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Nov 11, 2023Liked by Sue Deagle, Leona Waller

This really screamed at me. I have been blocked as a writer for 11 months and I wondered why. I stopped looking at the world and observing when my wife got real sick. I am so glad that you wrote this. David Brooks said in an interview that great writers are observers. Thank You.

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Brian, that’s so amazing. This post was absolutely meant for you then. Next Saturday I’m going to talk some more about observations and insights specific to my journey over the last seven years, and how they led to my creativity here at TL. But you are well on your way back to being and ‘observationist’ - a new term that reader Stephen just coined in honor of his son Scott. And having a laser focus in on your wife and her illness was the right thing at the time. It’s good to also see that being an observationist gives us our brains a break too when things are really hard. Best wishes to you!

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Nov 11, 2023Liked by Sue Deagle, Leona Waller

Thank you Sue! The power of observation! It is making me think of our son , and everyone else in our family. For Scott being non verbal, he is a constant observantist!, new word!

For my whole family I pray this week they will observe and create a better life, world, etc, for themselves and others!

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Stephen, I love this! I might stretch it to an observationist! (And no autocorrect, you will not make me submit, Stephen and I will make up words if we want to! That’s being CREATIVE!) Your Scott has a lot to teach us about observing I would think. Thanks for a new way of looking at that. And yes, let’s create a better us, community and world together. I’m all in! Take care.

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When I first stumbled upon your Substack, I remember being intimidated by your creativity! You'd built, from scratch, a place where people experiencing grief could gather, learn, and even find pockets of joy together. So: thanks for creating beautiful things each week, impostor syndrome be damned!

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Thanks for this Maddie - and mad props to what you have created too! I learn something every single week from the combo of your perspective and what you create from it. Thanks for the wisdom shared! ❤️

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Nov 11, 2023Liked by Leona Waller

I was unable to find the audio presentation of this post.

Don Leedy.........West Chester, OH

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Hi Don - so sorry, it’s added now. If you go back into today’s post and look for the ‘read in app’ button, it’ll take you to substack and you can listen there. Thanks and take care.

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