re-imagine and re-story your life and work

Dear seeker of words and images

The first task is re-storying the adult…to restore the imagination to its primary place in consciousness in each of us regardless of age…. My interest in story is as something lived in and lived through, a way in which the soul finds its life.
(James Hillman)

It’s Dori lettertime (sent via mailchimp). What does it mean to live your life as if it were a story? This month’s theme. Why do stories hum with energy? We respond to stories because we are walking talking stories, our lives immersed in fiction. We spend our years as a tale that is told. (Psalm 90: 9)

Read this text from the Upanishad. When we inhabit our story we become both birds – one passionately eats the fruit, the other watches, witnesses , not with judgement but with compassion. The paradox is that the more I watch my life, the more I am involved in the moment.

http://dorianhaarhoffblog.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/July-2020-lertter-1.pdf

Zoom – winter 2020 offerings
Days of social distancing can also be days of self-nearing, self- nourishing
Wherever you are in the world… you can be part of a ‘virtual’ group or enjoy one-on-one mentoring
The online support is alive and well – The Rough Writing Road Journal course, Poetry, Fiction, Writing your Spiritual Journey, Downtime with Dori, one-on–one mentoring and mini-wordshops
Zoom meet and teach – mini wordshops
Hi Dorian, am already addicted to your zingy zoom and would like to join you for the next ‘word chops’…and find strength and joy
in the river of your unfolding. (Silja)
I invite you to these 4 zoom wordshops: (see below for themes) Plus the Buddhist retreat one. Folks respond positively. They connect, enjoy the company and experience, and in no time are writing away.
Cost: R320 per wordshop of 3+ hours 09.30 -12.45 SA time
A discount if you subscribe for all 4 wordshops = R290 x 4 = R1160

http://dorianhaarhoffblog.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/July-2020-whats-on.pdf

Dear seeker of words and images
Looking at your image in a clear stream, you answer the question
by your very presence
It’s Dori lettertime. (As from now I’m sending the letter via mail chimp)
Living midst the uncertainties of the age, this month’s theme centres on zen
pen – writing being and meditation. [Why Zen Pen?
Zen (Chinese chán ‘quietude’) invites us to be present, to live and write
simply.
Pen (Latin penna ‘feather’ ) refers to both practicing the art of
writing and the implements we use. It also invites us to play in a safe
place – as in playpen.

I saw this cat on a recent dawn walk. It seemed to be meditating -perhaps cats are natural meditators? This one seemed to sit in a quiet space amid a tangle of branches – (a tangle of non-thoughts?) On my early walk the next morning, I came across a dog in more or less the same spot. Cat no longer in the tree.
I wonder what somatic (being in the body) cats and dogs can teach us about meditation and being? That focused gaze – that look and listen awareness…that presence. They live and move in and through the life force of the five senses. And what happens to our writing when we slow down, look listen, engage in the miracle of the body and write from the stillness – ‘the still point of the turning world’ (TS Eliot)? When we enter this slow down silence? You might recall T S Eliot’s Macavity the Mystery cat who ‘when he’s half asleep is really wide awake.’

http://dorianhaarhoffblog.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/June-2020-letter.pdf

12% discount during these turbulent times

The Rough Writing Road
A 16 week self-directed Online Journaling Course

Your course is invaluable…thank you for the inspiration and spontaneity you sow into the word around you. (Y O)

Writers all… I have created an online journal course with the help of an online ‘guru.’
Our guiding metaphor is the rough road we travel along on the writing path. I prompt via stories, questions, quotations, poems, memories and suggestions. These are drawn from many traditions and faiths. Helping you find your voice. As you walk you enter a great conversation with yourself … and others.
Why the rough road? It’s writing that has not been crafted or edited. Spontaneous. Rough as in rough days.

Some of the 16 units are:

Retraining the Eye…Many Selves…Dreaming…The Fire that warms you Five Times…Living the Questions Now…
Self directed

http://dorianhaarhoffblog.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Ongoing-Opportunities-June.pdf

Zoom – 2nd quarter 2020 offerings
Days of social distancing can also be days of self-nearing, self- nourishing
Wherever you are in the world… you can be part of a ‘virtual’ group or enjoy one-on-one mentoring

The online support is alive and well – The Rough Writing Road Journal course, Poetry, Fiction, Writing your Spiritual Journey, Downtime with Dori, one-on–one mentoring and mini-wordshops
Zoom meet and teach – mini wordshops

Hi Dorian, am already addicted to your zingy zoom and would like to join you for the next two ‘word chops’…and find strength and joy
in the river of your unfolding. (Silja)

I invite you to these zoom wordshops: (see below for themes) Folks respond positively. They connect, enjoy the company and experience, and in no time are writing away.
Cost: R320 per wordshop of 3+ hours 09.30 -12.45 SA time
A discount if you subscribe for all 4 wordshops = R290 x 4= R1160

http://dorianhaarhoffblog.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/June-2020-whats-on.pdf

Zoom Storyshops mini-retreats Writeshops Conversations

Zoom – 2nd quarter 2020 offerings
Days of social distancing can also be days of self-nearing, self- nourishing
Wherever you are in the world… you can be part of a ‘virtual’ group or enjoy one-on-one mentoring

The online support is alive and well – The Rough Writing Road Journal course, Poetry, Fiction, Writing your Spiritual Journey, Downtime with Dori, one-on–one mentoring and mini-wordshops

Zoom meet and teach – 4 mini wordshops
I invite you to these zoom wordshops: 26 April, 10 and 24 May and 7 June (see below for themes) Folks respond positively to the zoom wordshops I’ve been offering. They connect, enjoy the company and experience, and in no time are writing away.

Cost: R320 per wordshop of 3 hours 09.30 -12.30 SA time
12.5 % discount if you subscribe for all 3 wordshops = R280 x 3 = R840

I create a space that is safe, supportive and encouraging

These wordshops are for those who wish to:

How the zoom works – step by step
Please email me if you want to be part of this experience. Mention which wordshop. I’ll explain how to prepare for the session and send you the zoom link to click on.
At 09.15 on the Sunday you have chosen, click on the zoom link so we can practice and sort out any hitches. The morning unfolds through 5 sessions – around 180 minutes. There are 5 steps:

1. I facilitate the wordshop, setting up the experience (35 minutes)
2. Then we go offline and you respond to the prompts (35 minutes)

http://dorianhaarhoffblog.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/May-2020-whats-on.pdf

In these days of online, see ongoing opportunities and ‘what’s on’
12% discount on all online possibilities
Dear seeker of word and images
How shall I Live? 16 Tanka responses to a 16 picture collage
Like the sonnet, the tanka employs a turn, known as a pivotal image,. This turn is located within the third line, connecting the kami-no-ku, or upper poem, with the shimo-no-ku, or lower poem.

I often create collages as a way of opening to other voices within. This
month I’m sharing one with 16 images constructed during Lockdown time. In response to the question, ‘How shall I live?’ during these days and beyond, I‘ve written a Tanka for each picture. A Tanka (‘short song’) is a classical Japanese 31-syllable lyric poem divided into five lines – 5 7 5 7 7.

Originally chanted aloud to musical accompaniment, these forms have existed for over 1300 years. They are intended to flow so often have no punctuation. Some early poets such as the Sufi mystic Hafiz (1300’s) include their names at the end of a poem as a signature. I adopt this convention in these Tanka. I’ve photographed the original inspiration, in triptych form – left, centre and right. (with inevitable overlap.) Try this idea to generate text? Dorian

http://dorianhaarhoffblog.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/May-2020-letter.pdf

The Virus tornado whirls whipping up panic, ghosts, fear, isolation, change
and uncertainly. At such a time you can turn social distancing into self nearing and nurturing
What better time to journal or join a solo or group online
12% discount on all courses
so that words can place and hold you in the eye of the storm?
from 27 March (Lockdown Day) till 23 April (Shakespeare’s deathday and now World Book Day)

Why not join and encourage friends to join too so that you create your own
community to exchange your stories and so record a remarkable time.
For this too will pass

https://www.skillstoshare.com/product/therough-writing-road-audio-course-withdorian-haarhoff/

A 16 week self-directed Online Journaling Course
Your course is invaluable…thank you for the inspiration and spontaneity you sow into the word around you. (Y O)

Writers all… I have created an online journal course with the help of an online ‘guru.’ Our guiding metaphor is the rough road we travel along on the writing path. I prompt via stories, questions, quotations, poems, memories and suggestions. These are drawn from many traditions and faiths. Helping you find your voice. As you walk you enter a great conversation with yourself … and others. Why the rough road? It’s writing that has not been crafted or edited. Spontaneous.
Rough as in rough days. Some of the 16 units are: Retraining the Eye…
Many Selves…Dreaming…The Fire that warms you Five Times…Living the Questions Now…

http://dorianhaarhoffblog.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Ongoing-Activities-2020.pdf

What’s on Storyshops Retreats Writeshops Conversations
A glimpse into 2nd quarter 2020 offerings
Given the virus crisis gatherings have been postponed .
So days of social distancing can also be days of
self-nearing, self- nourishing

The online support is alive and well – The Rough Writing Road Journal course, Poetry, Fiction, Writing your Spiritual Journey, Downtime with Dori, one-on–one mentoring, Zoom meet and teach

12% discount on all these from 27 March (Lockdown Day) till 23 April (World Book Day and Shakespeare’s deathday)
Wherever you are in the world… you can be part of a ‘virtual’ group or enjoy one-on-one mentoring

1. Somerset West
   Magic Carpet Writing Group R730 (6 sessions)
   Next gatherings Zoom Wed 29 April 18.30 – 20.30
   Need to be part of a fun-loving supportive thinking/being group of aspirant writers?
   …. we meet in an art studio. Writing exercises, conversation, energy, soup and wine. Beginners are welcome… make writing friends ….
   Our 2020 theme – Once upon a life…… Fairy tales – ancient, modern and us

2. Pringle Bay Poetry Moments
I want to write poems that are natural, luminous, deep, spare. I dream of an art so transparent that you can look through and see the world. (Stanely Kunitz)
Monthly bring and share your own or poems you poems you live and love … a
freebie….. next… Tues 21 April probably Zoom @ 18.31ish

3. Pringle Bay
What to write Poetry? A Morning for You
Fri 3 April ZOOM 09.45 -11.45 no fixed fee: dana system (you contribute via
your means and received learning)
I believe that poetry is a primal impulse within us all. …we are all capable of it … a small, often ignored corner of us yearns to try it (Stephen Fry)
Do you yearn to write poems? Poetry is a way of paying attention, listening, being in the moment and observing the world. Come and write in a safe space.

http://dorianhaarhoffblog.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/April-2020-whats-on.pdf

re-story, re-create and re-imagine your life and work
this letter in dorianhaarhoffblog.co.za courtesy Dominic Haarhoff
In these days of online, see ongoing opportunities and ‘what’s on’
12% discount on all online possibilities

Dear seeker of word and images

World Concern, Social Distancing and Space The One Who Is at Play Everywhere says, There is a space in the heart where everything meets. Come here if you want to find me. Mind, senses, soul, eternity – all are here. Are you here? Enter the bowl of vastness that is the heart. Listen to the song that is always resonating. Give yourself to it with total abandon. (Radiance Sutras +-800 A.D) This month I’ve been thinking about how the current time asks me to look anew with awareness at the 21 day Lockdown and the space it opens up. Social distancing can bring self-nearing, self-nurturing while placing us in an inclusive cosmos. There are hidden Alibaba doorways into such treasure space. Open sesame insights through writing, journaling, story-telling, Fairy tales, photography and and…. And sitting quietly in our breath and bloodbath.

(I sent out a special discount message on the Rough Writing Road selfdirected journaling course. Valid till Shakespeare’s deathday and World Book day, 23 April – see ongoing events.)

Alice Walker (The Color Purple) at eight lost the sight of one eye in a
shooting accident. Her three-year old daughter, Rebecca, enjoyed a TV
program Big Blue Marble. ‘It begins with a picture of the earth as it appears
from the moon. It is bluish… battered-looking, but full of light, with whitish
clouds swirling around’. One day she observed ‘Mommy, there’s a world in
your eye.’ How do we gaze into space and take the world into our eye?
Here’s Alice Walker on meditation:

To my surprise…I felt myself drop into a completely different internal
space. A space filled with the purest quiet, the most radiant
peacefulness. I started to giggle and then to laugh…. meditation took
me right back to my favorite place in childhood: gazing out into the
landscape, merging with it and disappearing.

At a recent retreat, participants chose pictures. One person, in response to her picture of a narrow steeple stretching into a blue sky,
mentioned how focusing on blue sky was her way of meditating. The steeple then could symbolise the person sitting upright in this space.

http://dorianhaarhoffblog.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/April-2020-letter.pdf