The First Step: Well, the theme for this issue appears to be about taking the first step, which can be applied to many endeavors and pursuits and is referenced a couple of times, below.
The first step is the initial action, movement, or event in a series or process, serving as the beginning of a larger task, goal, or undertaking. It can also refer to the fundamental starting point in any endeavor or a small, initial action towards progress. (according to Miriam-Webster)
The process of each issue begins with a bit of research to discover items that resonate with me and which might elicit something positive in a reader. This writing is usually the last piece to the puzzle that is putting together a newsletter. Once-in-a-while things fit, as in this issue
A first step is something we face a million times in our lives: when we begin to walk, when we learn the alphabet, when we decide to become part of a team (athletic or otherwise), when we choose to ask for a first date, when we apply for that first job or that first raise.
Over the course of my almost 80-year existence on this planet, I have taken many “first steps,” but none were taken without a bit of effort along the way. Some resulted in a positive outcome, and some…not. All first steps begin with a desire to get something started.
When we were still in diapers someone held out a hand and we walked toward them. When we were in school, we may have experienced that desire to belong.
As with many things in life that first step did not occur in and of itself. It took a bit of learning and a desire to move forward. To get from point “A” to point “B.”
We will always be taking first steps, sometimes we will fall and sometimes it may even hurt. The satisfaction comes, however, when we get up and dust ourselves off, and move forward, again, again, and again.
My latest first step was deciding to use Substack to produce the starter. What was your latest “first step?”
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Please pass this along to others of like mind. We do need to spread the positivity around! Know that I will be working hard to make the starter better with each issue. It will come into your inbox at 8am, each Monday morning, free or paid. Comments are always welcomed! Enjoy!
"A photographer went to a socialite party in New York. As he entered the front door, the host said ‘I love your pictures – they’re wonderful; you must have a fantastic camera.’ He said nothing until dinner was finished, then: ‘That was a wonderful dinner; you must have a terrific Stove.’” Sam Haskins
David Whyte, Start Close In: This poem is one that makes me thing about the road ahead and that you can’t get there without taking the first step along that road. The accompanying video (shown here) is by a big fan of Whyte’s. ©David Whyte, Don Henry
Elizabeth Gilbert, How Ideas Work: “I should explain that I've spent my entire life in devotion to creativity, and along the way I've developed a set of beliefs about how it works - and how to work with it - that is entirely and unapologetically based upon magical thinking. And when I refer to magic here, I mean it literally. Like, in the Hogwarts sense. I am referring to the supernatural, the mystical, the inexplicable, the surreal, the divine, the transcendent, the otherworldly. Because the truth is, I believe that creativity is a force of enchantment - not entirely human in its origins.” ©Elizabeth Gilbert
Shadow & Light Magazine Archives: Torrance York, Common Ground: “ Can we connect to the past and future by way of image-making? I am inspired by a perceived connection to the history and future of experiences lived on the shared common ground of public parks and gardens. ©image: Torrance York (notes…
Poetics: Tim Anderson, The First Step: As I was writing my essay at the top of this issue of the starter, this poem immediately came to mind. I wrote it a few years back when I was at a park and watching moms holding their children while they were practicing walking. ©Tim Anderson
The First Step
The first step
is the one
that matters most
because
it is the
first step
of our life
of all the steps
we take… and
all the stairs
we climb
the one
that foreshadows
all of
our next steps
to become who
we must be
after all that
has been said
and all that has
been told in
the silence
of our sleep
and because
we have chosen
to take that step
and not fall, anymore.
That first step
is the one
we must take.
©Tim Anderson
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