Yowza! Yowza! Yowza!

For me--that one single word has come to encapsulate so much of what it means to live an intentional life, a spiritual life. Let me try to pinpoint what the word "Yowza" has come to mean to me. That one word encompasses so much--a soulful spirit...a gratitude spirit...a giving spirit...a playful spirit..a heart spirit...a creative spirit...a joy spirit...a loving spirit...a let's-do-a-cartwheel spirit...a let's-gather-with-friends spirit...a let's-live-life-fully spirit...and so-much-more spirit. For several years now, my life has found a new center when I live and share the Yowza Spirit, and so I think it is time to enter into the "circle of bloggers" with the hope that others will "Catch the Yowza Spirit...and Pass It on".

Because life can become hectic and demanding at times, I decided that I would give myself permission to use this blog when the spirit calls and when time allows. It is my intention to sit down on a regular basis to share the Yowza Spirit...but if there are lapses in entries, please don't throw this "baby out with the bath water". Most likely, if you haven't heard from me in a bit, then it means that the spirit of life has grabbed me by the arm and pulled me right smack-dab into the middle of things. Enough said.

To set this Yowza Spirit blog in motion, let me share how it all began.

Many years back, I participated in a creative writing workshop at a women's writing conference. The session was one in which we were to discover our "barbaric yawp". The session felt like many other writing circles--a session where one is invited to tap into the inner spirit, the creative spirit...but this time, we were asked to stand up and shout out the one word that bubbled up from deep within our creative core and that begged to be loosed into the universe. So there we were, a group of women writers--eyes closed, crayon poised above a blank sheet of newsprint--waiting for the first note of music so that we could free up our creative ideas and imaginings. Hmmmmm...I had participated in activities like this many times, and at first it felt a bit like I was just "going through the motions" of participation. The music began, my crayon met the blank page, I sat there for a while and then began doodling (remember - my eyes are closed). As the music played and images and thoughts danced on my eyelids, I felt it--a little "seed of a word" taking root in my stomach, taking hold and then moving up and up toward my heart and then the word burst into full bloom. That's right -- I shouted out my barbaric yawp--YOWZA. (And I was not alone in the shouting of these yawps...women, at different intervals, whispered or spoke or shouted out their yawps into this writing circle.) The energy was electric. My heart was happy. I felt giddy. And that is when Yowza began to define a part of me. Since that writing session, I have found my happiest and most fulfilling life moments when I am in the Yowza Spirit.

And so it is that I now enter the circle of blogging to share the Yowza Spirit. I will allow the blog spirit to bubble up--to take on a bit of a a life of its own through shared stories, photographs, gatherings, writing and who the heck knows what else. I will little stories of the good things that Yowza Elves are doing. I will invite you to be a Yowza, too. See you back here soon - Susie