thoughts on connection from a misanthrope

I am a perpetual student. If you could give out a PhD in beginner’s mind, I would be doing my post-doctoral work.

I’m an introvert who loves signing up for art and writing retreats.

I love to travel.

I love solitude. I like that retreats take you out of ordinary time. I crave this.

I love digging in, exploring and discovering, whether it is a new city in a new country, or getting a passport stamp for my internal world.

Ahem.

One thing that I never intend to do consciously is connecting with the people I meet. Seriously, I’m there to learn, to travel, to challenge myself.

Frankly, I’m a misanthrope…but I always connect with a few people in spite of myself and my ideas of myself.  Not just “people” but fascinating, interesting people.

I keep writing about Jennifer Louden on this blog–I do attend other workshops, mind you–but her Taos retreats have been on my mind of late:

There is the creative connection with Kara, who wrote eloquently about pattern overwhelm.

And Karen, who writes about creative process and most recently about home.

This weekend, singer-songwriter Shawnie wrote a beautiful blog post about taking teeny steps forward in the creative process.

Photographer and writer Virginia, is exploring on her new blog while working on a book.

I connected with Shannon on the last day of the 2009 writer’s retreat. She’s a writer, terrific hypnosis/NLP practitioner, and mountain climber! She recently got pissed at a PBS show.

At that retreat, I sat next to Marissa, who just wrote about not wanting to run a marathon.

And had a heart to heart talk with Lisa in the library, a Toronto-based artist, dancer and performer, who produces the Festival of Oral Literatures. (Starts Thursday.)

They don’t know it, but they (and so many others) are part of my circle of creativity. It’s a lifeline to discover what people are up to, read about their struggles and explorations, cheer their successes.

They keep me from being creatively isolated when I’m not on retreat, encourage me to stay connected to the creative well that sometimes runs a little low.

And they remind me that there is plenty of creative compost set aside just for me.

image credit: cathyse97 (cc license)