Today is a historic day and most of us remember every detail, conversation, visual. I lived in Toronto and worked for Wiley Canada. I arrived at work and my boss, the CEO, was in shock. Our head office was in Manhattan, and we had no idea what was happening or whether any of our colleagues or their families were in the towers. We listened on the radio when the 2nd tower was hit. Many of Toronto's downtown towers, the financial district, and CN Tower were voluntarily evacuated. I held space this morning during my coaching call to pray and share our memories. We talked about how the people in the small town of Gander, NFLD, opened their hearts, homes, and churches to the people who landed there. I'll be watching the movie about this, "Come From Away," this weekend. Have you seen it? When I was the Webmaster for Wiley, I'd go to the Manhattan office for 5-day stretches. I'd ask the team what night they wanted to go to dinner, so I spent the rest of the evenings on my own. My favourite was July 9, 2001, when I saw the classic Double Indemnity in Bryant Park (gotta love AI search). I went to a comedy club and always had one fancy dinner out by myself. One night, I went to the Empire State Building and took this photo. I never made it over to the Twin Towers, and within two months they were gone. What is something you remember from that day that you’ve carried with you ever since?

The Tortoise and the Hare. As children we just thought we were being read a fun little story. The teacher just thought she was keeping us entertained and hopefully teaching us a little lesson in perseverance. However, in light of what I have been learning about Emotional Intelligence, I now realize how the story of ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’ goes much deeper. The tortoise challenges the hare to the race. Was this just a knee-jerk emotional reaction to the hare’s taunts? Or was this his response after pausing to consider the environment and what he had observed about the hare’s character and general behavior? The story doesn’t directly say. But we do get to observe the tortoise’s character. The tortoise was steadfast in his intention; he was mentally clear about his goal. Even when all the external signals told him he was behind, he didn’t panic; he didn’t rush; he simply pressed on. He didn’t get distracted by any external noise. He simply held the signal. The hare, on the other hand, wasn’t focused on winning the race. He was focused on the tortoise. But since the tortoise was moving at such a slow methodical pace, the hare got so bored he fell asleep. As a result of the hare’s lack of clarity, the tortoise quietly passed him by. And the rest is fictional history! “Slow and steady wins the race!” wasn’t just a lesson about perseverance. It was one of our first lessons in Emotional Intelligence. Look at how far we’ve come!

One thing I haven't promoted much inside Sacred Writing is my 31 years of experience in traditional book publishing and almost eight years helping authors and writers self-publish through SourceCode Publishing. That became very clear to me yesterday when I met with a Sacred Writing member who had no idea I was a publisher. I laughed, but it also made me realize I've done such a good job concentrating on the writing experience here that some of you may not know about the other half of my work. One of my most valuable gifts is holding space for clients to write while accessing The Language Portal, which opens the doorway to the Field of Infinite Intelligence. That's why I've concentrated primarily on writing in this community. But about a month ago, I realized many of you might want to know about self-publishing. Rather than muddy the waters here, I created a separate community: Self-Publishing Skool. For $11/month, you have access to almost 40 years of publishing expertise, a growing database of publishing resources, and a weekly one-hour coaching conversation where you can bring your questions about writing, manuscripts, book production, KDP, and self-publishing. Here's what you can access now: 🖊️ Sacred Writing: Two complimentary 30-minute Sacred Writing Sessions each week. Sacred Writing VIP: Three one-hour co-writing sessions + one hour of coaching each week. 📖 Self-Publishing Skool Publishing resources + weekly one-hour coaching conversation Tuesdays at 3:00 PM PDT You don't have to figure out where to begin. If you're trying to find the words, write with us. If you're trying to figure out what to do with the words once you've written them, find me in Self-Publishing Skool

What a blessing to be off-grid, especially to be out of the smoky air in the Okanagan. What is one thing you are grateful for today?

Portal Pals, I'm cancelling our Tuesday 6:00 PM PDT co-writing session this week. Our regular Wednesday 9:00 AM PDT Sacred Writing Session is still happening, so I'll see you there if you can join us. Wednesday is a special day for another reason. At 6:00 PM PDT, I'll be speaking at Elizabeth Ocean's Catalyst event and bringing some of what we practice here in The Language Portal into that room. My session is "Your Authority Doesn't Start With the Right Words," and I'll be guiding everyone through a short Sacred Writing experience to quiet the overthinking, listen with intention, and recognize what emerges. I'd love to have some Portal Pals in the room with me. If you'd like to join Catalyst, drop CATALYST below and I'll send you the link. See you Wednesday morning. 💜