Holding on Loosely: Opening My Hands, Lightening My Load, and Seeing Something Else

by Dana Knox Wright

Overview

We are overly busy helicopter parents, control freaks, perfectionists, intolerants, over-consumers and social media junkies—who worry, fear, laugh less and always want more. In the midst of it, we wonder what it would feel like to open our hands and turn loose of all of it.

In HOLDING ON LOOSELY: Opening My Hands, Lightening My Load, and Seeing Something Else, author Dana Knox Wright tells stories of one who is hardwired to cling. To her children when they asked for a blessing to go. To someone else’s ideas, when she didn’t trust her own. She held on to prejudice when she would tell you she didn’t. She shut down for days while clinging to fear. She clung to youthfulness as if what would come next couldn’t be her life’s cherry on top.

In a particular season of her life, she recognized her bent to possess, to keep, to hold tightly, and to control was completely contrary to Jesus’ example. This is one woman’s history of holding on and her stories of turning loose—stories of the gentle and firm, humorous and heartbreaking ways God led her to turn loose. It is living minimally from the inside out.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781954437562
Publisher:	Carpenter's Son Publishing
Publication date:	06/14/2022
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dana Knox Wright began letting go of fear at fifty. It’s the decade where, in an odd twist, Sandra Bullock asked for her autograph—the decade she began hiking to places with seriously wild animals, rafting in crazy rivers and eating wild blackberries with only mild concern rabid foxes eat from the plants, too. After a long career in radio voiceover, she found a passion for spreading goodness and living to the full. She has offered readers encouragement, hope and sisterhood for almost ten years through her essays published on her blog. Dana holds a degree in Journalism from The Universityof Texas at Austin, and is the author of Saving Stories: Afternoons with Darrell (2017). She is the mother of three adult children and three grandchildren, and currently lives in a small river town in the Texas Hill Country (Llano, TX) with her husband and an English Mastiff named Pearl.

Table of Contents

Prologue 9

Chapter 1 The Whistle 11

Chapter 2 The Best Parts of Me 21

Chapter 3 The People of Economy 29

Chapter 4 The Zinnia 37

Chapter 5 Desperation 41

Chapter 6 Charlotte of the Mountain 47

Chapter 7 The Invisible Line 53

Chapter 8 A Boy on a Plane 59

Chapter 9 Old Glory 65

Chapter 10 The Air Will Change 71

Chapter 11 The Invitation 75

Chapter 12 Soft Landings 81

Chapter 13 Walking on Lava 87

Chapter 14 We Would Be Friends 95

Chapter 15 The Actress, the Stein Way, and Me 101

Chapter 16 Blue Christmas 107

Chapter 17 Edith's Pink Flamingos 113

Chapter 18 When Diminishing Is Expanding 119

Chapter 19 Old People Kissing 123

Chapter 20 Holding Breath 127

Chapter 21 Living in a Chemex World 131

Chapter 22 The Girl Who Wanted to Play in the Band 137

Chapter 23 The Sky Isn't Falling 145

Chapter 24 The Parable of Vinegar 149

Chapter 25 Locusts 153

Chapter 26 Rina 159

Chapter 27 Crow Doesn't Taste Like Chicken 165

Chapter 28 Things Reclaimed 171

Chapter 29 I've Gone to See the Roses 175

Chapter 30 When Everyone Stayed Home 179

Chapter 31 Gals With Gumption 185

Chapter 32 Supper 191

Chapter 33 The Walls That Held Us 197

Epilogue 203

Acknowledgments 207

About the Author 208

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"In the pages of Holding on Loosely, Dana Knox Wright takes your hand and invites you on a journey of letting go, of opening your hands to yield all that you hold tightly. She knows that hands open to give can't help but receive. Dana's comforting voice speaks truth that may not always be comfortable - but is greatly needed. You'll come away inspired to live with greater understanding and ultimate peace."
–– Ronne Rock, long-road walker and author of One Woman Can Change the World

"I kept reading, I couldn't put the book down. I felt like Dana had been living my life, and walking in my shoes. The stories felt like soothing balm for my heart, a gentle reminder that I'm not alone on this journey. Oh I think you will feel the same when you read these stories, just like Dana's been walking in your shoes too."
–– Tara Royer Steele, author, Eat. Pie. Love.

"I've laughed and cried and agreed so many times! My goodness, this book is beautifully engaging and relates to so many aspects of my life."
–– Julie Tedder, public educator

"I had the incredible privilege to listen early to the audiobook of Holding on Loosely. If you aren't already acquainted with Dana, prepare to meet your new, dear friend. She will draw you into one of the most authentic and transparent conversations you've enjoyed in a long while. Pour yourself a cup of Joe. You'll want to stay awhile."
–– Lauri Ramsey, Civic Volunteer

"Holding on Loosely is a beautiful and thoughtful read! I am so thankful for Dana's words of wisdom as she delves into motherhood, friendship and so many other experiences and pulls back the curtain to reveal the underneath that we all understand: the challenge it is to be human, yet surrendered to something greater than ourselves. The words on these pages are so comforting and timely, as we seek to understand life, gain control over it and recognize that the best things come when we hold what we have been given with a loose, yet hopeful, grip."
–– Jaleesa McCreary, Worship Leader, The Austin Stone

"Dana, thank you so much for the gift of holding your words in my hands. I cried. I laughed. I remembered things from childhood. There were times I felt you lived in my brain. You put words to so many things we have to come to terms with and you did it beautifully with only three: holding on loosely.
–– Carol Howard, Speaker and Creator of Leaving a Legacy Conference

"I’ve cried twice this year. Once when I graduated college, and once after reading only one chapter of this book. Sometimes it takes a good story written by a faithful woman gifted with words to realize you’re holding on tightly."
–– Justyn Tedder, Oil & Gas Public Affairs Associate in Washington, D.C.