This post is the seventh in my ten-week ‘Summer Music Series‘:a collection of articles inspired by some of the songs and music lyrics that inspire me and make me think… Sign up here to make sure you don’t miss any instalments: not only is the series free, but when you sign up you’ll also get a complimentary copy of my Dreamsmith Guide to Creating a Life You Love.
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I love the feeling of sitting down to write: ideas swirling around in my head, waiting to be articulated, edited and reworked until they're down on paper in a way that feels right. (ok, I almost never write my pieces on actual paper any more in favour of my computer screen, but you know what I mean.)
Other times, staring at that blank page feels daunting, and even after several rounds of edits I sometimes feel that the words aren't exactly conveying the full message in the way I've intended. But even though it may not all be 'perfect', I still write because the only way to really get better at something - no matter how much learning you undertake - is to actually go out and do it.
Isn't the craft of writing a beautiful metaphor for living your life?
You can read, watch and learn from all the how-to, self-help and personal-development material out there, but the only way to actually get anywhere with it is to be actively out in the world, living your life.
This idea is articulated beautifully in Natasha Bedingfield's song Unwritten, which I love as much for it's catchy and uplifting tune as I do for the deeper meaning behind the lyrics:
I am unwrittenCan't read my mindI'm undefinedI'm just beginningThe pen's in my handEnding unplanned
Staring at the blank page before youOpen up the dirty windowLet the sun illuminate the words that you could not findReaching for something in the distanceSo close you can almost taste itRelease your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skinNo one else can feel it for youOnly you can let it inNo one else, no one elseCan speak the words on your lipsDrench yourself in words unspokenLive your life with arms wide openToday is where your book beginsThe rest is still unwritten
No matter what was written on your pages yesterday or last month or ten years ago, every day you wake up to a blank page…and you get to decide whether you want to take the story in a different direction, to add new characters or write out some of the old, or to make new kinds of decisions and choices.
The pen's in your hand.
Sometimes you may find yourself suffering a case of writer's block, feeling completely unsure of what to write next. There might be just a jumble of bad ideas, or no ideas at all. When that happens, you can do what writers do to get past their stuck points: find a change of scenery, go for a walk, do something different. Stop forcing it and allow your creative flow to return. (Kate Gardner spoke at length about the creative process in my Do What You Love Telesymposium, if you're looking for more on that subject).
Perhaps part of the problem might be that you're looking through a 'dirty window'. Maybe your perceptions of what's possible are 'off' because you're looking at things through a caked-on layer of limiting beliefs based on what's happened in the past. Instead, open up that dirty window and let the sun illuminate your path. Create a new way of looking at things, and let a positive perspective be the lens through which you look at your pages going forward. As Dr. Wayne Dyer says, when you "change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."
'Feel the rain on your skin.' You might even think of the 'rain' as being your tears, which I like to think of as cleansing agents. You have to let yourself feel your feelings and let them out in order to move through them. Keep them bottled up inside, and they'll only end up spilling out at inopportune times, or putrefying inside into depression or disease.
Many of us were taught not to feel our feelings, the subconscious (or even overt) message being that 'negative' feelings like anger or sadness were 'unattractive', 'weak' or 'needy'. But our feelings are valuable clues about where our lives are and aren't in alignment with our needs and our desires...so honour them for the guideposts that they are. They are just feelings, and it's ok to have them and to let them out.
Only once you allow yourself to identify, honour and process your feelings can you determine how to deal with them in a healthy way, and how to transform them into more positive ones. Once you've had a chance to calm down from them and integrate them, you can then make healthy, rational and mature decisions about the choices you have. You can determine what your options are for preventing the unpleasant feelings in the future, and for bringing in and creating more of the pleasant ones. You can't change anyone else around you, but you can choose your decisions and your actions in every circumstance. Choose the ones that line up with the person you want to be, and with the life that you want to create for yourself.
When the life you dream of feels 'so close you can almost taste it', it's likely because you're at the fork in the road where you'll need to make certain choices in order to get there. Sometimes those choices can be difficult or scary - maybe even terrifying - but no one else can speak the words on your lips. Only you can make the choices for yourself that will take you down the right path.
So open up your dirty window; let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find; feel the rain on your skin - because no one else can feel it for you - and get on out there. Life your life with arms wide open. Today is where your book begins.
The rest is still unwritten.
And the pen is in your hand.
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