I just watched a Super Soul Sunday with Oprah interviewing Sue Monk Kidd and wanted to share a few of my highlights from it. Enjoy!

Sue Monk Kidd has a unique story–mother, wife, nurse–the “safe life” and when she turned 30 she felt a deeper calling and purpose. She then announced to her family, “I am going to be a writer.” She wrote for years and at the age of 53 had a NY Best Seller from her book, The Secret Life of Bees, which was a best seller for more than 2 years & sold over 6 million copies.

I have not read any of her books, but her interview was inspiring. I am sure I will pick up her book to understand her even more. The BOLD quotes below were from the interview with Sue Monk Kidd. I then follow those up with my own thoughts about the quotes.

At one point in her life she read the works of Thomas Merton and his words really meant something deeper to her. It made her seek beyond herself and her religion.

 

“The attention of the heart is truly what prayer is.”     I liked this thought because you can see how true it is. If you find wonder in the symmetry of leaves or the shadows of a tree, you can get lost in the lines of nature and become calm. OR, you can get lost in the attention of the world and not find peace, but noise and distraction. Where you place your attention does matter.

 

“We are always seeking a place of belonging.”     I could relate to this thought because so much of my life was spent in a religion that is very tribe like. When I decided to seek my own path, it has been my path that I have had to find my own sense of personal belonging and freedom. I have not had to place my beliefs or my place in the hands of others. It is my space. My place.

 

“Something that brings us alive, pay attention to that.”     We are all seekers of things that make us come alive, that fill us with excitement, that give us that sense of wholeness and purpose.  When you begin to learn something new, to find a new direction, there is something that comes alive within us and and we want more.

 

“There is no place so awake and alive as the edge of becoming.”   I think we can all relate to this thought because we have had moments, inspiration, thrill as we stand on the edge of an idea, a dream, a newness, a becoming. You feel so alive!

 

“Listen to the yearning within.”     I think we all need to get to that point where we truly listen within and wait patiently for direction, answers, inspiration and have a faith that we will begin to hear the yearnings of our heart.

 

“Ask for the thing that lies at the bottom of your heart.”    I think as we begin to truly listen within, we will get deeper and deeper to the true knowing that lies at the bottom of our hearts. We have deeply innate knowing of a greater divineness that is held deeply within our hearts. It is the greatest gift, if we can learn to unbury it.

 

“Who am I?” Oprah shared how she was asked to answer this question and it took her a few days to really take it in and answer—NOT the labels she has or the labels the world has given her.     Sue then shared a similar experience—all the labels of the external self vs the TRUE inner self. She said, ‘maybe that is the point to life, to discover that part, to align with it, become more a part of it.”

 

“Always seek, but always acknowledge when you find something.”     This was a very true point for me. I have been a seeker for most of my life & I hear this thought & know I have not taken the appropriate time to say THANK YOU for the many gifts I have been able to Seek & Find. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

 

She quoted William Wordsworth saying we need “spots of time” to remember we are holy, this is divine.     I like the idea of having “spots of time” throughout your day to get quiet, to remember the holy reverence that is life.

 

“We truly become what we pay attention to. If we pay attention to our fears, worries…that becomes our life.”     This is a good reminder for all of us to pay attention to what you truly pay attention to.  Are your days filled with worry and regret? or are your days filled with gratitude and love? Listen to the words you say, the thoughts you think and what energy you are putting out into the world. We truly do affect our lives & those around us. What are you focusing on?

 

Oprah then did a Q&A:

O: Point of Life.    SMK: to LOVE and CREATE

O: What you know for sure.   SMK: Just to BE is HOLY. Just to LIVE is a GIFT.     BEAUTIFUL.

Hope you were able to take something good from the highlights of this interview. I LOVE learning and sharing. We can learn from everything and everyone!!

Have a beautiful day. -H