M is for Motion

Keep writing. This is what I tell myself in my morning pages. It’s what I tell myself every time I get to the page, every time I’m away from the page. Just keep writing. Keep moving, keep those fingers moving along the keyboard, keep writing, for the love of myself, just keep writing! And that’s what I did and continue to do. I keep writing, because the creativity wants to be shared and every time I write, I improve. Like anything in life, the more you practice, the more you get better. Seems like a simple concept, but it can also be a hindrance at times. Frustration shows itself from time to time and the ego starts to chime in ‘Gawd, you’ve been writing for years and still you’re not published, what’s wrong with you? You must not be very good, you can’t even put the comma in the right place!’ Wow, the ego sure knows how to dump on you if you’re careful. What do I tell the ego? In a polite way, ‘mess off, creativity and I’ve got this, thank you very much.’

It’s a simple and generous rule of life that whatever you practice, you will improve at. For instance: If I had spent my twenties playing basketball every single day, or making pastry dough every single day, or studying auto mechanic every single day, I’d probably be pretty good at foul shots and croissants and transmissions by now. Instead, I learned how to write.  ~ Elizabeth Gilbert

Every time I went to math class, home economics, shop class, I watched my friends get better at solving mathematical problems, sewing or turning wood into a usable table or bird house. I would day-dream about short stories that I would rather be writing. I was always thinking ‘I’d rather be writing’. Creativity was always whispering hints of ideas, always being there with me, my kindred spirit was watching over me. I persist because I love creativity and I’ll keep writing because I care.

The essential ingredients for creativity remains exactly the same for everybody: courage, enchantment, permission, persistence, trust – and those elements are universally accessible. Which does not mean that creative living is always easy; it merely means that creative living is always possible. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert

And that my friends is pretty much the bottom line, creative living is always possible.

Until next time, keep on typing….