In It With All My Heart
Originally published by KarenVernon.net on July 18, 2020
“Nothing happens until somebody feels something.” I’ve made this a mantra in my employee engagement and culture work since I first discovered it, thanks to the folks at Gaping Void. If a goal in writing – whether personal or professional – is to get readers to engage and take action, we must inspire them to feel. And in order to help them feel, we have to feel and be in touch with our own hearts.
That’s what this new blog space, which I'm calling The Perch, is for me – a place to explore, with words, the depths of my own heart. These are personal meditations. They are how I process the world, shift and shape the components into something of meaning. I’ve heard other artists – painters, composers, performers – describe their acts of creation as a compulsion, and that is true for me as well. I know the muse is speaking when I cannot – must not! – do anything else until I sit and convey my fledgling thoughts to paper (or screen). However frail and imperfect my words may be, they are looking for expression, and I will try to do them justice.
I am reminded of the refrain from many a Protestant worship service, drawing on the Psalm: “May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in Your sight, oh Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” My work is not overtly religious, but it will often be spiritual. Not preachy, but reflective. Not perfect, but seeking.
Vincent van Gogh’s words ring true for me: “I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart.” I feel things so deeply, often to my own detriment. I care so much about people, about my work, about the world around me, that I am frequently exhausted. I have too little of myself left over to actually do anything. So this perch, this platform, is my way of beginning to change that. Maybe the act of creating/writing/recording “the meditations of my heart” is what I “do” – how I elevate my heartfelt longings – even if I’m the only one reading them! Of course, "dance like there’s nobody watching” doesn’t really work for writers, as it is the reader’s engagement with the piece that actually completes it, helps it transcend the author and become something more, with even greater possibilities. And yet...to write is to lay my fragile soul bare; so much so that I often write with a secret hope that no one will read it, because it opens wide my heart to the world, exposed.
So (as I pause for a few deep breaths before I leap) - if you are reading this, thank you. I hope my words in this space will speak to something in your heart, or prompt a question, or a possibility, or a new way of thinking. I hope sometimes you'll laugh out loud, because absurdity is one of my favorite parts of the human experience. If nothing else, I hope this space allows you to pause and be still, and to listen to your own heart. Hear it. Feel it. Connect with it. In our common ground, there is grace.
I won't write every day, but I will write often. My topics may rarely or never track with the world’s headlines, but then again, they may. Sometimes I will focus on everyday life, and other times I'll draw from my experiences in the corporate world – for is not work also life for many of us? There is heart and reflection and dreaming and grace there, as well.
I’m following the trails of my heart and spirit to see where they lead. Thanks for coming along for the journey.