No matter what you write or who you introduce to your reader, I love it all. Julia Liu was a wonder, a tremendous wonder. Eric's sharing of his observations and understandings of his mother are just as remarkable as the woman. I wish I could be her. I wish she was my mother. I'm so glad to have met her. Thank you again.
Thanks again, Courtney (and of course, Eric). I loved how the son understood that a life of fragments still form a life of patterns and ways of being. The specificity of his stories allows me as a listener to riff in my mind about his mother, but of those in my life with similar fragments and patterns. A colleague and I found this so intriguing we are ruminating how this might inspire a session in an upcoming Soul of Aging retreat.
Thank you for the gift of Eric’s tribute to his mother. So beautiful. As I read, I experienced each of the “patterns” of Miss Julia as Eric described them - as a child, as a friend, as a woman in male-dominated worlds, as a mother. Synchronistically, the weekly issue of Poetry Unbound by Padraig O’Tuama arrived on the same day as your post. Writing about his experience with group dialogue, he notes “ One technique that I learnt was one that was attributed to a Japanese methodology. (An Irish colleague told me about learning this technique at a conference. She remembers being told it originated in Japan, but neither she nor I can trace any information about it; we’d be thrilled to hear from you if you know!) The way of discussing is simple. When someone says something of importance, ask the question why? five times; not as a cornering or an accusation, but as an exploration of some of the layers supporting what is important to them. ”. I wonder if Eric’s mum learned her inquisitive practice in her childhood in Taipei?
Ohhhhh man, my heart. My whole heart.
No matter what you write or who you introduce to your reader, I love it all. Julia Liu was a wonder, a tremendous wonder. Eric's sharing of his observations and understandings of his mother are just as remarkable as the woman. I wish I could be her. I wish she was my mother. I'm so glad to have met her. Thank you again.
Thanks again, Courtney (and of course, Eric). I loved how the son understood that a life of fragments still form a life of patterns and ways of being. The specificity of his stories allows me as a listener to riff in my mind about his mother, but of those in my life with similar fragments and patterns. A colleague and I found this so intriguing we are ruminating how this might inspire a session in an upcoming Soul of Aging retreat.
Thank you for the gift of Eric’s tribute to his mother. So beautiful. As I read, I experienced each of the “patterns” of Miss Julia as Eric described them - as a child, as a friend, as a woman in male-dominated worlds, as a mother. Synchronistically, the weekly issue of Poetry Unbound by Padraig O’Tuama arrived on the same day as your post. Writing about his experience with group dialogue, he notes “ One technique that I learnt was one that was attributed to a Japanese methodology. (An Irish colleague told me about learning this technique at a conference. She remembers being told it originated in Japan, but neither she nor I can trace any information about it; we’d be thrilled to hear from you if you know!) The way of discussing is simple. When someone says something of importance, ask the question why? five times; not as a cornering or an accusation, but as an exploration of some of the layers supporting what is important to them. ”. I wonder if Eric’s mum learned her inquisitive practice in her childhood in Taipei?