New Book by Heidi Nehring (available on Amazon)
When I was a kid, I would be in my room for hours creating and crafting writings and musings about my experiences, thoughts and feelings. My room was special. It was up above the hustle and bustle of the first floor, where dinners would be made and people would talk. The talk and the sounds of the TV would fade into the background as I would immerse myself in play, kneeling by my bed, putting pencil to paper in thoughts of expression. It was solitary. It was quiet. It was a safe space for my heart to be open. It would be decades before I would share my writings much with anybody, unless I wrote a poem for someone to share my appreciation of them being in my life.
As life went on, I would pretend to write books with my grandma, creating chapters, playing around with different genres, and I found my heart leaning back into the source of being open along the path of various forms of creative non-fiction. As I grew older, and I saw the movie scenes with Josephine March in Little Women and Anne in Anne of Avonlea bursting with excitement, ripping open the crinkly brown paper that revealed their newly published books; seeing their creative works in tangible form in one place, space and time as something to offer to others - that became my dream too.
It stayed a dream for a while until my experiences, education and aspirations led me to a major in creative writing and a masters in art education in my 30s. Everything married together where the possibility of contemplation and connection through writing became a reality.
We all have it, that passion in some form of action that makes us feel really connected, alive and well. This thing that we do that makes us a part of the bigger picture. And if we follow that energy, essentially, following our hearts, opportunities begin to slowly open up and reveal themselves to us when we are ready, just like opening the crinkly package with anticipation. Those are the places, spaces and times that we find our heart, our center, our true home. We become real, honest and open with confidence. It’s where we find our roots and our reach. Our extension and expansion.
My new book, Along the Riverfront: Spiritual Musings and Interludes, is another sharing of my heart. A continuation of revisiting the places, spaces and times where life revealed itself to me and I to itself, that led me to contemplation and connection. Sometimes an unraveling to come back together again. While not a perfect book by any means, the musings are gentle, the interludes deep, and the poems stepping stones that walked me back home.
May we all find our places and spaces to feel alive and well. May all beings be blessed.
With open heart,
Heidi
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