Handmade (a poem about evidence)
I gaze at the heavens,
searching for you, my God.
(Ps. 123:1, ICEL Psalter)
Boot of +10 Depression
Early this year I had a short episode of almost-but-not-quite depression, and it arrived along with an image of what happens for me during the worst of those times, which hasn’t happened for almost 20 years: A giant boot descends and plants itself on my chest, and I’m unable to move or negotiate. It’s enormous, it’s simply there, and it’s heavy enough to crush even the cheeriest and most optimistic of mortals. For me depression isn’t really about sadness. If sadness is warranted, I can sit with the sadness and even welcome it, but the boot is different. The boot can’t be sat with, snapped out of, or “moved through.” The boot stops life from being lived. In May I painted the boot, and it turned out to be an image of my own ongoing change, learning, and redemption. I’m warding off the boot, and its color is way more […]
It’s a collection
This site is full of things that interest me and that I’ve created—photos I’ve taken; a few of my short stories and poems; blog posts about this & that; info about spiritual direction and my music. I named the site “Sleep on the Hearth” in reference to one of my favorite poems, D. H. Lawrence’s “Pax”….
That Sound
Jen steps up to the yellow line on the train platform, thinking that today she’ll make an appointment, get herself checked out to make sure nothing’s wrong. Rule out anything serious, so she can stop worrying. As if to confirm the wisdom of this idea, it happens again. Her neck makes that sound as she turns her head to look into the train tunnel. It sounds like a butcher knife scraped across cartilage. No! she thinks in the general direction of her Neuron Jumper implant, I don’t like that image. Give me a different one. She turns her head and hears the sound again, no different, but this time the image that comes to mind is of fingers sliding across a keyboard—brrrrrroop, with trilled r’s. It’s artsy and creative, and not at all creepy. Better, she thinks. In a Jumper subroutine, the fingers-sliding-across-keyboard simile gets a plus one. Even if Jen can’t make the sound stop, she can at least shape the […]
September paths, so many choices
I love the shapes of the paths in Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve, where I went this morning. Note the small rock spiral at the bottom of this photo, and the Burning Man shape at the top right.
Spiritual direction training
For more about becoming a spiritual director, see “5 steps to becoming a spiritual director.” Many seminaries and retreat centers offer training programs…here are a few that I’m familiar with in the United States….
Go in Peace – the album
In 2013 I created an album called Go in Peace, which includes ten of my original songs. To read more about the CD and listen to some short samples, see the album notes. Purchasing Interested in purchasing my music? Thank you! I’m very grateful—every sale means a lot to me. Buy a CD directly from me in person, or contact me at kat@sleeponthehearth.com. You can purchase MP3 files from iTunes. Samples and lyrics …plus a bit about our 2013 CD release concert.
2013 CD release concert
My CD release concert on May 18th was wonderful—it was a rich experience for me on many levels, and I hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did. I performed the ten songs from Go in Peace with Bobby Medcalf on drums and Tess Evans Clark on guitar and vocals. My niece Kristina Dunworth made a special appearance on “Kristina’s Song,” the song I wrote for her a few days before she was born in 1995. (Hey, she’s taller than I am!) College Avenue Presbyterian Church hosted us, and about 50 people were there…15 of them my family members, to be sure. 🙂 I’m so grateful to Gene Anderson for all the work he did making the sound system work absolutely perfectly, carrying equipment hither and thither, and doing countless other needed tasks, and to everyone else who helped and supported me and us in this exciting creative […]
5 steps to becoming a spiritual director
If you feel that you might have a calling as a spiritual director, the first step is to begin seeing a spiritual director yourself.
Step 1: Find your own spiritual director….
Contemplative Music for the Journey
The ten songs on my 2013 album Go in Peace are available on iTunes and Amazon, or you can buy the whole CD directly from me for $10 plus shipping. If you’d like to learn more, check out these listening samples and lyrics for Go in Peace.