Water Horse Writing Studio

I woke this morning to slow light outlining the large evergreen trees crowning the South-East reach of Penn Cove everything glistened from the dew that had turned to frost. Nature’s majesty all a splendor. I went to bed with a serious doubt that I would not get a good night’s rest and miraculously the next […]

Y- is for Yearning. When I am depressed, I feel a type of loneliness that pervades my body and manifests as yearning. A generalized feeling of neediness that is not specific to any one thing, person, or outcome. I just know that I am dangerously low of critical nourishment. Yearning has an urgent quality that […]

X is for Xenia- Xenia is the concept of hospitality to strangers in Greek Mythology. Depression can feel like a stranger at your door. In Homer’s The Odyssey Xenia is a powerful phenomenon that propels Odysseus through his journey. In ancient Greece the stranger archetype was associated with divine mystery and good luck. In contrast […]

Do you have any wonderlust left? I find wonder is the last thing to go in times of crisis. Do whatever you can to keep wonder alive. Tell stories, play tricks, risk humiliation living out your wacky dreams it is vitally important to your soul’s survival. For me nothing does the trick like good old […]

V -is for Violence. When I am depressed life feels violent. The very act of living is a battle. It takes great strength to breathe, to get out of bed. There are demons in every corner. Overwhelming fear makes me think that it would be easier to let the demons have me. It would be […]

U is for Undone. There is something I am avoiding about this letter. In past drafts I have forgotten to write an entry for “U” and people would ask “What about U?” and I would hear “What about you?” I would get defensive as say “what about me?” I ended up being ok with not […]

T T is for Treasure. Treasure is often obscured, hidden buried deep down in an out of the way place. There is a superstition that breaking a mirror brings seven years of bad luck. When a mirror is broken you metaphorically cannot see your own beauty or have a map to guide you to treasures […]

Letter S is the crux, it is the hardest part to share. Please keep reading, you will have your own unique response, maybe it will be confusion, embarrassment or maybe you will laugh at the absurdity. Whatever your response, it is yours and there is no reason for fear. Ideas are not contagious you choose […]

R -is for Revelation. I think my body needs worship and I think depression is the hunger for a life full of worship. Eugene Peterson’s work has helped me to understand how we all reveal God’s plan through our heart’s yearning. Eugene Peterson — The Bible, Poetry, and Active Imagination