The piece I wrote yesterday is irretrievable. I was too quick to click on ‘don’t save’ and didn’t realize that I’d never saved it. It breaks my heart, because I won’t get a do-over and it was important. I can only move forward and learn.
How many times has that happened to you? The loss of a good thing followed by remorse, regret, anger, disappointment? It’s impossible to live and not experience this. Eventually, we move on to build another story.
However, still alive is this central idea: writing keeps me sane.
At 12, I began to fill notebooks with what I could not speak aloud at home. This simple act of honouring my feelings and thoughts saved me.
At the age of 60, I made writing central to my life. I had always loved the feel and act of writing, of inner listening, of capturing what showed up. And I made the decision to attend to it loyally and give it life.
There are many women like me who love writing but stopped themselves. That doesn’t mean that the desire is lost.
If you have that little flame still burning in your heart, that’s the soul calling you. Its message is clear. “Write,” it says. You may not know why or for what, but that’s not your business.
Following the call is your business.
It only asks you to write. Not a novel. Not a short story. Not an op-ed. Not a New York Times best seller. It will lead you to where you need to be. It will lead you without your interference.
When writing speaks, it speaks from a place that’s unknown and a mystery. You cannot control it. If you do, you will think you need to be perfect, popular, and a commodity. That’s not writing’s intention for you.
Your directive is to follow and let writing lead you. When that happens, you are present to endless flow, saying what is important to your soul through the creative field of consciousness.
You see, nothing is lost. The creative field is infinite, and it is only too late if you never begin.
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My commitment is to write & publish on the same day before perfectionism chokes me. Tolerance for errors, por favor.
Sign up for articles on my website & peek at the small group workshop. Next round starts the week of September 1st.
Image by Denise Janz @unsplash.