{"id":111,"date":"2011-03-25T15:53:17","date_gmt":"2011-03-25T19:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/insweetcompany\/?p=111"},"modified":"2011-03-25T15:53:17","modified_gmt":"2011-03-25T19:53:17","slug":"growing-lionhearted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/insweetcompany\/2011\/03\/growing-lionhearted.html","title":{"rendered":"Growing Lionhearted"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhen we hear each other\u2019s stories, we begin to understand ourselves better and feel less alone. … When I tell my stories, it gives others permission to tell their own.\u201d<\/em> — Alma For Ada, IN SWEET COMPANY: CONVERSATIONS WITH EXTRAORDINARY WOMEN ABOUT LIVING A SPIRITUAL LIFE<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I was six years old I wrote the following poem:<\/p>\n

I wish I were a lion,
\nThe king of all the beasts.
\nI’d have a great big party
\nAnd invite everyone to the feast.<\/p>\n

Not a very profound piece of work, I grant you, but one that unleashed undreamed of possibilities in the heart of this first grader. Writing that poem made me feel big. It was fun to stretch my mind beyond the banality of Dick, Jane, and Spot, but it was grand to create something beautiful, to give an idea, a feeling, Life! When Mrs. Matimo asked me to read my poem to the rest of the class, I was on top of the world.<\/p>\n

Years later, I was listening to a friend eagerly share an insight she hoped would salvage a long ailing mother-daughter relationship, I came to understand how important it is to share our stories. My friend was celebrating her hard won clarity, infused with the taste of omnipotence that comes to all sincere seekers when we touch the hand of Truth. As I listened to her talk, my little poem leapt out from some long untenanted chamber of my mind and I was aware that time had conferred it with new meaning: I understood that when an “oracle” appears — when we gain insight into ourselves — we momentarily grow lionhearted, vested with a glint of uncommon courage, a greater willingness to reign over our inner beasts. Thus empowered, we feel hopeful, jubilant, and profoundly grateful. Then, like my friend with her new mother-view, we cannot help but want to celebrate this expansion of consciousness with others.<\/p>\n

That kind of celebration is what spurred me to become a writer. I offer no panacea for the ills of mankind, just an invitation to my “feast,” to those brief moments of clarity and exaltation that, on occasion, turn this very little lamb into a lion.<\/p>\n

Your thoughts?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhen we hear each other\u2019s stories, we begin to understand ourselves better and feel less alone. … When I tell my stories, it gives others permission to tell their own.\u201d — Alma For Ada, IN SWEET COMPANY: CONVERSATIONS WITH EXTRAORDINARY WOMEN ABOUT LIVING A SPIRITUAL LIFE   When I was six years old I wrote…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":231,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3,6],"tags":[12,13,11],"class_list":["post-111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal-transformation","category-womens-spirituality","category-womens-stories","tag-corage","tag-healing","tag-storytelling"],"yoast_head":"\nGrowing Lionhearted - In Sweet Company<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/insweetcompany\/2011\/03\/growing-lionhearted.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Growing Lionhearted - 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She speaks and writes about things women care about: how to make our lives and our work be about what we value most; how to navigate challenge and change; how to live with integrity and grace, to look at error in ourselves and others in a forgiving way and view life as an invitation to transform ourselves into instruments for the Greater Good. \"I laughed, I cried, I was silent, I cheered. Most of all, I loved.\" Spoken by a woman at In Sweet Company Retreat, these words express what women experience when Margaret engages them in dynamic, soul-searching conversations about their lives. Margaret holds degrees in art therapy, psychosynthesis, and leadership and human behavior. Her work takes her to universities, to conferences and retreat settings, to living rooms and board rooms -- wherever women gather. 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