"Most people…involve themselves with things and issues far from where their life actually blooms."
─Danin Katagiri, You Have to Say Something
If you are called to write a book, your life blooms in your writing. It’s the place where you bring everything: your dreams, your fears, your rage and your truth.
The work of writing a book is profound: Think about it. You are creating a stream that others will dip into and be nourished by.
Are you listening to the call? Giving time and care to your book? Or do you find reasons to set it aside, keep it in a neat (or not so neat) pile at the back of your desk? Sometimes our inspiration goes into hiding and we have to call it forth so we can re-connect to our vision and purpose.
What inspires you to bloom? What ignites you to re-engage with your book in an entirely fresh new way? Dip beneath the surface level of consciousness, the familiar place where we usually push and prod, judge and blame ourselves (and our work!).
15 Minutes of Inspiration
I have a habit built in to my day I call my “Inspiration Time.” Fifteen minutes of uninterrupted time when I read the cherished wisdom of others. Lately it’s been Danin Katagiri. Last month it was Steven Pressfield’s Art of War and Scott Adams, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big.
The words of others have amazing power to lift us out of our rigid point of view and bring us to a supple, fresh one. What greater pleasure is there than to experience the surprise of a new insight?
So where do you find your inspiration? What writers renew you? Maybe it’s a book you read long ago, or something new that you need to search out.
The truth is that in order to create a nourishing life stream for others, you must nourish yourself first. The effect of reading other writers might seem negligible (so said a writer to me recently.) But here’s an example of a creative shift that can happen when we seek out daily inspiration.
Say you’re standing in line at the drug store and you notice a magazine headline or overhear a conversation. You suddenly get an idea that could totally bump up your second chapter. The cashier gives you the nod that it’s your turn, and instead of stepping forward, you get out of line. You pull out your notebook and write down that idea.
Right then and there in the cashier line, your life blooms.
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