Freedom, What a Feeling!

I just completed The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad and I am feeling quite liberated. The book is non-fiction and tells the story of a family from Kabul in the industry of bookselling. The father, Sultan, is the patriarch and rules his house with an iron fist. He has two wives, numerous children and expects his sons to spend their lives working in his bookstores instead of getting an education.

The women in the story are as different from each other as can be. Sultan's mother, Baba Gul is in charge when he is away and she is content to sit in a corner and eat herself into oblivion. Sharifa, the first wife, honors Sultan by waiting on him hand and foot while Sonya, his young teenaged second wife is naive and needs to be taken care of.

It is Leila, Sultan's youngest sister, that I am rooting for throughout the book. She has a mind of her own although she is basically a servant in the household. She has a desire to learn, to see the world to fall in love yet society in her world prevents her from being the free spirit that she is. She must take along a young boy from the neighborhood to go out of the house. She must not be seen without her burka, in public with any non-related male and all the other rules that govern women in the Islamic tradition.

The whole time I was reading this book, I was thinking how lucky we are in America to have the freedom to walk out of our homes wearing whatever we want, go wherever we want, eat whatever we want, read whatever we want and the list goes on. We often think of what we can't do and get frustrated but in reality there really isn't much we can't do if we are willing to work for it. It is only up to us to choose the direction our life will take. This concept give me the knowledge that I am the creator of my life, with the guidance of a higher power, the universe will support me in my quest to fulfill my personal legend.....

Just started "In the Country of Men" by Hisham Matar so far so good.....
Currently reading : In the Country of Men By Hisham Matar

What's Your Personal Legend????

Just finished reading "The Alchemist" by Paolo Coehlo and fell in love. Not only was the story simply written, it was extremely deep at the same time. How'd he do that? I'm impressed.
The message is applicable to every human on this planet and it is also one we all know inside our souls but need to be reminded often in this crazy place called earth.
It put me in the place I needed to be at this very moment in time. I also realized that I'm not crazy because I struggle daily trying to find my "nitch" in the writing world. I began writing over ten years ago, journaling and personal op type stuff and never gave much thought to the content or an audience etc. It wasn't until I returned to college at 23 with 2 kids in tow and stumbled into an all women's lit course where I felt comfortable with the female energies in the room that gave me the freedom to express myself more honestly.
I wrote an essay for our one "creative writing" assignment about my mother's house using major descriptives which wasn't hard to do since she is an artist and her house is always filled with interesting objects and histories to go with them. My teacher, Ms. Gormly, bless her heart, fell in love with my paper and chose to read a portion to the class which brought smiles and laughter from around the room. This was one of those moments in life where you feel a sense of validation for your purpose, someone is fnally hearing where I'm coming from or at least is entertained by it.
I continued to dabble in writing and reading as much about books, writing, author's lives and their process etc. I decided to take some creative writing classes at a community college last year and was somewhat frustrated due to lack of participation and interest in the art of writing by the other students who seemed to be there only for an easy credit. Critiquing was not happening as it should have and the feedback I had so hoped to get and learn from wasn't well thought out or even available as the students, some younger than my children, were anxious to get out of class and weren't paying much attention to our teacher who by the way is a writer and truly cares about the process. I was ashamed of their behavior for her since she gave teaching her all.
so I digress...
The book made me realize that writing is part of my personal legend but I still have to work on exactly how I am to use it. The creative writing class in fiction was extremley difficult for me as I prefer to write about my life, my experiences, what I've learned on my path in hopes others will be uplifted, inspired and continue along on their journey. This is what The Alcemist's message was to me and I realize this is the type of writing I would like to persue, writing worth something, writing that can change things for the better, I want to add something positive to the world and if we leave anything after we leave this life, I want it to be inspiration, motivation and hope that each of us holds the power to make it a better place by following our purpose, living our personal legends.
Thanks Paulo for the inspiration and living with intention. You do inspire others, keep it up. Send some energy over here, I could use it.