21 Comments

I saw the most beautiful magenta bougainvillea yesterday and that’s what I saw as I read your piece.

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Each color takes me back to a different time in my life. I’m especially reminded of childhood summer vacations in southern India. Thank you, LeaAnn, I’m imagining the magenta!

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Dear Priya - what a great image. Thank you for sharing your Self through stories.

I've never conceptualized the blockages in my journey as a wall. It is an interesting way of viewing the deviations in a life path. If I do have a chance to write on this idea, I will definitely share with you.

I have a lifelong love/hate relationship with September. Here in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, September signals the coming autumn colors. Beyond the few weeks of colorful show are months of colorless scenery that incites SAD in millions of us. It is nature's way - progression, recession, progression... To survive, it is necessary to have faith in an eternal return.

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To get through the wall of winter gray take up a hobby, play ice hockey, ski a slope or take a trip south to Caribbean in January to get some sunshine.

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Richard, I was so moved by your comment. Writing always feels like a sharing of Self.

Your relationship with September feels like my current relationship with August and November though it isn’t related to seasons as much as things that generally tend to happen during those months. Having faith that things will turn around- it’s also an eternal struggle! Thank you, I look forward to your stories!

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Gorgeous photo. I love bougainvillea!

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B’villia is a thorny subject. But humming birds and swallowtail butterflies are attracted.

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Very true!

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Me too! Thanks, Robin!

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Oh, good, Priya, My second nudge in the right direction! My wall has been that I haven't been reading books so much in the past several months. It's b/c my time--hate to say this--has been taken up by reading a zillion Substacks! Once I sign up, as a Type A, I feel compelled to read them, so I can 'check it off' my list. I'm so glad most people only post weekly-- when people post daily it's tough for me to keep up. Anyway, I have been submerged in substacks--and then JUST YESTERDAY btw, I'd picked up a book and had read maybe a chapter, and I decided to get into it, and I did! Also, today, Sarah Fay's post on not being able to read came out, and then I saw your post on 'the wall,' and I thought Hmm. Maybe I can be over this now. As a writer I feel it's super important to also be a reader, and have so missed reading books. Yes, I love essays, but I like the long game of a book. So, I'll figure out how to better manage things with all, but I do know this, on my TBR read books--I'm coming for them! (great post)!

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Coincidentally, I, too, had stopped reading books. My reasoning was I would hear my voice and words more clearly/without being influenced by other writers. But, this week I picked up Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder and I am hooked! I can’t imagine why I ever thought I would benefit from not reading! Thanks, Jeanine!

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Hi Priya! Loved it, think that’s the one about the Amazon, right ? Have you read Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic where she tells about a Wild tale regarding that book and Anne Patchett? It’s a mind blower, very Magic realism or something similar. I am so glad you again started reading, same here. It felt off. I have to make better decisions about my time.

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It is that Amazon one and I remember Elizabeth Gilbert mentioning it in Big Magic. I remember thinking it was so surreal!

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Oh so glad you know it!! It was simply wild and just amazing. It’s a great book!

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I love the idea that on the other side of the roadblock (wall) there is a beautiful bougainvillea. Metaphorically and literally it’s a wonderful image. :)

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Thanks, Michael! I appreciate your reading!

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It’s always a pleasure, Priya :)

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I love how you describe September. Especially with the line "September is changeable, and a harbinger of healing and hibernation." It's so true, I feel it in my bones.

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September is such a special month! Thanks, Nadia!

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Sep 27Liked by Priya Iyer

Priya your writing is so soothing and calming to read and causes one to introspect.

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Thank you, Josephine!

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