Beginning...Again
I wrote an insightful, witty entry last night ( at least that is what I'm telling myself in this moment!) and hit the wrong button sending it off into cyber-no-where land. YIKES!
And so I get the opportunity to begin again. I must confess, I hate beginnings. Some folks dread endings and farewells but I cringe at the thought of beginning again.
And yet life is full of beginnings. Every time I sit down to write I must find the place within me to begin. I choose to set aside the dozens of other things clamoring for my attention. I reach past all my personal mythologies about what I need in order to support creative flow. No incense or lovely music for this writer. A barking dog, blaring TV and distant rumble of a washing machine spin cycle is what accompanies me into my creative space.
Julia Cameron writes of beginning where you are. I have often quoted this piece of wisdom as its undeniable truth resonates deeply in me. As a recovering perfectionist, it has been liberating to discover that where I am is all I need. The creative space is a well-spring inside me that is unaffected by external circumstances. All I need in order to create is to reach down into that internal space, breathe in, breathe out and there it is.
Beginnings are not always brilliant - but they are always courageous. Poised on the edge of something we can watch as hours, minutes, days, and sometimes years float past us as we wait to begin. Procrastination is an intelligent choice for those of us who dread beginnings. Perfectionism, fear of the unknown, ill-defined future can keep our intentions in suspended animation as our dreams shrivel on the vine. And that vital part of us shrivels along with it.
Breathe in, breathe out....Each breath is a new beginning. And so I begin again from a new place and I am rewarded by the discovery of a different creative flow.
And so I get the opportunity to begin again. I must confess, I hate beginnings. Some folks dread endings and farewells but I cringe at the thought of beginning again.
And yet life is full of beginnings. Every time I sit down to write I must find the place within me to begin. I choose to set aside the dozens of other things clamoring for my attention. I reach past all my personal mythologies about what I need in order to support creative flow. No incense or lovely music for this writer. A barking dog, blaring TV and distant rumble of a washing machine spin cycle is what accompanies me into my creative space.
Julia Cameron writes of beginning where you are. I have often quoted this piece of wisdom as its undeniable truth resonates deeply in me. As a recovering perfectionist, it has been liberating to discover that where I am is all I need. The creative space is a well-spring inside me that is unaffected by external circumstances. All I need in order to create is to reach down into that internal space, breathe in, breathe out and there it is.
Beginnings are not always brilliant - but they are always courageous. Poised on the edge of something we can watch as hours, minutes, days, and sometimes years float past us as we wait to begin. Procrastination is an intelligent choice for those of us who dread beginnings. Perfectionism, fear of the unknown, ill-defined future can keep our intentions in suspended animation as our dreams shrivel on the vine. And that vital part of us shrivels along with it.
Breathe in, breathe out....Each breath is a new beginning. And so I begin again from a new place and I am rewarded by the discovery of a different creative flow.
posted by A at 11:24 AM
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