Hello again to my old friends. I call you friends because if you are still reading my blog after my 7 month hiatus, you are awfully kind. And realistically, most of you who read this already are my friends!
So, you may have noticed, I've had somewhat of a hard time writing on my blog lately. Well, okay - since I started! But lately at least I can say, it’s Glennon’s fault. Once I started to read Glennon’s blog, Momastery, I’ve felt somewhat frozen - like a deer in the headlights.
“G” as her ‘monkees’ call her is so AMAZING! Amazingly open, amazingly honest, amazingly heart-felt - all the time! No matter what she is talking about. She uses humor and humility and grace in everything she writes. And her message time and time again is let’s just be kind to each other, let’s support each other and love those around us (and those not around us), because they need it. I LOVE GLENNON!!! Actually, I don’t really know her, but I love her message. She writes the kind of stuff and with the kind of voice that I wish I had.
So G - you have been so inspiring, but also so paralyzing for me. I don’t have your story. Of course, I have my own, but I haven’t been able to turn into this powerful vehicle, as you have. Please don’t misunderstand me - I admire you, and cheer for you, and am in awe of all you do. But I haven’t really found that voice - my voice - the way you have. And sometimes that makes me feel stuck.
I did however find something interesting last night, which I feel is helping me to connect the dots that make up my writing life. I was reading Lucy Calkins, The Art of Teaching Writing, (a little light bed time reading!), and here is what I found:
“We grow a piece of writing not only by jotting notes and writing rough drafts, but also by noticing, wondering, remembering, questioning and yearning. ...but it also comes from lingering with a bit of life and layering it with meaning. Writing … is not a process of recording details but one of making significance of them.”
Lucy Calkins also quotes Theodore Roethke, who said,
“If our lives don’t feel significant, sometimes it’s not our lives, but our response to our lives, which needs to be richer.”
Oh Lucy! You are amazing too! I felt like it all clicked for me. I’ve been looking for the meaning ever since I can remember. My favorite books are the ones that strike a cord of meaning for me. My favorite songs are the ones where the lyrics really speak to me. And the things I want to and like to write are ones that hold meaning. Purpose. That speak to the understanding or the deciphering!
What I love so much about Momastery is that she takes the most ordinary moment, and sometimes the most difficult moments and Glennon is able to tell about it in a simple yet profound way. She finds the significance in it - the meaning. She finds the humanity in it which is what connects us to the piece and to each other. That’s what its all about, isn’t it? Connecting.
One more Lucy quote that I love:
“Writing allows us to turn the chaos into something beautiful, to frame selected moments, to uncover and celebrate the organizing patterns of our existence.”
So… I’m not sure if this will help me write MORE often - but I hope it will. Either way, at least you (and I) know where I’m coming from. What my goal is, my direction. My destination: Meaning!
Now I just need to work on that annoying perfectionist who waits for the perfect , complete idea to fall into her lap!
2 comments:
Great post, Sabrina! I've missed your blog. And I love Theodore Roethke. What a solidly thoughtful quote.
But oooo, the search for meaning is a hard one. Sometimes I just start writing and the meaning follows. It was most likely there all along, but you can't find it without the writing.
Great post, Sabrina! I've missed your blog. And I love Theodore Roethke. What a solidly thoughtful quote.
But oooo, the search for meaning is a hard one. Sometimes I just start writing and the meaning follows. It was most likely there all along, but you can't find it without the writing.
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