Writing Wednesdays: Inner Love and Walking in Faith

Writing can be a tool to reach deep inside yourself and bring small, dark hidden things to light. It's one of our greatest gifts as people to be able to bring ourselves healing, even if it often seems that the only "healing" can come from outside - from parents, from romantic partners, from friends, even from mediums, pastors, rabbis, or from the spiritual world.

The truth is that while the people in our world can help us, love us, support us, and hold us, our comfort and self love comes from exactly there - ourselves!

But how do we strike up a conversation with the weirdest, darkest, most hurt parts of ourselves? We talk to those parts. We hold them. We ask for help again and again, hopefully knowing that we are always walking with something larger that holds us.

Here's a list of questions to get you writing and thinking along these lines.

1) What do I need right now?

2) Do I feel supported within myself?

3) Do I feel supported within my close personal relationships?

4) If I don't, can I take responsibility for my own fears?

5) Can I see my own goodness? What does it look like?

6) Can I hold the parts of me that feel "dark" -- the parts that get angry, mad, hurt, ashamed. What do I do with those lonely parts? Do I hold them? Do I pretend they aren't happening? Do I push myself through my feelings and "try" to be "more spiritual?"

7) Just for today, just for this minute, how would it feel to unconditionally accept myself? The big parts, the small parts, all of the parts?

8) Set out tea and cookies for the small scared parts or the furious angry parts. What does this part look like? Does he or she have a name? How does he or she feel? Can I let this part of you simply have the floor?

8) What kind of space do you yearn to create? What kind of relationship with yourself?

9) What is your intention for the rest of your day?

10) What kind of hope and longing do you intend to fulfill tomorrow?

May you have long and deep conversations with all parts of yourself.

"Wacky Wednesdays"...Becomes "Writing Wednesdays"

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Into every blog a little transformation must fall.

I try to have a thrice-weekly theme here on Happy Ganesh. Loyal readers have probably noticed them: Manifestation Mondays, Wacky Wednesdays, and Fun Fridays.

 

Well, we're making a change to our HG blog family today. Goodbye "Wacky Wednesdays". You've served us well. Thank you, good luck and enjoy your retirement.

Hello, Writing Wednesdays, where for hump day, I'll blog about writing - the pleasures of it, quotes about it, and how to do it.

Today? Let's talk about how to get started. Just do it, as Nike famously says. In my other offline life, I have worked with students of all ages, most of them struggling with how to write research papers. (When my college students were not texting their friends under their desks while pretending to care about their education, they could be quite charming. Even when they walked into my office, slumped in their chair and looked panicked, some still managed to want to write, even through a haze of college jitters. )

Anyhow, no matter the age or school level of the student (I've worked with nine year olds to post-doc psychologists), these same three questions come up:

1. How do I get started?


2. Is this spelled right? What's a comma do?


3. How do I keep writing? Is this long enough?

The answers to those ever-popular questions are (more or less)

1) Where Do I Begin?: Begin anywhere. It doesn't matter where. Most writers don't actually work from an outline. Some do. Some begin from a rough idea of a plot. Some write entirely from a pre-planned outline and don't deviate from it one bit. Some go until they are done (see #3). Some get a great idea for the One Fantastic Scene and write towards that. It really depends on you. But in order to begin? You have to begin. Just jump in.

2) The Grammar Thing: Google is great for this. Pay attention to grammar and punctuation. Diana Hacker's grammar books are easy to follow and fantastic. Plus, I'm here. And if you ask nicely, I might be convinced to answer a question or two for free - or at least point you in the right direction. (And if you've already written that book and need help, go here.)

Commas are not exactly pauses for breath. While they may sound like that, here's what they actually do

• punctuate a list ("Mary likes apples, carrots, and grapes.")


• go in front of a transition word ("Frankly, I don't give a damn!")


• separate two independent clauses from each other ("The cat drank milk, and the dog drank water.")

Really dying to know more about commas? I know you are. I know you're gagging and dying and writhing to know. Then go here.

There's more of course, but that's enough for now. The gist of that is all to say that - if you really want to write - don't worry about grammar, at least not right (write! ha!) away. Get started. Do a draft. Worry about punctuation later. (Or if you want to learn more, check out Diana Hacker's site)

3) How do I keep writing? How long is long enough?: You keep writing by putting your butt in the chair and putting your hands on the keyboard and moving them around until you produce first letters, then words, then sentences, then entire paragraphs that help you build a story.

It really is that simple. If you do it enough, you will learn how to open up communication with yourself. It's an amazing and wonderful thing.

What's also simple is time. If you want to write, you find the time. It's that simple. If you have to set an alarm, and you write from 5 pm to 5:05 every single day for a week, at the end of seven days, you have 35 minutes worth of writing. 35 entire minutes that belong to you and your story.

For more inspiration, check out my Fiver List blog from a few months back.

Try a few of these questions to get started.

1) A woman is alone on a dirt path. She carries a suitcase. Where is she going?

2) The dog bounds up to you, friendly and wagging his tail. Where did he come from?

3) Your favorite book character shows up at your front door, unannounced, as favorite fictional book characters tend to sometimes do. Who is there? What does he or she say to you?

Happy, happy writing!

See you on Friday, when I'll have more Astro updates. <3

Creative Writing Prompt: Rainy Morning and Staying Put

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How often do we ignore a change in the weather? Not open our doors and windows? I do it plenty.

One thing can change your day. The heat of the sun. Cold rain. The smell of dirt as we plant something in the garden.

 

I began the day carefully and slowly, questions building in my head as they do every morning. I get dressed on the second to last day of vacation and come downstairs. I'm prepared to go out jogging in the newly windy Florida day. Instead, I read a book, I lounge. I lazily take advantage of the time my university is off school.

I gave up running. A storm kicked up. The kind of windy, barely-supressed, rainy, flesh-tingling storm that opens gardens wider and makes you feel a little more alive.

I did something I haven't done since starting to revamp this house. I opened the back windows to catch the Florida storm. (We had to commit to new windows a few months ago. They were needed, thirty years of water and wear had destroyed the old ones.)

I turned the small couch around so its facing the back garden. I pulled back the drapes and opened the back door. It feels stiff and new in my hand, the factory newness reflecting off every shiny surface of it.

Now, the cold, clear air blows through the living room. The Bougainvillea tree is scattering dark purple petals over the yard. Some flower fragments have danced their way up to the closed screen door. Every time another gust of wind comes through, I can feel it all over.My nose feels it and responds accordingly. Twitch. Twitch. Breathe.

I can smell the cold and the rain through the open door. A neighbor is smoking and even though he is smoking in his yard, just next door, I can smell a much-watered down version of smoke. Every few seconds the wind pulls the sheer curtains tight against the screen and then they dance back, flapping wildly.

If I hadn't turned the couch around, I would have missed this. The smell, the cold rain. Glorious. I'm not thinking about my questions or my worries - or the how, what, why, how can I, what can I, where.

I'm here.

Creative Writing Prompt: Nature and Me

1. When was the last time you connected with nature?


2. Where were you?


3. How did it feel?


4. Did it change your day for the better or worse? How?


5. What colors were active in nature that day? Describe them.

Friday Fun: The "Fiver" List

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Lists. Most people make grocery lists or "To Do" lists. Some people make "honey do" lists. Lists can be a great way to take stock of different areas of your life - and for those of us who may not have the time to write more or who want to write but aren't sure how to start, it's a great, fast way of expressing ourselves. Also, the focus you put into writing helps you focus on other areas of your life - it's a big manifestation key.

I created something I am having a lot of FUN with and I'd like to invite you to join me! See below.

Step 1: Devote five minutes to YOU: Oh, you know you can. I know you can. Even if you're busy with kids and partners and laundry and the Full Stress of the Universe, you know you can take five minutes (that's only 300 seconds) to try this. If you can do more, wonderful.

Step 2: Find paper and a pen: Pretty simple so far. I find journals are better because they help create space to get in the habit of writing more...and more...and more. :D

Step 3: Sit and breathe: In for a count of five, out for a count of five.

Step 4: Find a category and write five things on your paper.

Sometimes these lists are small and fun. Sometimes they are more intense and serious.

Some sample "Fiver" lists might be:

Five Things I Enjoyed About Today

Five Things That Are On My Desk At Work

Five Feelings I Have When I Interact With ____

Five Ways My Body Shows Me I Am Upset or Angry

Five Fears I Have About _____.

Five Things I Can Do To Take Care of Myself

Five Reasons I Am Glad I Am Writing

Step 5: Enjoy the tiny act of writing down how you feel. For only five minutes, something this small can turn your entire day around. I find that, when I don't want to write pages on how I am feeling (or for those of us who are new to writing), the organization of the "simple five" helps me to get things out in fun, bite-sized little bursts.

Here's two samples of my "Fivers", a slightly serious one and a more silly one.

Five Signs My Body Is Trying to Tell Me That I Need More Rest

1. I feel tired.


2. My body feels "thirsty."


3. My tummy feels clogged.


4. I have a headache


5. I need to stretch

Five Things I Like About Taking The Time For a Bath.

1. Looking at the cabinet that I painted white.


2. Realizing how much one change to a room can change my feelings about it.


3. Smelling the sage and candles that I've lit.


4. How new everything feels. Hello, washing off the day and spending quiet time with my thoughts.


5. Rubber Ducky, you're the one!

Enjoy your Fivers and enjoy creating them - and feel free to share yours on the Happy Ganesh Facebook Page! I'd love to hear them!