The High Road Artist’s 400th Post!

I get up every day and write to you—a you I didn’t know existed a year and seven months ago. That’s when Adam Wimsatt and I launched this dream of ours, (see previous post How the Blog Was Born) a dream I didn’t even know existed. Amazing what the universe offers us when we listen.

Rilke said, “… love the questions themselves… don’t search for the answers, which could not be given you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without ever noticing it, live your way into the answer…” I feel like that’s exactly where I am. I am peacefully living the questions and I trust that, one day, I will have lived my way into the answers without even realizing it—exactly as the blog has come into being.

I sit here at my table, looking out on the mountain, my animals sleeping around me, and I talk to you. And you respond. I understand this is a life. Just this.

Today we celebrate our 400th post. I say “our” because all of you are part of this with me. I wouldn’t be writing if not for you. It’s true. And I can’t tell you how deeply meaningful it is to have you to talk with. Some of you have been here since the very beginning and some of you are fairly new to our community. Each and every one of you is incredibly important to me. Thank you for coming along on this unfolding, mysterious journey. And thank you so very much for sharing your stories with me, those of you who have. I hope to hear from more of you over the course of the next 400. In fact, let’s make this a formal invitation: Please send me your stories and I will publish some of them on the blog. What do you say? Write them like the blog posts, roughly 500 words long. Use the contact form to send me your stories, found here: http://high-road-artist.com/contact-2/. I truly hope to hear from more of you.

But for now, I wanted to share some of my favorite posts out of this body of work. Remarkable what we can do when we just put one foot in front of the other, isn’t it? A special acknowledgment to you, Adam. This surprising community and communication would never have been born without you. THANK YOU!

And to all of you, here you go, in celebration of our 400th, I give you High Road Artist’s list of personal favorites:

I must start with my own story. It was the original inspiration for the blog after all. Some of you haven’t read it so, here it is, post by post, in order:

• High Road Artist: My Story Begins
• My Re-Birthday
• Leap of Faith
• Into the Wilderness
• Of the Land
• The Long Goodbye
• Coming to New Mexico
• Dreams Come True
• The Night I Died: The Whole Story, Part 1
• The Night I Died: The Whole Story, Part 2

Then there is Kate’s Story, a friend in the midst of a difficult transition who was willing to share her unfolding with us, as challenging as it was for her to do so. Many of you were inspired, by her journey, to make changes in your own lives.

• Conversations On Speaking One’s Truth, Part 1
• Conversations On Speaking One’s Truth, Part 2
• Conversations On Speaking One’s Truth, Part 3
• Conversations On Speaking One’s Truth, Part 4
• Conversations On Change, Part 1
• Conversations On Change, Part 2
• Conversations On Stress
• Conversations On World Trauma
• Conversations On Forward Movement, Part 1
• Conversations On Forward Movement, Part 2
• Conversations On Forward Movement, Part 3
• Conversations On Forward Movement, Part 4
• Conversations On Forward Movement, Part 5
• Conversations on Changing a Life, Part 1
• Conversations on Changing a Life, Part 2
• Conversations on Changing a Life, Part 3
• Conversations on Changing a Life, Part 4
• Conversations on Changing a Life, Part 5
• Conversations on New Beginnings
• Conversations on Being Vulnerable, Part 1
• Conversations on Being Vulnerable, Part 2
• Conversations on Being Vulnerable, Part 3
• Conversations on Transitions, Part 1
• Conversations on Transitions, Part 2
• Conversations on Transitions, Part 3
• Conversations on Transitions, Part 4
• Conversations on Transitions, Part 5
• Conversations on Transitions, Part 6
• Conversations on Being Tested, Part 1
• Conversations on Being Tested, Part 2
• Conversations on Being Tested, Part 3
• Conversations on Being Tested, Part 4
• Conversations on Letting Go, Part 1
• Conversations on Letting Go, Part 2
• Conversations on Letting Go, Part 3
• Conversations on Letting Go, Part 4
• Conversations on Letting Go, Part 5
• Conversations on Letting Go, Part 6
• Some Thoughts From Kate

One of the most fun things we’ve done on the blog, I think, is Reader’s Recipes. I asked for some of your favorite, one-dish, simple meals, and you responded! You all put me back in the kitchen, no small feat, and I am quite literally thrilled by it all. In fact let’s make this a new call for recipes, shall we? The stipulations: 1. SIMPLE 2. Preferably one-dish dinners 3. Easy-to-find ingredients 4. DELICIOUS! OK, get going and send in your recipes please!

Here’s what we have to date:

• Mind-Bendingly Easy Green Chili Stew Recipe
• Earth-Shattering Garlic Pasta Recipe
• Judy Collins’s Green Chile Strata Recipe
• Delicious Costa Rican Stuffed Pork Roast
• “Impossible to Stop Eating” Colcannon
• Fabulous Vegetarian Sweet Potato Chili Recipe
• How to Make a Perfect Country Loaf by Kim Moss
• Chloe’s Quinoa Salad With Green Fire Salsa
• Lee Hynes’ Boeuf Stroganoff Recipe
• Italian Tomato Pie Recipe
• Turkey Chili With White Beans and Cocoa
• Give Me Your Favorite Recipes Please!
• The Very Best Ever Mincemeat Pie Recipe

And that, dear ones, is that. Four hundred posts under our belts! My thanks to each and every one of you for offering more meaning, depth and purpose to my life. I hope, in some small way, I am returning the favor.

Love and much gratitude to you all,
Jeane