Why I write….
I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.
―Joan Didion
I have always been a writer at heart, as a kid writing writing stories or poetry during church, a teen furiously jotting down every. single. thing. that. happened, a young adult attempting to make sense of the world, an older adult processing life, and capturing wishes and dreams for the future.
When I know what I am thinking, I can then trace the feelings in order to get at the heart of the “why” I am feeling a certain way.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Many years ago, I joined a women’s writing circle that was a safe place to meet with other women, respond to writing prompts, and to share what came up as we wrote together. It was a continuation of a profound part of my journey of self-discovery. Through that experience I learned about Natalie Goldberg’s approach to get at the heart of a memory or a feeling, to dive into the texture of a moment, and to explore it with curiosity. Only by sitting with the thing and exploring it, do we get to grasp it, and even use it for our own benefit. It may be a memory, a smell, or a color, but if it feels significant, it most likely is.
Later on I found another useful guide, Laraine Herring, a creative writing teacher and counselor, who talks about how our memories and life experiences are a part of our physical selves. When we start by centering with a breath and moving from that point inward, we can begin to unpack our unique experiences. The purpose of this is to connect our body and mind through the act of writing.
“Deep writing emerges from the space between the inhalation and the exhalation, that space between the doing and the dreaming, our place of power, of mystery, and of authenticity.”
So I ask you this, what lies in that sacred space between the inhale and the exhale for you? If you are drawn to the page, find a new page and begin where you are right now. Light a candle and listen to the space in between the ocean of breathing in and out, in and out, and in, again.
“Writing is the willingness to see” (Goldberg, in Long Quiet Highway).
Natalie Goldberg: Long Quiet Highway: Waking up in America
Wild Mind:
Old Friend from Far Away
Laraine Herring: Writing Begins with the Breath: Embodying your authentic voice
The Other Book