Writing Tip: Love Your Authentic Essence
Whether you are about to write a book proposal, a query letter to a literary agent, a blog entry, or a sales letter, gratitude is more than an attitude that can serve you. It doesn't really matter that the words attitude and gratitude rhyme with one another; that phrase is just a mnemonic device, a learning aid to help you remember to drop into your heart.
Remember though, gratitude is not a mental action, it is a felt space in the body, a way of working with the energy of your humanity. As such, being grateful opens you to your authentic essence--it's a gift that is balanced with reciprocity. If you want a meaningful life, you need to go deep. Gratitude takes you there.
Genuine appreciation is far different from lip service thank yous. It is unconditional regard. When we are alone, which is where most writing begins--in the privacy of our inner selves, part of which is in the realm of the imagination--its simple to get caught up in seeking an outcome. To genuinely appreciate ourselves is about being in touch with who we are and valuing it. That comes from a practice of feeling what matters to us--and accepting that it is good enough that what we care about honestly and simply is worthwhile to include in our writing. It's funny to put it this way, but we need to get honest with ourselves about loving where we came from, our experiences, our skills, our talents, and our points of view.
It may often feel as if there is not sufficient time to pause and find our love and appreciation, our gratitude, in the midst of writing. Maybe a deadline is looming or we're worried that someone is going to judge the quality of our material; this adds stress to the process of writing. If you want to reduce stress, consider finding that which you are grateful for in the moment. Gratitude increases our flow and makes us more efficient and productive. Gratitude comes from genuine appreciation for the material, our readers, ourselves for showing up to write, our bodies for making us present to live it, and the time and space we are granted in which to write! Love.
If you come from gratitude for being you, then you won't constantly be fighting yourself and competing with the reality of who you are. Who you are--authentically and entirely--is that which makes you the perfect author of the words you are writing. Your history is perfect. Your trauamas are perfect. Your imagination is perfect. Your way of seeing the world is perfect. Your desire to learn something new, your curiosity, is perfect. Your hunger to contribnute is perfect. Your longing for recognition is perfect. Your seriousness or your irreverence is perfect. Your femininity, masculinity, gender orientation, social roles, career path, and choices brought you here, to this opportunity to write and so they are also perfect.
Be grateful and never apologize for your humanity.
You are wonderful.
Your priorities are just that--yours. Preferences. Choices.
If you have trouble accepting any of this, practice developing appreciation for that which you find easiest to appreciate. The more you do this, the more you will see there is to be thankful for. Be it and be grateful for being it, and your writing will improve.
Remember though, gratitude is not a mental action, it is a felt space in the body, a way of working with the energy of your humanity. As such, being grateful opens you to your authentic essence--it's a gift that is balanced with reciprocity. If you want a meaningful life, you need to go deep. Gratitude takes you there.
Genuine appreciation is far different from lip service thank yous. It is unconditional regard. When we are alone, which is where most writing begins--in the privacy of our inner selves, part of which is in the realm of the imagination--its simple to get caught up in seeking an outcome. To genuinely appreciate ourselves is about being in touch with who we are and valuing it. That comes from a practice of feeling what matters to us--and accepting that it is good enough that what we care about honestly and simply is worthwhile to include in our writing. It's funny to put it this way, but we need to get honest with ourselves about loving where we came from, our experiences, our skills, our talents, and our points of view.
It may often feel as if there is not sufficient time to pause and find our love and appreciation, our gratitude, in the midst of writing. Maybe a deadline is looming or we're worried that someone is going to judge the quality of our material; this adds stress to the process of writing. If you want to reduce stress, consider finding that which you are grateful for in the moment. Gratitude increases our flow and makes us more efficient and productive. Gratitude comes from genuine appreciation for the material, our readers, ourselves for showing up to write, our bodies for making us present to live it, and the time and space we are granted in which to write! Love.
If you come from gratitude for being you, then you won't constantly be fighting yourself and competing with the reality of who you are. Who you are--authentically and entirely--is that which makes you the perfect author of the words you are writing. Your history is perfect. Your trauamas are perfect. Your imagination is perfect. Your way of seeing the world is perfect. Your desire to learn something new, your curiosity, is perfect. Your hunger to contribnute is perfect. Your longing for recognition is perfect. Your seriousness or your irreverence is perfect. Your femininity, masculinity, gender orientation, social roles, career path, and choices brought you here, to this opportunity to write and so they are also perfect.
Be grateful and never apologize for your humanity.
You are wonderful.
Your priorities are just that--yours. Preferences. Choices.
If you have trouble accepting any of this, practice developing appreciation for that which you find easiest to appreciate. The more you do this, the more you will see there is to be thankful for. Be it and be grateful for being it, and your writing will improve.
posted by Unknown at 10:24 AM
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