I have this idea of writing every day, but I’ve never really been a writer. Of course I write something everyday simply due to the nature of my work but I’m interested in something more on the creative/reflective side. Curiosity is what is pushing this into action. What would it look like? What would emerge each day? What is a reasonable number of words to work toward? How do I not spend endless time editing and re-editing?
I’ve been inspired by others, such as Keen Lotus and Power of Love,who manage to create lovely content on a regular basis. I suspect it just takes a short amount of time each day and the willingness to not be overly critical of my writing.
Today I’m on flight to Philadelphia from Los Angeles and I’ve brought the current issue of Shambhala Sun along with the lovely picture of Pema Chodron on the cover. Inside she writes about fear, which seems appropriate given this exploration. She writes. “…the very first step, and perhaps the hardest, is developing an unconditional friendship with oneself.” can this be done I. The context of daily writing? Am I willing to explore this publicly?
So here’s 208 words to get me started. Seems reasonable.
Comments
2 responses to “Learning to Write”
Kenley,
A great decision and thought!
For those of us who are aware of our existence at a deep level, building relationships with one’s self, others, elements of nature, and even inanimate objects become a requirement of mindful existence and lifestyle. This journey starts with building a relationship with oneself and continues with the evolution of such relationship to friendship with oneself. Such friendship if nurtured and observed with unconditional acceptance and love of self can revolutionize to unconditional friendship with oneself. Once such level of relationship – unconditional friendship – with self is acquired, practiced, and become part of who one is, it can serve as the first step to determine the root of each feeling in one’s mind, body, emotion, and spirit.
The root of every action an individual takes is either fear or fearfulness. Fear exists in us as fearfulness does. In the process of building friendship with oneself, one accepts the presence of fear in him or her and remains aware of its existence in his/her mind. At this point the individual reaches a level of awareness of his/her strengths and weaknesses that can be addressed by choosing to be fearless; or to be mindful to challenge the fear within to reach fearfulness and therefore reach the level of physical manifestation of such fearless thoughts in the shape and form of accomplishment of a goal in the physical realm. Such goal can be writing on a daily basis.
I have been writing three days a week, twice a day on each day that I write to fulfill my writing requirement for my graduate degree for the past two years. My audience is small (about 11 individuals interested in technology, information systems, research, and knowledge management). In return, I read their posts and collaborate or communicate with them. Even though I write on a daily basis for work or to teach other than writing as a student, my level of writing fluctuates from construction of meaning and creating new knowledge to bare minimum of words to communicate. Also, life happens. Once one begins to write, there may be days in which other tasks become more important and go up the priority list. As long as the habit is not broken, breaks are acceptable to me.
I hope to write for public after completing my degree and gaining sufficient knowledge to share with everyone.
I wish you the best with your journey of daily writing and look forward to reading your posts.
Best,
Salomeh
Completed 5 of the last 7 days. Off to a good start. Thanks for the comments and feedback. I hope you are happy.