What Is Your Mary Oliver?

One of my favorite spiritual teachers said to me, “just step aside Christine.” When she said this, I knew exactly what she was talking about. Just step aside, and let the universe work through you. Get out of my head and into my heart. This is no easy feet. Some days, the distance between my head and my heart seems way too long. Some days, there is way too much traffic. Today, however the road seems clear and so today, I step aside and write.

I write to ground. When I feel lost, I write. When I feel unsettled, I write. When I feel creative, inspired, excited and hopeful, I write. 

I am a self proclaimed Glennon Doyle, Brene Brown, Liz Gilbert junkie. The trifecta of truth sayers. “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” That is them…. and yes, thank you Mary Oliver. Give me a podcast starring any of these three women, I’ll listen once, twice and maybe 50 times. 

Several months ago, Glennon teamed up with Brene to chat about her new book “Untamed.” As Glennon and Brene talked, this profound moment was shared.

Glennon said this. “You know, Brene. I wrote this book twice.” Brene said, “Tell me more.” “Well, Brene, our dear friend Elizabeth flew to Naples to visit me for the weekend. While she was there, I read her my book. Once I finished, Liz was very quiet.” Uh-oh. 

Glennon goes on to explain more. After some back and forth banter between her and Elizabeth, they both concluded this…While Glennon was writing a book about being wild, she was NOT BEING WILD! She was writing a book about breaking free from existing structures, but she was writing from inside an existing book structure (think long chapters). I thought… how freaking cool is that!? 

And so, Glennon stepped aside and began again and what followed was a story written in the wild… her book “Untamed.” If you haven’t read it, no worries. It is good and it is FAST. 

This was my torch! This was my gold! So now, when I write, I remember this. 

First, step aside. 

Second, be wild… write from with IN. 

So readers, when you step aside, what is the universe speaking to you? What is your Mary Oliver?