Sophfronia Scott's Blog: Sophfronia Scott, Author, page 8

Change brings us, either slowly or suddenly, to the threshold of a new place in our lives. For this morning���s walk: If you fear stepping through the door, know that there is a space, a vestibule, in which you can stand if only momentarily and prepare for what is next. Shout out in memory of Frederick Buechner, a profound writer and man of spirit who passed away this week.

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What’s next? I’m talking about hope (again!) and Thomas Merton (yes, that guy!), but this time to the Thomas Merton Society of Great Britain and Ireland. This is the presentation I would have done at their conference earlier this year, but the event was canceled due to Covid. Glad to do this now and share the forum with the talented Chris Pramuk. The event will take place via Zoom on September 1, 2022, at 2:00pm ET. Register by emailing [email protected].��

Reminders: The Write of Your Life Writers��� Retreat in the Veneto Region, Italy. All spots are taken, but you can get on the waitlist. We can also give you first chance at a space for the 2023 edition! Contact Janet Simmonds��of Educated-Traveller for details!��https://www.grand-tourist.com/writers-retreat-italy-18-24-september-2022

A Circle of Quiet: The Madeleine L���Engle Writing Retreat co-leading with my friend Sarah Arthur! We���ve added a virtual option for this retreat so if you���re not traveling, check it out:��https://lenglewritingretreats.com/?page_id=126

Take care and I���ll see you soon.

Be well,

Sophfronia

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It can be frustrating to yearn for a new phase in your life and yet feel so stuck that you can���t move toward it. For this morning���s walk, how one small move might start the engine and get you there.

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Update: Remember when I told you I wanted to explore fly-fishing? Well, I’m two weeks into this course offered by the Northwest Connecticut chapter of Trout Unlimited. It occurs to me that I haven’t really had a “hobby” in years because so much of what I do is integrated into my life. It’s not like I stop doing “work” to do something that is “play.” It’s all one playful thing to me. So it will be interesting to see how fly-fishing falls into my way of being. I’ll keep you posted!

By the way, if you’re feeling stuck about applying for your MFA, you can ask me about this and any other questions you have about our residencies by attending the August 17 Virtual Open House I mentioned in the video. Here’s the link to register:https://admissions.alma.edu/register/residencyexperienceAnd remember:
The Write of Your Life Writers��� Retreat in the Veneto Region, Italy. All spots are taken, but you can get on the waitlist. We can also give you first chance at a space for the 2023 edition! Contact Janet Simmonds��of Educated-Traveller for details!��https://www.grand-tourist.com/writers-retreat-italy-18-24-september-2022

A Circle of Quiet: The Madeleine L���Engle Writing Retreat co-leading with my friend Sarah Arthur! We���ve added a virtual option for this retreat so if you���re not traveling, check it out:��https://lenglewritingretreats.com/?page_id=126

Take care and I’ll see you soon.

Be well,

Sophfronia

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How do we navigate the various paths of a life journey? For this morning’s walk, moving from thinking about what you want to do, to thinking about how you want to be. Shout out to Parker J. Palmer and his excellent book, “Listen to Your Life.”

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Where am I these days? You can always check the ���Events��� area of this website for my whereabouts, but here are links for what���s next:

The Write of Your Life Writers��� Retreat in the Veneto Region, Italy. All spots are taken, but you can get on the waitlist. We can also give you first chance at a space for the 2023 edition! Contact��Janet Simmonds��of Educated-Traveller for details!��https://www.grand-tourist.com/writers-retreat-italy-18-24-september-2022

A Circle of Quiet: The Madeleine L���Engle Writing Retreat co-leading with my friend Sarah Arthur! We���ve added a virtual option for this retreat so if you���re not traveling, check it out:��https://lenglewritingretreats.com/?page_id=126

Hope I���ll see you soon at one of these events!

Be well,

Sophfronia

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Is craft about achieving perfection? For this morning’s walk, an artist at St. John’s Pottery provides another way to think about how we work.

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Where am I these days? You can always check the ���Events��� area of this website for my whereabouts, but here are links for what���s next:

The Write of Your Life Writers��� Retreat in the Veneto Region, Italy. All spots are taken, but you can get on the waitlist. We can also give you first chance at a space for the 2023 edition! Contact��Janet Simmonds��of Educated-Traveller for details!��https://www.grand-tourist.com/writers-retreat-italy-18-24-september-2022

A Circle of Quiet: The Madeleine L���Engle Writing Retreat co-leading with my friend Sarah Arthur! We���ve added a virtual option for this retreat so if you���re not traveling, check it out:��https://lenglewritingretreats.com/?page_id=126

Hope I���ll see you soon at one of these events!

Be well,

Sophfronia

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For this morning���s walk, reflecting on the ant anecdote that Terry Tempest Williams shared at Chautauqua, and what it says about help and hope.

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Where am I these days? You can always check the ���Events��� area of this website for my whereabouts, but here are links for what���s next:

The Write of Your Life Writers��� Retreat in the Veneto Region, Italy. All spots are taken, but you can get on the waitlist. We can also give you first chance at a space for the 2023 edition! Contact Janet Simmonds��of Educated-Traveller for details!��https://www.grand-tourist.com/writers-retreat-italy-18-24-september-2022

A Circle of Quiet: The Madeleine L���Engle Writing Retreat co-leading with my friend Sarah Arthur! We’ve added a virtual option for this retreat so if you’re not traveling, check it out: https://lenglewritingretreats.com/?page_id=126

Hope I���ll see you soon at one of these events!

Be well,

Sophfronia

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From The Chautauquan Daily, July 8, 2022

The divine speaks through the rhythms and cycles of the natural world, but the message may be lost upon the forest floor. Not all humans are receptive to the messages being portrayed through the whirling winds, the humming birds or bending vines.

Sophfronia Scott, a professor, novelist, essayist and leading contemplative thinker, shared her lecture, “In the Water and the Air: Embracing the Divine Through Nature,” with the Chautauquan audience Thursday in the Hall of Philosophy.

Her most recent book, The Seeker and the Monk: Everyday Conversations with Thomas Merton, aligned with Week Two’s theme of “The Wild: Reconnecting with the Natural World.”

Scott first started her career as an award-winning magazine journalist for Time. Some of the books she has written or contributed to include Common Prayer, Love’s Long Line, This Child of Faith: Raising a Spiritual Child in a Secular World, Unforgivable Love and All I Need to Get By.

Beginning with a reflection of her roots in Lorain, Ohio, Scott shared a description of the front lawn of her childhood home. It may have been small, but in her earliest memories, Scott said it felt like a grand meadow.

“I have six siblings, but somehow I managed to spend a good deal of time alone, often outdoors, seeking solitude and sanctuary from a small and noisy house,” Scott said.

She would often gaze upon the green of the yard and the blue of the sky, but one day, Scott saw rays of sunlight seeping from the sky.

“I viewed (the rays) with wonder. No, not only that, I felt it as a living presence. Like one of those rays could lay upon me like a hand on my shoulder. And I don’t know why, but I had this sense that it would follow me everywhere,” Scott said. “Then the cloud shifted. And I couldn’t find it again. But I kept looking for it. I told my mother about it. And I remember this specificity with which I did so, as though I made a new friend.”

This ray of sun, in Scott’s words, was “the seed from which my faith sprouted.” It helped her understand that the divine was all around her.

The title of Scott’s lecture included the word “divine.” She explained that she used it not only because it is beautiful, but also to keep the door open for those who feel like the word “God” may be an obstacle.

Scott said she often returns to a state of remembering her senses of the divine as a child. Often, she remembers naturally and without pressure, but sometimes, she needs to remember to move forward in the digital era.

Quoting from Thursday’s morning lecturer Terry Tempest Williams’ book Erosion: Essays of Undoing, Scott read, “Our connection to the world is virtual, not real. … We have moved ourselves from the outdoors to the indoors. Nature is no longer a force, but a source of images for our screensavers. We sit, we stare, we text on our iPhones and type on our keyboards and await an immediate response. Patience is an endangered species. Intimacy is a threatened landscape.”

Scott shared the words of Fr. Richard Rohr, a previous interfaith lecturer at Chautauqua, who said that the separation of nature and human consciousness must be healed through a radical overcoming.

Click here to read the rest of the article at The Chautauquan Daily.

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This week I’ve been at Chautauqua Institution and for this morning’s walk, thinking about how finding joy often requires work and time spent being uncomfortable. And yes, it’s worth it! Shout out to my beautiful friend Terry Tempest Williams who is here as well. We delivered our talks on the same day and spent an evening with friends observing purple martins. Life is good.

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I was honored to be invited to deliver a lecture at Chautauqua. The title: “In the Water and in the Air: Embracing the Divine Through Nature.” I’ll post more about it in the “News” area of this website.

In the meantime, I’ve been asked if the lecture is available online. It is but only behind a paywall at https://assembly.chq.org/

It’s actually a good deal because you can access all of Chautauqua Institution’s lectures past and present and watch this summer’s lectures live. I subscribed so I could watch John Philip Newell’s lecture live on July 8 and I’m looking forward to exploring the site more. I hope you enjoy it!

Keep walking! I know I will, and I’ll see you again soon.

Peace,

Sophfronia

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Residency time at Alma College MFA in Creative Writing means I’m busy, but I’m also remembering I can never be too busy for friends. For this morning’s walk, what it means to prioritize the beloveds in your life—and mine.

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Where am I these days? You can always check the “Events” area of this website for my whereabouts, but here are links for what’s next:

The Write of Your Life Writers’ Retreat in the Veneto Region, Italy. Two spots are all that’s left! Contact Janet Simmonds of Educated-Traveller for details! https://www.grand-tourist.com/writers-retreat-italy-18-24-september-2022

Chautauqua Institution! Excited to lecture on the same afternoon as my friend, Terry Tempest Williams. https://chq.org/event/interfaith-lecture-series-9/

A Circle of Quiet: The Madeleine L’Engle Writing Retreat co-leading with my friend Sarah Arthur! https://lenglewritingretreats.com/?page_id=126

Hope I’ll see you soon at one of these events!

Be well,

Sophfronia

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A continuation of our “all or nothing” conversation from my previous Morning Walk. I’m frustrated and angry to report that Uvalde is an example of when “nothing” is the chosen course of action for too many of our leaders. It’s nearly ten years since Sandy Hook. You know I’m not a swearing woman but WTF.

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As I mentioned in the video, we’re at Anime Boston and Tain is making a lot of people smile with his gender bending take on The character Kokoro Tsurumaki from BanG Dream.

I’ve updated the “Events” section of this website. You can always check it for details of my whereabouts, but here are links for what’s next:

The Write of Your Life Writers’ Retreat in the Veneto Region, Italy. Two spots are all that’s left! Contact Janet Simmonds of Educated-Traveller for details! https://www.grand-tourist.com/writers-retreat-italy-18-24-september-2022

Chautauqua Institution! Excited to lecture on the same afternoon as my friend, Terry Tempest Williams. https://chq.org/event/interfaith-lecture-series-9/

A Circle of Quiet: The Madeleine L’Engle Writing Retreat co-leading with my friend Sarah Arthur! https://lenglewritingretreats.com/?page_id=126

Hope I’ll see you soon at one of these events!

Be well,

Sophfronia

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Does it need to be all or nothing when just enough will do? For this morning’s walk along the Mississippi River, making the less stressful choice.

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I’ve finally updated the “Events” section of this website. You can always check it for details of my whereabouts, but here are links for what’s next:

The Write of Your Life Writers’ Retreat in the Veneto Region, Italy. Two spots are all that’s left! Contact Janet Simmonds of Educated-Traveller for details! https://www.grand-tourist.com/writers-retreat-italy-18-24-september-2022

Chautauqua Institution! Excited to lecture on the same afternoon as my friend, Terry Tempest Williams. https://chq.org/event/interfaith-lecture-series-9/

A Circle of Quiet: The Madeleine L’Engle Writing Retreat co-leading with my friend Sarah Arthur! https://lenglewritingretreats.com/?page_id=126

Hope I’ll see you soon at one of these events!

Be well,

Sophfronia

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