The Responses!

I was SO thrilled to receive such amazing responses to the 1st question. Here they are!

From now on, please "reply to post" with your response. You may also send me an email response if you don't want it published on the blog!

Next question and post to come SOON!

In Love,
sarah =)

The Responses:

OH my gosh. Have you read The Zahir by Paulo Coehlo??
:-)

I just listened to it on audio book (slightly abridged) yesterday and I highly recommend it. It is about opening the dialogue about love on all levels--the good the bad the ugly to deconstruct our personal histories of love to come into a new, free meaning of love. So we can embody love in ourselves. Your story just reminded me of it....really timely e-mail!
It's kind of about a witchy woman--but one who goes off in search of her own meaning of love and leaves a husband behind wondering.
I am going to join this convo. I am SO excited about it!
-Marla

Hey Sarah,

Firstly, your letters are so kick-ass. I cannot tell you how amazed I am by our synchronicity (sp?). I have already passed your email on to a gaggle of girlfriends who are currently reading it and getting all sorts of inspired. I understand where you're coming from - about the impulse to have romantic love fill all the kinds of love we reach for at times. I've often commented to friends (and really anyone who'll listen) that in our culture (american? western? contemporary?) We are really only socially endorsed to express intimacy with family and lovers - it makes it harder for single folks, or even partnered/familied people to be able to make that deeper connection with others in their lives - friends, coworkers, gurus whatev. And of course, every connection to loving another person is really a connection to loving ourselves and the all of everything.
I think that's one of the things I love about travel so much - by shifting my environs, comfort circle, resources and it all I have to shift my perspective, too. that kind of jostling opens my eyes up the the ever-present wonders of people and place that I lose sight of w/my daily blinders on. It makes me more receptive to the many opportunities for gratitude and bliss - and it reconnects me to the larger, global community.

Funny enough, I was talking to someone yesterday about love/vulnerability/risks etc. Characters from my past have been reemerging in my new transition time. They are lovely, unsettling, inviting, scary and all that to-do. The women I was speaking to pointed out a resistance I have to being vulnerable in relationships - that there are risks there that I am not willing to take yet. but I'm more than happy to be fully vulnerable in front of hundreds of people on stage and I'm just as content to hop a plane to a foreign country on my own and figure it out as a I go. But love....well, let's not get too crazy... ;)

Lastly, to respond to your question, "What makes your heart wander?" My current answer (which may change the next time I'm asked) is this, "I think my heart wanders when it forgets that it is always connected to Love. That Love is ever present, ever flowing, ever knocking down my door and holding my hand from every corner of the everywheres. But when I stop listening to that truth, and start listening to my own ego and it's nattering, then I forget the abundance that surrounds me and i begin to think that I must pursue love - that I am in want, in lacking - and so the foolishness begins. At the end of the day though, those "foolish" pursuits or adventures that lead me to "find" love - in relationships, travels, myself, the world, what-have-you, are just new lessons on how to reconnect with what was always there."

Thank you so much for your email, Sarah, you may use all of this letter or just the Q & A at the end, whatever you like. Have a great time in S. Korea!

Love,

Sara

Hello Sarah,
Sara Mayer sent this email to some of us this morning and I wanted to reply to you and say two things:

First of all, what a beautiful letter you wrote. Thank you for putting those words down and for inviting your friends to share them. What you said resonated very deeply with me - I too have been a wanderer in and out of love and places for many years, as I feel so many women/people of our generation have been or have felt like being. There is something, I feel, that has made our generation one of searchers, which is not just a product of our individual stories, but the story of who we are as a people and where the world is at this moment. Maybe that sounds obtuse, or super new-agey, but I have felt that for a long time and see it ring true with more people our age than I can number.

You voiced your experience beautifully, and I'm grateful for having heard it.

Second, I wanted to humbly suggest a venue for your idea of a women's forum. What if you started a blog with these ideas and questions that you want to pose? You could send a notice out with each blog post to link people to the site...the people on your list would forward the link on, and anyone who cared to respond could post their answers, feelings, responses, as comments to your post. Everyone in the chain of your initial email would get to see the responses of everyone else...possibly dozens, or a hundred women they've never met, but surely have common experiences with.

I'm not sure if you had such a wide or public vision for your project; but your idea truly inspired me, and I do believe that I am not the only woman who would tune in monthly or weekly to read such a journal. I have been thinking about starting my own blog recently, and have a lot of ideas for it; so forgive me if I'm passing on my own dream to you. I just felt compelled to put it out there: do with it what you feel right. The fact is, there are people out there making their living off of blogs - a large enough readership attracts advertisers - and this is certainly an idea beautiful enough to deserve supporting you financially.

In any case, I wish you the best on your journey and hope to hear more from you soon.

Sincerely,
Heather

here 's my thought:

Not being in love makes my heart wander. I've never been in love, but I thought I was in love with my ex boyfriends. I used to have night mares that I cheated on them with other, more attractive men. They were bad dreams because I felt so guilty for breaking the commitment I'd made to myself and to these men.

I realize now that my heart was trying to wander. It wasn't that I was just experiencing lust. IT was trying to reveal the truth that I had been covering up; that these men were not "the one" even though I wanted them to be my one so desperately.

I was boy crazy ever since I came out of the womb. But I always wanted "the one", my soul mate, even as a child. That desperation for finding true love has manifested into the tendency to force a square peg into a circle whole (is that the correct way to use that saying?).

When I do meet my life partner, I expect that my HEAD may wander from time to time, as the ego leads to lust and tricks our minds into thinking that there is something better around the corner, but the heart is always truthful.

-Sarah Itkin

Hi Sarah,
I have kept this email in my inbox until I decided it was the right time to pull it out and truly feel the message. Hope it is not too late to respond. Hope the reply finds you smiling and embracing the boundless journey of your heart. Looking forward to speaking with you again.
Much love & respect,
Rachael

What makes my heart wander....
That of something sweet. Not so much the physical act, but more of an ethereal sense that something wonderful is on the horizon. I guess this could be called the dawning of my heart's desire. The new look of what has already been and what will be. The sweet surprise of the glory and amazement that life unfolds at the divine moment of insight and awareness. I love the pleasure of seeing what has always been my desire pop-up to the surface with an element of shock or excitement like I have never known it before. This part of the journey keeps me searching for more. Always asking, allowing and blessing. The newness of life, creation and the bliss of all that is comes alive and I wander in search for the eternal manifestation, the great infinite abode.

Thanks for asking. I am truly greatful for the posing of this question. May you know how much it means. Thank you. I love you. Amen.

-Racheal Ranalletta