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Fennel’s Journal The Pursuit of Life

The Pursuit of Life – The Fennel's Journal Story describes how lifestyle author Fennel Hudson defined and pursued his dreams, providing guidance and encouragement for those on similar paths. It provides a very personal interpretation of how the series came to be and how it evolved. Ultimately it shows how the Fennel's Journal series can be used as a route map to a better quality and more fulfilling life.

Publication pending.

  • Contents

    Chapters

    1. Preface – A life retold.
    2. The Fennel's Journal Story – A ten-year adventure of self-discovery.
    3. Becoming Me – Learning to write, to understand the message.
    4. The Origins of Fennel's Journal – A time of letters and distant friends.
    5. Friends of the Priory – No longer alone, there are 'people like us'.
    6. The Handwritten Letters – The earliest letters.
    7. The Friends become Twenty – How the letters, and friends, grew.
    8. A Monthly Letter – Writing, with purpose.
    9. ​The Encouragement of Others – How friendship helps us to keep our faith.
    10. A Very Fine Thing, this Journal – A limited edition magazine and 17th century leather binder?
    11. Journal, International – How a website and eBooks broadcast the message internationally.
    12. Stop – Unplug – And Keep Going! – Resilience and self-belief during difficult times.
    13. What it Means to Me – Fennel, as you know him and I know him.
    14. Leafing Through My Life – Developing the hardback and paperback versions of Fennels' Journal.
    15. Can You Hear Me? – Recording the audiobooks of Fennel's Journal.
    16. Things of Beauty – Realising the vision with Leather-bound and Classic Edition anthologies
    17. What Next? – Another journal, or something else?
    18. The Pursuit of Life – What Fennel's Journal can teach us.
    19. Encouragement for Writers – Advice for those seeking to be heard.
    20. A Writer's Life – How writing about life forces us to live.
    21. Solitude – Quiet time, alone with one's thoughts.
    22. Echoes and Reflections – The cycle of life, and self.
    23. Waiting – For what? The proactivity of self-belief.
    24. A New Day Rises – To begin something new.
    25. The Promise, Fulfilled –  Completing the journey.

    Publication details

    Published by Fennel’s Priory Limited.

    • Full version in hardback and eBook – pending publication
    • Audiobook – pending publication

    Copyright © Fennel Hudson 2019

    • Hardback ISBN 978-1-909947-64-1
    • Kindle ISBN 978-1-909947-62-7
    • Audiobook download ISBN 978-1-909947-66-5

    A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

     

  • Commentary

    Fennel's commentary

    Modern life can be fast-paced, hectic and stressful. We rush along at breakneck speed, constantly innovating and seeking ‘more’ as we race towards an unseen future. It’s a blind dash, an uphill sprint and eventual free-fall towards the ultimate deception: ‘that we’ll be happier when we get there’.

    But we never get there. There’s always more. More things, more desire, more temptation. But, alas, no more time. Why, then, do we keep running? Why don’t we just stop, catch our breath, and enjoy the pure beauty of life?

    It's easy to know, but harder to act. Sometimes, we're forced to act.

    What do you do when you lose everything that you hold dear? When, in the face of crippling debt, betrayal, and ailing health, you realise that you’ve lost your way? That you’ve been on the wrong path and that you can no longer trust yourself or the world around you?

    What do you do?

    You close your eyes and retreat into the darkness.

    There, when things begin to heal, you might find a place of safety and beauty. Somewhere you can pause and think about the time when you were happiest.

    Pausing encourages us to stop and think: ‘What would life be like if we’d taken a different path? One informed by the wisdom of age and purity of truth. Impervious to external influence, where would we be and who would we be?’

    So that when we open our eyes we can reboot and rebuild our lives, on our terms.

    This is what Fennel's Journal seeks to achieve. It's not so much a record of what was, rather a manifesto of what must remain and how life should be. It's about the pursuit of life.

     

  • Quotes

    Favourite Quote

    "We can hide, or we can strive – for a life of our making. With endless possibilities and opportunities to reach for our dreams, we owe it to ourselves to dream big and keep going, irrespective of what we might encounter. Sadly, the thing that most limits our sucess is not others, but ourselves. How strongly we believe, how confidently we act, how fiercely we react, how passionately we want, and how life-affirmingly compelled we are grow and blossom; that's how we keep going, no matter what, to be the person we want to be, living the life we deserve, in dreams that are real."

    Fennel Hudson, The Pursuit of Life, Fennel's Journal No. 14

     

Chapters

  1. Preface – A life retold.
  2. The Fennel's Journal Story – A ten-year adventure of self-discovery.
  3. Becoming Me – Learning to write, to understand the message.
  4. The Origins of Fennel's Journal – A time of letters and distant friends.
  5. Friends of the Priory – No longer alone, there are 'people like us'.
  6. The Handwritten Letters – The earliest letters.
  7. The Friends become Twenty – How the letters, and friends, grew.
  8. A Monthly Letter – Writing, with purpose.
  9. ​The Encouragement of Others – How friendship helps us to keep our faith.
  10. A Very Fine Thing, this Journal – A limited edition magazine and 17th century leather binder?
  11. Journal, International – How a website and eBooks broadcast the message internationally.
  12. Stop – Unplug – And Keep Going! – Resilience and self-belief during difficult times.
  13. What it Means to Me – Fennel, as you know him and I know him.
  14. Leafing Through My Life – Developing the hardback and paperback versions of Fennels' Journal.
  15. Can You Hear Me? – Recording the audiobooks of Fennel's Journal.
  16. Things of Beauty – Realising the vision with Leather-bound and Classic Edition anthologies
  17. What Next? – Another journal, or something else?
  18. The Pursuit of Life – What Fennel's Journal can teach us.
  19. Encouragement for Writers – Advice for those seeking to be heard.
  20. A Writer's Life – How writing about life forces us to live.
  21. Solitude – Quiet time, alone with one's thoughts.
  22. Echoes and Reflections – The cycle of life, and self.
  23. Waiting – For what? The proactivity of self-belief.
  24. A New Day Rises – To begin something new.
  25. The Promise, Fulfilled –  Completing the journey.

Publication details

Published by Fennel’s Priory Limited.

  • Full version in hardback and eBook – pending publication
  • Audiobook – pending publication

Copyright © Fennel Hudson 2019

  • Hardback ISBN 978-1-909947-64-1
  • Kindle ISBN 978-1-909947-62-7
  • Audiobook download ISBN 978-1-909947-66-5

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

 

Fennel's commentary

Modern life can be fast-paced, hectic and stressful. We rush along at breakneck speed, constantly innovating and seeking ‘more’ as we race towards an unseen future. It’s a blind dash, an uphill sprint and eventual free-fall towards the ultimate deception: ‘that we’ll be happier when we get there’.

But we never get there. There’s always more. More things, more desire, more temptation. But, alas, no more time. Why, then, do we keep running? Why don’t we just stop, catch our breath, and enjoy the pure beauty of life?

It's easy to know, but harder to act. Sometimes, we're forced to act.

What do you do when you lose everything that you hold dear? When, in the face of crippling debt, betrayal, and ailing health, you realise that you’ve lost your way? That you’ve been on the wrong path and that you can no longer trust yourself or the world around you?

What do you do?

You close your eyes and retreat into the darkness.

There, when things begin to heal, you might find a place of safety and beauty. Somewhere you can pause and think about the time when you were happiest.

Pausing encourages us to stop and think: ‘What would life be like if we’d taken a different path? One informed by the wisdom of age and purity of truth. Impervious to external influence, where would we be and who would we be?’

So that when we open our eyes we can reboot and rebuild our lives, on our terms.

This is what Fennel's Journal seeks to achieve. It's not so much a record of what was, rather a manifesto of what must remain and how life should be. It's about the pursuit of life.

 

Favourite Quote

"We can hide, or we can strive – for a life of our making. With endless possibilities and opportunities to reach for our dreams, we owe it to ourselves to dream big and keep going, irrespective of what we might encounter. Sadly, the thing that most limits our sucess is not others, but ourselves. How strongly we believe, how confidently we act, how fiercely we react, how passionately we want, and how life-affirmingly compelled we are grow and blossom; that's how we keep going, no matter what, to be the person we want to be, living the life we deserve, in dreams that are real."

Fennel Hudson, The Pursuit of Life, Fennel's Journal No. 14

 

Explore the Journals

Fennel’s Journal is the heartfelt and entertaining account of one man’s search for an old-fashioned and peaceful rural life. Written by lifestyle author Fennel Hudson, the Journal traces his attempts to balance the pressures of modern living by following the mantra of ‘Stop – Unplug – Escape – Enjoy’.

The Priory, what's in a name?

The Priory is a philosophy and a belief system that says it is possible to balance the ever-growing complexities and pace of modern life. It is also a celebration of wildlife and country living, those things that serve as an antidote to the concrete claustrophobia of towns and cities.

The Priory Philosophy

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