What's Here Now....
She Will Not Be Quiet: A (mostly unedited) daily writing practice
Writing Practice. Unedited freewrite straight from my journal....
If you would like to write with me (writing practice style), see below for guidelines…
Prompt: What's here now....
What’s here now…
A kind of panic has set in this morning.
I set the intention to write and share something each and every day and today, it seems I have nothing to say. At least that is what all of the small voices in my head are saying.
So, I show up and just start moving the pen.
I stand at my open kitchen window and watch rain roar down all over everything. I toss the laundry into the washing machine. I talk to my 22 year old daughter on the phone. I drink black coffee even thought I prefer cream and sweetener because I am a bit desperate to shed some weight. I light a candle that smells like honey and try to remember to breathe and not look at the news (that reports of too many nightmares to handle and causes me to hold my breath and to forget that I have a body).
I look out the window and notice that the rain has stopped and there are 9 or 10 finches on the feeder, the gentle breeze is kissing the snowberry, the oak branches, the Oregon grape. Everything glistens.
I am in my warm home surrounded by a vase full of gerber daisies, another vase full of roses and lilies - gifts from the birthday that has already passed. It only comes once a year, this special day that marks my birth, and I feel a sadness now that I can't explain.
55. I sit and stare at the number hoping it will give me a hint of something, some bit of wisdom, some assurance that everything is going to be okay.
What I really want to say is that I am worried about the world. I am worried about the trees and the birds and the bees and the children. I am worried about the unkindness, the power-hungry dictators that are really really small children that think power and money will make them bigger.
I don't want to talk about any of that though.
Instead I want to listen to whatever it is the birds are saying. I want to walk with the trees and enter my body more fully. I want to send love and kindness out out out, hoping someone will catch a little bit of it in their open palm and feel just a little bit lighter.
I want to remember that despite the so much brutal, the daffodils are blooming, the wind chimes are singing.
The sun just peeked out from behind the clouds.
INVITATION
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An Invitation to write yourself free…
After you read the below writing practice guidelines, grab your notebook and a free-flowing, yummy pen, set a timer for 10 minutes (or whatever time feels best) and begin with the below line, or any other line (from my above writing) that speaks to you….
What’s here now….
Writing Practice Guidelines
(As created, with some of my own tweaks, by one of my greatest teachers Natalie Goldberg)
Give yourself permission to write the worst junk in the world (this is the most important one!). Writing practice is very much not about trying to be "good," it is about opening the door and allowing space for your insides to speak (without any pressure, agenda, or expectations). It is simply saying what is true, what is true, what is true.
Keep your hand moving. No stopping to edit (no crossing out, no re-reading, no attention to spelling/grammar). The reason for this fast writing is to outrun the editor who really wants to be in control. Give yourself full permission to lose control!
Go for the jugular. If there is energy there, dive straight into it.
If you get stuck (of find you are circling some important truth), write the words: WHAT I REALLY WANT TO SAY IS or THE TRUTH IS…this can’t help but drop you more deeply into your writing.
Enjoy! Play. Have fun.
* Please feel free to share some of the "recalls" from your own writing. Recalls are simply phrases/lines that feel especially poignant/resonant/goosebumpy/true to you.
What's going to help me are these five things: 1. Spiritual practices and rituals. 2. Human connection. 3. All the arts, esp. music and poetry. 4. Giving others grace. 5. "Wisdom to know the difference' between what I can and what I can't change.