The World According to Evie

We were saddened to hear that Zach Sobiech passed away on Monday. Zach is a true inspiration to us and we wanted to share his story with you all.

At age 13, Zach was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Zach bravely fought his illness for years but last year, doctors who had run out of treatment options, told him he likely had a few months to a year to live. Zach, who had always loved music and was never far from his guitar, once again turned to music. Instead of writing letters he wrote songs, and his song “Clouds”– which was his own way of saying goodbye – became an instant Internet sensation and garnered worldwide attention after his story appeared in newspapers, on television and websites around the world.

In his memory, Sobiech’s family has started the Zach Sobiech Osteosarcoma Fund, to enable further research into the cancer that has taken the teenager’s life. Learn more about his incredible story here and if you can, donate to the fund here.

Do you remember when you first began to write down your stories? Alexis Ann Davis, pictured above signing her CreateSpace-published novel in Spokane, is one of the thousands of young writers supported by the NaNoWriMo community through the Young Writers Program, and the first to be spotlighted this year:

As a participant in NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program, seven-year-old Alexis Ann Davis reached her word-count goal last November, but didn’t stop there. She leapt into her next endeavor, and published her novel! For some writers, publishing daydreams come complete with money, fame, and fandom. For Alexis, publishing her NaNoWriMo novel has meant helping the community, gaining a sense of accomplishment, and daring to dream big.

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Go the way the river flows. Have you every taken an intertube and floated downstream? Maybe even roped a cooler or two to the side of the tube for refreshments along the way? Perhaps you were part of a group of friends bobbing along, chatting away for hours, splashing and sometimes tipping each other out of the tubes crawling down the river to the final destination. 

Going with the flow. That is a perfect example of going with the flow. And it is an easy one for all of us to surrender to for a Saturday afternoon. 

But how do we live that level of ease in the other areas of our life? And should we? Does it mean we are a bum if our daily routines carry that quality, void of all phrenetic work movement?

Or is it possible to maintain the easy going, playful attitude WHILE being in a high gear productive mode. 

It seems to me it is not only possible, but necessary, to grow in this quality to realize our potential. Let’s try an experiment. First, imagine an activity that expands you- it could feel like your heart is opening, or your mind is relaxed, or your body is joyful. Feel what it feels like to expand. The word alone conjures up images of flying high through the skies like an eagle or swimming the depths of the ocean like a dolphin. Now imagine an activity that contracts you. As you remember something specific or create a scenario that is uncomfortable, notice the tightness in your body, the worry in your mind, the wall that comes in front of your heart. The word contraction alone gives a sense of something growing smaller. Imagine or remember a time when you felt small and limited. 

Between the two, do you have a preference? Would you prefer to feel one way or the other through your day? I would guess, but pass no judgment if I am wrong, that you prefer to feel all that goes with expansiveness. It seems to me that this quality is part and parcel of our potential as human beings. The thought experiment goes a step further. Combine the expansiveness with the ease of flowing down that river. They harmonize, they compliment, in fact the action of ease sets the stage for the expansiveness to happen.

So, the key here is to begin to draw close to yourself and notice, just notice, what expands you. We hear over and again these days that ‘life’ is not supposed to be a struggle. We hear this phrase because the decades of work ethic drilled into our collective consciousness has such a stronghold upon us that we need to be reminded and nurtured into the idea that life does not have to be a struggle. As you notice what expands you, you begin to notice what contracts you. Becoming an expert in diving deep like this creates space around the choices in your life. You are free when this space grows. In that freedom, we can choose, we have the personal power to choose the life giving activity. 

It does not mean we give up on our desires and dreams. It does not mean we are going to be homeless because we are not acting in high intensity, driven ways. It DOES mean we begin to connect with the power within us from which all our success comes from anyway. Pry away all the mixed motives going into our successes and you will find a nugget of expansive, easy flowing ‘being’ behind ALL true development and goodness. Let go the ideas of who we are supposed to be in the world and we find who we are in the world. 

THIS is one way we can begin to live the easy life. 

Aaaaaaah, the easy life. I tip my cup to you.