to do is to capture sunlight streaming through the trees when I take photos. There is something magical, even divine about it to me.
I also like the phrase because when light streams through a canopy of trees there is often just a hint of something more; something much larger than me. Mary Oliver expresses it so perfectly as a "hint of gladness."
I have discovered that it takes a bit of awareness to feel and experience a "hint of gladness" and I believe this type of noticing enriches, and can even transform our lives. Often, these hints are more than noticing sunlight streaming through the trees; they awaken us to morsels of spiritual wisdom.
When the hints break through to our awareness it can feel like a homecoming and we might wonder where we have been all of our lives and question what we have been doing. They hint at a different way of being in the world and that there is something way bigger behind it all than we could ever adequately express (as I am clumsily going to try to do on this website), or even imagine.
My deep desire for the people who consume the content I create and engage with me in spiritual direction and coaching is that they will be encouraged to notice and experience the "hints of gladness" that are graciously given to all of us by the giver of life, daily, and throughout our entire lives.