I can’t prove it, but I believe everyone who’s survived traumatic environments relied on two things: Dumb luck, and leaning into their native intuition. Right now is when we need them most.
Hey, Seth, thanks for mentioning my work. I’m really glad you liked it; that’s a compliment of the highest order! I exercised self-control and read your essay without first scrolling down to see where you mentioned me ha ha. And I enjoyed every word. That’s a good bit of writing!
Also quitting my full time job so I can get in touch with my creativity (which is a privilege) and access parts of my brain 🧠 that were demanding more spiritual and physical attention
"I don’t know about you, but whatever I can to tune out distraction and increase my access to intuition—reducing screen time, sitting in silent meditation, being physically active and engaging with my community—no longer feel optional, but mandatory."
Man, this spoke to me so directly, Seth. Loved the whole piece.
Yes! In self-help books, the author is attempting to inject knowledge into you. That’s why I rarely read them. Art and poetry reconnects me with what I already know and have forgotten. It takes me to “the deep heart’s core,” as Yeats wrote in a poem that centers me. Here’s to your launch.
I love this Seth. Also, I was immensely lucky to do sound for oral histories with over a hundred holocaust survivors, and I would add that along with luck and intuition, you need other people. Every survivor I met had someone (or many) helping them out--be it through food, hiding, shared intelligence, love...
Oh whoa! YES. Thank you for that, so much. At the risk of sounding "salesey," I really want you to read the book. That is literally the only reason I'm here today.
After traveling down the self help and spiritual healing path for many years, I’ve finally come to trust my own intuition and believe what my main teacher always told me; we have everything we need within. I can completely relate to making it a priority in doing the practices to hone intuition and trusting myself. I think it’s also an age thing supporting it as well.
Keep trusting yourself Seth.
And I love the multiple stories of missing the bullet. Perhaps combined intuition and angels saved your father.
What a powerful essay, and so in alignment with my own thinking/writing. One of the quickest ways for me to access the moment (which is my fertile ground for intuition to arise) is to ask, Is there anything I’m resisting in this moment? Sometimes it can be quite subtle—the noise in the other room, a lingering to do list in the back of my consciousness, a sense of lack—but when I can recognize that resistance, bring it into awareness with kindness, a softer, more open awareness arises where intuition and creativity can come in and play.
Hi Seth. Thanks for your essay. Interesting story. Good luck with your book. It occurred to me that we don’t hear so much about those who don’t follow their instincts or intuition or who have extremely bad luck - because, well, they’re dead. Who tells their story? I’ve written about one such person in my memoir and chose to publish a serialized version here on Substack for free. I will eventually pursue publishing it in book form when it’s a little more seasoned and refined. Feel free to check it out https://open.substack.com/pub/johnmoyermedlpcncc/p/my-mothers-ghosts?r=3p5dh&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Having battled long covid since March 2020 my legs now tense up to the point it's hard to walk. I use a cheap comrelax air compression leg massager and one dextromethorphan tablet a day to clear out the constant nasal congestion/swelling and pain.
Hi Seth! Thank you for your voice, dude. I read--and write poetry. Poetry (when it's good) *is* incantation, yes? I highly recommend Rick Lupert's "Poetry SuperHighway" for great reads from a wide variety of poets, every week!
I was on my way to vote in the Presidential election of 2008, and was verrry excited. I decided to walk, because it was a clear, cold morning and the school where voting takes place in my neck of the woods (literally!) was so closeby. So I began my walk and had only gotten about 1/3 of the way, when I suddenly decided to "cross over" to the far edge of the paved path through the Big Creek Greenway, which is the route I was taking, to vote. I have no idea why I decided to suddenly leap waaay over to the far-right side of the path, but approximately 2 or 3 seconds later, I heard an odd, "cracking" sound and saw a humongous oak, fall directly in front of me.
It landed hard, cutting horizontally across the vertical, paved path. It missed hitting me, by about three inches. Had I stayed on the side of the path I was on, it would have fallen directly on me.
I lost my breath and stood there, dumbfounded.
Within a couple of minutes a young woman on a bicycle pedaling towards me, stopped her bike on the other side of the tree, which now completely blocked the pathway. She looked at me, pulled off her helmet, shook her blond strands and said "Whoa, what happened here?!"
"Um, I just crossed over here. This tree. It just...fell."
"Wait--you SAW it fall? Are you alright? And what do you mean, you crossed over...?"
So I explained everything to her and she looked shaken, and again asked if I was alright.
"Yes, I'm fine. I guess I would've been very hurt, huh?"
"Hurt?! You would have been killed! This tree weighs a ton or more, for sure...."
" Honestly, and...I respect you if you voted differently, but I keep thinking 'Oh my gawd, if this tree had fallen on me, and I died, I wouldn't have gotten to vote for Barack Obama'...I mean, I did so much campaigning for him...'
We both laughed at the absurdity, and she told me she'd just returned from voting, and
"Of course I voted for Obama," she added...We both agreed he was going to win. Then I jumped over the huge tree and went on to vote.
It's funny, though I told a few people about the tree falling, I chose to *not* write about it--I kept thinking that writing it down, would make it "too" real, so I only wrote (in my long-ago-blog, that day) about how happy I was to vote.
Hey, Seth, thanks for mentioning my work. I’m really glad you liked it; that’s a compliment of the highest order! I exercised self-control and read your essay without first scrolling down to see where you mentioned me ha ha. And I enjoyed every word. That’s a good bit of writing!
Ha! Thank you Don, right back atcha.....
Um, reading Substacks like this.
Also quitting my full time job so I can get in touch with my creativity (which is a privilege) and access parts of my brain 🧠 that were demanding more spiritual and physical attention
Ah thank you Beth! And I love the concept of "spiritual attention," I may have to borrow that....
"I don’t know about you, but whatever I can to tune out distraction and increase my access to intuition—reducing screen time, sitting in silent meditation, being physically active and engaging with my community—no longer feel optional, but mandatory."
Man, this spoke to me so directly, Seth. Loved the whole piece.
Thank you Chris! Appreciate the hell out of that....
Yes! In self-help books, the author is attempting to inject knowledge into you. That’s why I rarely read them. Art and poetry reconnects me with what I already know and have forgotten. It takes me to “the deep heart’s core,” as Yeats wrote in a poem that centers me. Here’s to your launch.
Thank you Rona, in every dimension! That’s such a perfectly succinct way of putting it.
I love this Seth. Also, I was immensely lucky to do sound for oral histories with over a hundred holocaust survivors, and I would add that along with luck and intuition, you need other people. Every survivor I met had someone (or many) helping them out--be it through food, hiding, shared intelligence, love...
Oh whoa! YES. Thank you for that, so much. At the risk of sounding "salesey," I really want you to read the book. That is literally the only reason I'm here today.
Of course I'm going to read it. I've already ordered it--really curious and excited about diving into it.
After traveling down the self help and spiritual healing path for many years, I’ve finally come to trust my own intuition and believe what my main teacher always told me; we have everything we need within. I can completely relate to making it a priority in doing the practices to hone intuition and trusting myself. I think it’s also an age thing supporting it as well.
Keep trusting yourself Seth.
And I love the multiple stories of missing the bullet. Perhaps combined intuition and angels saved your father.
Appreciate that so much, Shelley. Just: Yes. 1000%.
What a powerful essay, and so in alignment with my own thinking/writing. One of the quickest ways for me to access the moment (which is my fertile ground for intuition to arise) is to ask, Is there anything I’m resisting in this moment? Sometimes it can be quite subtle—the noise in the other room, a lingering to do list in the back of my consciousness, a sense of lack—but when I can recognize that resistance, bring it into awareness with kindness, a softer, more open awareness arises where intuition and creativity can come in and play.
Oh thank you. Absolutely. So simple, but just so true!....
…appreciate this article! Learning to live in the in-between- seems to be where the creativity - breaths.
Hey, thanks so much Lori! Truly appreciate this, so much!....
Thank you, Seth. Really great to read this as a sort of antidote to the self-help Substack stuff out there.
Thank YOU Jesse; appreciate that so much!
Hi Seth. Thanks for your essay. Interesting story. Good luck with your book. It occurred to me that we don’t hear so much about those who don’t follow their instincts or intuition or who have extremely bad luck - because, well, they’re dead. Who tells their story? I’ve written about one such person in my memoir and chose to publish a serialized version here on Substack for free. I will eventually pursue publishing it in book form when it’s a little more seasoned and refined. Feel free to check it out https://open.substack.com/pub/johnmoyermedlpcncc/p/my-mothers-ghosts?r=3p5dh&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Oh that was FASCINATING! Thank you for sharing this, on all the levels.
Having battled long covid since March 2020 my legs now tense up to the point it's hard to walk. I use a cheap comrelax air compression leg massager and one dextromethorphan tablet a day to clear out the constant nasal congestion/swelling and pain.
Ugh. Hate reading this, and the impact it's had on you.
Thank you, sir. I appreciate the sentiment.
Hi Seth! Thank you for your voice, dude. I read--and write poetry. Poetry (when it's good) *is* incantation, yes? I highly recommend Rick Lupert's "Poetry SuperHighway" for great reads from a wide variety of poets, every week!
I was on my way to vote in the Presidential election of 2008, and was verrry excited. I decided to walk, because it was a clear, cold morning and the school where voting takes place in my neck of the woods (literally!) was so closeby. So I began my walk and had only gotten about 1/3 of the way, when I suddenly decided to "cross over" to the far edge of the paved path through the Big Creek Greenway, which is the route I was taking, to vote. I have no idea why I decided to suddenly leap waaay over to the far-right side of the path, but approximately 2 or 3 seconds later, I heard an odd, "cracking" sound and saw a humongous oak, fall directly in front of me.
It landed hard, cutting horizontally across the vertical, paved path. It missed hitting me, by about three inches. Had I stayed on the side of the path I was on, it would have fallen directly on me.
I lost my breath and stood there, dumbfounded.
Within a couple of minutes a young woman on a bicycle pedaling towards me, stopped her bike on the other side of the tree, which now completely blocked the pathway. She looked at me, pulled off her helmet, shook her blond strands and said "Whoa, what happened here?!"
"Um, I just crossed over here. This tree. It just...fell."
"Wait--you SAW it fall? Are you alright? And what do you mean, you crossed over...?"
So I explained everything to her and she looked shaken, and again asked if I was alright.
"Yes, I'm fine. I guess I would've been very hurt, huh?"
"Hurt?! You would have been killed! This tree weighs a ton or more, for sure...."
" Honestly, and...I respect you if you voted differently, but I keep thinking 'Oh my gawd, if this tree had fallen on me, and I died, I wouldn't have gotten to vote for Barack Obama'...I mean, I did so much campaigning for him...'
We both laughed at the absurdity, and she told me she'd just returned from voting, and
"Of course I voted for Obama," she added...We both agreed he was going to win. Then I jumped over the huge tree and went on to vote.
It's funny, though I told a few people about the tree falling, I chose to *not* write about it--I kept thinking that writing it down, would make it "too" real, so I only wrote (in my long-ago-blog, that day) about how happy I was to vote.
Thanks again, for your voice, Seth. :)
Ah thank you Lisa! And if you haven't already, you NEED to share that story more widely. So poignantly bonkers!
Hi Seth! Oh you're so welcome.
And no, I truly haven't mentioned the story to many folks at all...and did I mention, that the 2008 election--and that tree---
fell on...my birthday (November 4th!) :)
Um, no. What the hell.