Reflecting on who we think we are to find out who we really are. A look at universal themes through a personal lens and how mindfulness, meditation and self-awareness practices help. Attention really is everything.
valeriespain.substack.com (https://valeriespain.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)
The thing that has me by the throat right now is how to live honestly in a time of cruelty and peril.
I use Caroline Forche’s memoir What You Have Heard is True, as a springboard to reflect on generosity in the midst of trauma and our responsibility as "white" people to witness, and how, while I was directing programs focused on health equity and co-facilitating white antiracist affinity groups, people of color befriended and mentored me in the ways of the world far beyond my experience.
Early on Forche protested she had no power.
“…[poets] are seen as bohemians, romantics or crazy. Among the poets I admire, there is one who waved goodbye before jumping from a bridge, another who put on a fur coat and gassed herself in the garage…. We have no credibility.”
Unfazed, Leonel Gomez said: Well, you have to change that.
Yes.
We have to change that.
Besides being a passionate essayist, writer and poet I am: *A teacher on Insight Timer. https://insighttimer.com/valeriespain *Certified Mindfulness Mentor
If you don’t want to commit to a subscription but found this post meaningful, you can drop a contribution here: buymeacoffee.com/valeriespan (http://buymeacoffee.com/valeriespan).
Regarding AI: I do not use AI in any part of my writing and audio editing process: from conceiving and nurturing ideas, to editing drafts, to writing/narrating the final essay, everything is the work of one human who also loves and freely uses the em dash.
Sources
Mother Jones interview with Carolyn Forche https://www.motherjones.com/media/2019/03/carolyn-forche-memoir-venezuela/ (https://www.motherjones.com/media/2019/03/carolyn-forche-memoir-venezuela/)
“The Colonel” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49862/the-colonel (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49862/the-colonel) Interview with Leonel Gómez Vides https://dc.suffolk.edu/moh/21/ (https://dc.suffolk.edu/moh/21/)
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2 Sept 2026
To Make Something True
Any creative work requires space and time to mentally meander, wantonly wander, desultorily daydream. This essay attempts to explain my writing process and the changes needed to sustain it.
Writing essays consistently on Substack since 2023 has made me a better writer, and it has particularly helped me understand my writing process. Some writers outline and plan everything before they write—I figure out what I want or need to write by writing.
The ability to see creative trueness has been with me since childhood. It’s an elliptical knowing; an out-of-the-corner-of-the-eye knowing; a being still and letting it approach you knowing. It’s not limited to the arts. It requires fallow time for thoughts to percolate, ferment or whatever else they do deep inside and out of sight.
So moving forward, I will take time off as needed. The next essay will arrive in your mailbox (or in your RSS feed) September 30th and pick up the bi-weekly rhythm from that date.
“Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion.” – Franz Kafka
Besides being a passionate essayist I am: *A poet and writer. I’m working on a memoir and a YA novel based on a Celtic myth. *A teacher on Insight Timer. https://insighttimer.com/valeriespain *Certified Mindfulness Mentor
If you can't afford a subscription but found this post meaningful, you can drop a contribution here: buymeacoffee.com/valeriespan (http://buymeacoffee.com/valeriespan).
Regarding AI: I do not use AI in any part of my writing process: from conceiving and nurturing ideas, to editing drafts, to writing the final essay. All the imagining, writing and editing is the work of one human who loves and freely uses the em dash.
Get full access to Glorious Ordinary at valeriespain.substack.com/subscribe (https://valeriespain.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
17 Jul 2026
Nothing Special
I’m in a phase, a turning point, a something… where the consequences of many life choices are converging, and old issues clamor to be acknowledged. Relationships are the most clamorous of all particularly the relationship I had with my mother.
I acknowledged the anniversary of her death last week, but surprise(!) we are still in conversation and this postmortem connection has proved to be the most instructive of all.
Nothing special (https://www.lionsroar.com/september-2014-2/) is a Buddhist concept that says being ordinary is enough. No need to be special. Everything we need to learn is happening right now. And it’s pretty amazing.
"As my first teacher, Munindraji, would say, the thought of your mother is not your mother. It’s a thought. A thought of anything is not the thing, it’s a thought. So when we can relate to whatever emotional turmoil might be happening and the thoughts associated with them [by saying to ourselves], “Yeah, this is just a thought in the moment,” it gives us access to relating to it in a different way." ~Joseph Goldstein
Besides being a passionate writer and narrator of this bi-weekly newsletter I am: *An essay writer and poet. *A teacher on Insight Timer. https://insighttimer.com/valeriespain, and a Certified Mindfulness Mentor.
If you don’t want to commit to a subscription but found this post meaningful, you can drop a contribution here: buymeacoffee.com/valeriespan (http://buymeacoffee.com/valeriespan).
Regarding AI: I do not use it in any part of my writing process: from conceiving and nurturing ideas, to editing drafts, to writing the final essay. All the imagining, writing and editing is the work of one human. We don’t need more content. We need heart-centered, human content.
Get full access to Glorious Ordinary at valeriespain.substack.com/subscribe (https://valeriespain.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
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Podcast Authority Score: 33 / 100
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