This magical woman swooped into my world when she published “This I Know: Notes on Unraveling the Heart,” a book I could relate to on various levels and that had felt like cool water after being parched for too long. Ever since I have been a cheerleader for her and her work. I’m so glad to introduce the few who don’t know her to Susannah Conway!
Susannah Conway is the author of This I Know: Notes on Unraveling the Heart and forthcoming LONDONTOWN: A Photographic Tour of the City’s Delights (Chronicle Books, 2016). A photographer, writer and teacher, her classes have been enjoyed by thousands of people from over 50 countries around the world. Co-author of Instant Love: How to Make Magic and Memories with Polaroids, Susannah helps others remember their true selves, using creativity as the key to open the door. Visit her at SusannahConway.com and say hi on Instagram.
What is your wisdom whispering to you today?
Patience. Play the long game.
It’s so easy to wish away our lives when we’re wanting circumstances to change, but the older I get the more I understand how things will change only when they are good and ready.
I still waste time wishing and hoping, but after a while it morphs into knowing and trusting and that is so much more useful. That’s where I am today.
What is helping with the mending?
Time.
Time alone doesn’t heal our hurts butama it does give us the opportunity to integrate the lessons as we finally start uncovering them.
Time gives me distance from the hurt so I can see what is true and what it is not.
Time reminds me that I have survived before and will survive again.
Time is hard to accept at first because it seems to be taking us away from what we’ve lost, but it also protects us. It helps us carry on.
What is your mantra?
Go gently.
Tell me how you rise up in fullness?
By knowing who I am, inside and out. Shadows and light. Especially the shadows. Diving into that side of myself has been the most powerful excavation work I’ve done in recent years. There’s something so freeing about accepting the less pretty parts of your being. My fullness includes all of me, and I rise into it every time I’m honest about who I am, what I want and what I don’t want.
What supports the true expression of your authentic self?
Creativity and curiosity. And getting past the worry of what others will think of me. That worry has never served me in any of my 42 years on this planet.
List a few inspirations right now:
My nephew.
My city. I love London.
My Instagram feed. So much creativity from other souls around the world!
Oh Wonder. A new find.
White nectarines and over-ripe cherries.
Reading back through my own journals to see how far I have come.
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
I’ve been asked this question many times in my nine years of blogging. Mary Oliver’s poem certainly lit a fire in the collective unconscious!
I intend to continue sharing and inspiring.
Listening hard.
Loving harder.
Opening my heart to new experiences even when they scare me.
Mustering as much kindness as I can for my self and others.
Forgiving often.
Softening.
Laughing.
Being the best auntie in the world.
You may also be inspired by this podcast with Susannah Conway and Sara Blackthorne.
or check out these amazing E-courses…