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I'm dealing with some personal matters in my life which don't leave me a lot of focus for writing. Or rather, the writing I'm doing is my old standby: handwritten journal entries in a cheap spiral bound notebook. I've filled many over the years and will likely fill many more still in the years to come.
Sometimes, I go back through those journals and I'm able to have sufficient distance from the events that I can use the material in poems or stories. More often, they are just the repository of my deep emotions. Perhaps they serve as a reminder that I have struggled against great difficulties in my life before and I am still here.
Writing has always been the way I sort out what I feel.
I am currently reading "When Things Fall Apart" by Pema Chodron and finding great comfort in her words. My journalling, too, brings me a measure of peace.
Until I can find my way through this difficult moment, I will practice being gentle with myself.
As you well know, I can relate to life's challenges superseding one's ability to focus on "serious" writing. Journaling is a wonderful sidebar to our writing life. I too use writing to gather the wool to make a beautiful scarf from life's trials, lessons and segways. Haven't heard of the book, but I bet I could right it. LOL. I think you are doing just grand at that, Lisa.
ReplyDeleteThank you. It's been a tough time, but we're moving through it.
DeleteLisa, whatever happens in your life (or in mine or in any other writer's life for that matter) is what we draw on, isn't it. It's the well we go back to again and again. Whether it's personal or public, some part of us knows that it's not wasted, and it strengthens that part of us that needs to write. Some days it's like going through quicksand, some days it's worse. And then you realize you're still here, a bit battered, but here.
ReplyDeleteYes, be kind to yourself. You're the only you you have.
Thank you. One of the lessons I keep learning is that life is not an inherently easy proposition. We all struggle and suffer. And yet, we all have the capacity to experience joy, too. The Buddhist teachings, ironically, remind me of one of the traditions in Judaism where we break the glass at weddings to remind ourselves that live is a mixture of joy and the heartbreak and that in every moment, both can exist.
DeleteAnd perhaps in a world where we can all be kind to ourselves, we can be kinder to one another.
Again, thank you.