Live it to Give it Interview with Sharon Richards
Wednesday, February 12, 2014 at 1:00 AM 
Sharon & Kayce - Vienna 2013This week's interview is with friend and fellow Francophile, Sharon Richards. Sharon and I met several years ago when I was co-leading a spirituality group with Christine Valters Paintner and Sharon was a participant. First I fell in love with her très chic sweater from Paris and then I quickly fell in love with her. Over the years we've discovered many things we both adore: walks around Greenlake, writing, yoga, laughter, eagles, herons, delicious food, our families, and, of course, Paris. This spring she and I are leading our initial Urban Pilgrimage to the City of Lights.
Kayce: Okay… this might be a stretch, but I'm going for it… What’s one of your favorite readings from “As I Lay Pondering” and how does it remind you of Paris?
Sharon: So, I have 3 readings from your book and they each remind me or speak to me of Paris in different ways. So, I’ll go through the 3 with my response and you can decide what you’d like to include :)
Kayce: Of course, I want to include them all, but today I’m choosing your full response for April 23, The Path is made by Pausing: “The way is made by walking.” Antonio Machado… with excerpts from the other two.
Sharon: I first went to Paris when I was 21 and had just graduated from University. In a deal with my Dad, I pre-sold him my car so I could have the funds to go on a 40-day bus tour through Europe. Paris was our 2nd stop and it captured my soul and heart and I’ve been able to intentionally journey and walk its streets a number of times since then.
This reading reminds me of Paris because of how much I walk in Paris. I don some comfortable, yet fashionable shoes and walk for hours. There is so much beauty to take in with my eyes and heart in Paris. Not that there isn’t that here at home in Seattle, but it’s just different. I walk and I ponder. I walk and I listen to what my soul sings, or whispers, or yells :) Sometimes my soul is quiet while I walk in Paris.
Paris, 2013My eyes take in the beauty of the architecture, people watching, the natural beauty of the Seine, sky mixing with the honking of horns, the music of the French language and the smells of the city. I take my time walking in Paris - why don’t I practice that more at home?
I stop when something catches my eye, I may or may not take a picture with my camera. If a café calls my name then I sit down, sipping slowly, people watching and savoring with my eyes and heart. Sometimes I have my journal and I write whatever is bubbling below the surface of my inner landscape. I mingle pausing and walking and I am in love - with Paris, my life, I am filled with gratitude.
Kayce: That is so, beautiful. Your next choice was September 11, Inner Poet which just happens to be my birthday entry :)
“My inner poet is French. Tipped beret and Mona Lisa smile. Her voice rings out with playful laughter, her arms wide open, leaping into darkness and light….She desires community, fellowship, peace and solitude. She must speak of everything.”
Sharon: I remember when I first read this after you’d written your book. By the way, I went through the entire book in the first week I had it because I'm kind of like that with books :) This one captured my attention right away because of my love of Paris and further love of France.
Kayce: And your third entry?
Sharon: October 6, Soulful Travel
One time upon returning home from a vacation to Paris, my therapist posed the question: How do you feel when you are in Paris? My immediate response, ‘free’. I remember saying that and sitting quietly wondering to myself, ‘Wow, I’d like to feel free at home, here, where I currently live, and not just during these times in Paris.’ Wonderful therapist that she is, she asked me to reflect on how I could bring some of that freedom home with me. I do that more and more now in my life.
Kayce: Yet another thing we have in common: trying to bring the pilgrim spirit into our every day lives!
This past November, you chose to write a "Load of Odes," can you please tell the readers how that came about and what you learned in the process?
Sharon: It started in Vienna, spring of 2013. I was on a pilgrimage/retreat with Christine and Kayce. One of the mornings we were doing some kind of writing prompt - now I’m not even sure exactly what it was. But that sparked something in my inner poet and Odes bubbled to the surface. I spent afternoons composing Odes to Viennese Pastry, Odes to Soul Filled Color (which was sparked by a new pair of shoes), Ode to Vienna, Ode to Monklings, Ode to Chagall and Ode to the Kiss.
When NaNoWriMo came around this time I thought, wow, I like to write Odes. I wonder if I can do this? Writing odes is therapeutic for me. I didn’t know that would be some of the outcome of this writing style/practice, but it is. I’ve written humorous odes to do with food, being grumpy, headaches, going to the bathroom - the ordinary daily things of life. I’ve also written odes to cancer, tumors, suffering, and to my dead Father’s knees. These have been a deep place of inner healing for me as I enter into dialogue - personifying the feelings, loss, sorrow, tears and closing those odes, kind of like Psalms, with a sense of gratitude and acknowledgement.
Kayce: I adore your odes and am so glad you're sharing them with the world.
In closing, I’d love for you to tell the readers what live it to give it means to you?
Sharon: Good question. Hm…….It means me being myself - which is kind of a short pat answer with a lot more depth to it. It means me not playing small. It means me being grounded in who I am and what I offer to the world: friendship, compassion, presence, soulful travelings, love of trying new things, a listening heart, empathy.
It means me practicing being present to myself so that I can wholeheartedly live my life and share my life with others.
Kayce: Merci beaucoup, mon amie. Très bien!
Sharon Richards - recently celebrated nifty fifty, mom, wife, spiritual director, writer, reader, dog walker, yoga practicer, swimmer, traveler. Born in Vancouver, B.C., spent some years living in Northern California, then moved to Seattle area 17 years ago.
Live it to Give it, Paris, Pondering, interview
Reader Comments (2)
YOUR Pilgrims are in for a treat! xoxo
Indeed they are, Dianna!! xoxo