Thank you Donors!

This video is a thank you gift to my beloved crowdfunding donors who contributed financially to my first novel, Other Wise.

Watch Asra’s thank you video

Please forgive me for not sending out the thank you packages yet. They are coming! Other Wise continues to enthrall me and is coming along well. I have almost completed the third draft, and an ending has finally emerged….

Thank you for your trust, for supporting my freedom to create. Thank you for not limiting me to who I was before, a teacher and a painter, and for believing in me to try something new. Writing helps me access the “beginners mind” allowing art to take on a life of its own. I even began playing around with movement and music as well!

The money I received from the crowdfunding campaign enabled me to travel to Spain and visit two of my wonderful life teachers, Julio and Jorge, who the book is dedicated to. In recent months I have also deepened my meditation practice, which is where the book originally sprang from. This too was made possible in part to your financial assistance.

What is the self? This is the core question in the book, a question that causes so much hubris, pain, and confusion. Yet, within the asking is present a knowing. Along with encountering the unknown comes the integrity of surrendering to something greater than the personal self. This collective transition away from pride and grasping, towards reverence and courage, is part of the message that your donation supports.

I hope you enjoy the video. (Click link above). I made it specifically with my donors in mind. It is intended as a celebration of our mutual appreciation for each other and the inner connection every being shares beyond space and time with the grace and wisdom of each moment.

 

The video is devoted with thanks to:

Alice Kalafarski

Carlo DeAngelis

Lorey Zahn

Dale & Catherine Terbergh

Jackie Davis

Barbara Thorngren

Zach Hessney

Marguy Nelson

Jean Pascal Monzies

Cynthia Nichols

Laura Northrop

Peter & Claudia Zahn

Karen Simmons

Margaret Shamonsky

Susan Moffet

Juliane Weeks

Linda McClean & Katherine Pantland

Helen-Ann Ireland

Hayden Draper

Emily Corbett

Joe Wadleigh

Maggie Cely

Leonore & Paul Sullivan

Caleb Heller

Hannah Ladouceur

Peter & Yifat Sheen

Gayle Sisson

Geoffrey Tanner

Zachary Zahn

Megan Roy

Aidan Sofia Earle

Seana Cullinan

Mike Conley

Solomon Shinerock

Joshua Blumenthal

Glynn Graham

Fred Simmons & Lesley Vogel

Paula Noukas-Taylor

Theodore Groh

Susanne Buchanan

Elizabeth & Rob Earle

Lois Karel

Haven Giguere

Barbara & Robert Sim

Paola Santillan

Bear & Susan Collins

You all have been very close to my heart while I finish writing this book. We are all on the healing path of awakening of becoming truly human, becoming “other wise.” Generating kindness and respect, such as you have shown to me through your generosity in supporting this project, is how we make steps on this path.

May your heart at peace and your mind be free from suffering.

Gratefully yours,

Asra