Letters by Coeur:
Letter by Sarah: Building Capacity for Being Seen
Volume I | Issue I | Letter I | VI MMXXV | words: Sarah Woods
I was nearly born on a bridge in a city where the sea meets the sky, and grew-up on Southern Vancouver Island. I spent much of my childhood on the shores of an inlet on the Salish Sea, island hopping and befriending the messy and wise arbutus tree.
One of Sarah’s first writing spots. Moses Point, North Saanich, British Columbia.
Ten years ago, a friend met me for the first time in a tiny village in Spain and questioned, “you mean to tell me, you’re here alone?! Sola?”
The truth is, I require a lot of alone time. It’s part of my natural make-up and I get totally unhinged when I haven’t been in nature enough. That question of being single in my early forties, is so interesting. Wouldn’t it be great to unite with my divine counterpart? Yes, it would. I’d especially love him to hold my hand when I wake-up from a bizarre dream and my heart is racing.
But that creation, a divine union, requires me to be in my wholeness. That’s the return trip I’ve been on. And the truth is, I could never write these words or facilitate the containers I hold, had I been in a partnership up until now, anyways.
But that creation, a divine union, requires me to be in my wholeness. That’s the return trip I’ve been on. And the truth is, I could never write these words or facilitate the containers I hold, had I been in a partnership up until now, anyways.
I’m reflecting on this as I look at the Salish Sea. I’ve been so beautifully held here by the nature that raised me. Spotting eagles was, thanks to my parents, my childhood’s version of social media. What a memory! And the luck of seeing a pod of orcas was, and still is, absolutely breath taking. I know every tree I grew-up with.
These moments of purity happen in the silence of being.
These moments of purity happen in the silence of being. And perhaps, had I not been single all these years, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to cultivate within me, the foundation and framework required for my return to wholeness and that positive future I’m here to contribute to. I embody a completely new blueprint. A way of being, and a redesigning of what it means to live, and lead, that for the most part, is very much against “the norm.” The healing of the past, within me, has had me go deep. In my darkest moments of rewriting history, of course I wish I had someone to hold me. (And I’m oh-so grateful for my friends and colleagues, who are, you know… the absolute best.)
But in those moments, this truth is revealed: only pure love can parent oneself.
Part of building capacity for being seen, is knowing who’s holding you at the end of the day. It’s pure love.
Part of building capacity for being seen, is knowing who’s holding you at the end of the day. It’s pure love. And its my body that’s so brilliantly opening to the possibilities that’s available for me, to step into, when I create the space to trust in my safety of being.
So, as I share my first publication of Letters by Coeur, it’s my own celebration of building capacity within myself to be seen. I’ve got my own back… no grouchy editor or money-influenced publisher to lean-on for approval.
Simply my own algorithm of le coeur, to lead.
Last night I sat with my friend in that tiny, mountain village in Spain. He asked in Spanish, “Sarita, when are you going to find your husband?”
I smiled.
“Mañana, mañana,” he answered for me.
We laughed.
Single or not, doesn’t matter. Only my return to wholeness to participate in a Future by Coeur.
avec amour, Sarah
XXX
Volume 1 | Issue 1 | VI MMXXV
Letter I | Letter by Sarah: Building Capacity for Being Seen
Letter II | The City of Light: The Next Era of Enlightenment
Letter III | The Pain We Hold: The Body and Unlocking a Positive Future
Letter VI | Because You Feel: The Power in Exquisite Sensitivity
About Letters by Coeur
Letters by Coeur is curated precisely from the heart of Sarah Woods, the frequency each letter holds is a transfiguration in itself. Drawing on direct experience and inherent gifts, Sarah writes as an antidote for these dynamic times and a resource for strong hearts to collaborate with.