Guest Post: ‘Heart of a Warrior’ by Eden Robins

About the Book:

It’s just gonna be one of those days…

Empathic healer and business owner, Dora Alexander decided to celebrate her 25th birthday by exploring the stalagmites and stalactites in Kartchner Caverns. Kinda nerdy? Maybe, but you do you, right? Things take a nasty turn when an earthquake rocks the cave, leaving her alone in complete darkness. Searching for a way out, she accidently awakens an immortal warrior who’s kind of cranky after his 100-year nap. Wouldn’t you be?

Philoctetes, one of Demeter’s immortal Gold warriors wakes up to the disturbing sound of a female sobbing. Thinking she’s one of the Silver demons he’s sworn to hunt down and destroy, he almost kills her before realizing she’s human. Correction. Turns out she’s not just human. She’s also the woman responsible for sending his kind to hell and causing woe and misery for the entire human race.

Dora never asked to be Pandora reborn. And she certainly didn’t ask to be paired up with an insanely hot immortal demon hunter on a mission to save the world and redeem them both. But The Fates seem to have their own quirky ideas. One of them being if she and said hot demon hunter consummate the inferno like attraction blazing between them, they’ll simply cease to exist, with any memory of their time on earth erased forever.

Oh goody, the day just got worse.

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Thanks so much for inviting me to post at Reading Nook. I’m grateful for the opportunity to share my thoughts…

As I sit looking at the blank page, wondering what I’ll write about, I take a deep breath in, then exhale, then another in, and one more out. I let my mind settle, knowing the page will reveal its secrets to me, in time. As Michelangelo once said of sculpting, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”

I begin to write, not sure where it will take me, yet knowing there’s a magic that happens just by putting words on paper. I’ve experienced this before, many times, and that consistency assures me that time will yield the story waiting for me within the blank page.

I understand now that my writing journey is more about persistent, simple acts rather than perfectly executed choreography.

A great way for me to remember this is to repeat the following, “There is no story without words, so just start putting the words on the page.” Sounds simple and cliché, and yet another truth that has bubbled up from my years of living is that a simple action, when repeated consistently, can transform my life. As my cursor moves across the page, and the letters coalesce into words, and those words flow into sentences, I let the power of momentum push me forward. I keep in mind that what I’m writing is not set in stone, and I can go back and hone and polish it to my heart’s content.

The important thing is to have something to hone and polish.

One of my first memories of how simple acts can change my life was when I decided to start running. I’d never been a runner, but something sparked inside me later in life, and I knew I wanted to do something outdoors that was good for me, that I didn’t have to drive somewhere to do it, and I could do it anytime without restriction. Running fit the bill perfectly, yet I couldn’t get started. I talked about it and would feel motivated the evening before a planned run, but in the morning as my alarm went off, the idea of getting up and doing it seemed too daunting, so I’d hit the snooze button and go back to sleep.

I grew frustrated by my repeated nonstarters and thought about what I could do to get myself up and out in the morning. How can I make this easier for myself, so that this doesn’t seem so challenging? That was the question I wanted to answer.

I mulled over it for a few days, thinking of different scenarios that might help. Maybe I should double my alarm so that it goes off repeatedly? No. That would just make me feel cranky and resentful and could lead me to dismissing the whole idea. Maybe I should run in the evening instead of the morning? Nope. After a day at work, my energy was more focused on relaxing with a good book or movie.

I was doing laundry one night as I continued thinking about how to solve my dilemma, and as I folded a pair of socks, it came to me. Why don’t I just lay out all my running clothes on the end of my bed the night before so when I wake up in the morning, I can just get up, grab my clothes, and go. Very little brain function would be needed because everything would be ready for me. I could even put a glass of water in the fridge the night before to drink before I headed out the door.

Sounds simplistic, like it wouldn’t make a difference, but I’m here to tell you that it made a HUGE difference. I woke up that first morning after putting my clothes out the night before, reached down to the foot of the bed and voila. Everything at my fingertips. Being half asleep didn’t matter. I had started the process the night before and now all I had to do was keep it going.

And out I ran.

That evening I did the same, and the next morning, I ran. And the next evening before I planned to run, I did it again, and again, and again. From that first evening I set my clothes on the foot of my bed, close to ten years now, I’ve been running. Looking back now, it seems strange that something so small would create such a shift, and yet it did.

I’ll always remember that lesson, and now apply simple yet effective principles to other areas of my life, like writing.

And it works.

Today, I face the blank page knowing it will soon reveal the world to me.

I don’t have to know all the how’s.

All I need to do is start putting the words on the page, and trust that the magic will unfold.

Eden Robins believes in second chances. She’s been lucky enough to have a few in her life and knows there’s a magic in seizing the moment to try again. As a mentor, her heart’s purpose is to guide people into living as their full, innate, creative potential. As a writer, her heart leads her to inspire readers through her tales. Creating stories about people courageously living, loving, and experiencing life true to themselves, no matter how messy it gets, are the ones Eden wants to write and will keep writing for you…and for her. Connect with Eden at https://linktr.ee/edenrobins and check out her blog, Living the Path, https://awholeheartedme.com/blog