For most humans, writing is a universal process. Be it
in the form of studying, journaling, jotting diary entries, making notes,
creating headlines, crafting emails, preparing scripts, or writing a story, the
process of writing is analogous to the other everyday processes like speaking,
narrating, talking, chatting and even, thinking.
If you look at it that way, then you’ll realize that
writing, in a way, is nothing but only one of the various expressions of
thinking.
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As we think, so we write. Check. Okay.
Writing As An Expression of Thinking
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We humans are thinking machines. While every existing
species has been proven to have a mind of its own, what separates us from other
living beasts is our mind’s feature of thinking; thinking about things by the
use of language and several of its available features.
We humans have learned, over the years, to use the
expression of writing for various purposes including but not limited to
labeling, organizing, describing, communicating, interacting, instructing,
teaching, storytelling & entertaining, healing, empowering, inspiring, pondering
as well as giving voice to a variety of our emotions & feelings, and more
likewise.
While some of us like to write on the paper squares,
some others like to tapdance their fingertips on the keyboard of a computer or a
typewriter. But almost each one of us engages in the process of writing when it
comes to writing on the blank paper space of our minds.
In fact, this is where the origination of writing is
laid out in the first place. And it cannot be denied that the act of writing,
or any other form of art, is closely connected to an individual’s inner world.
We like to express what we feel, think, believe, know and understand. And so,
it wouldn’t be false to say that writing is an expression of thinking. And that,
a word is an expression of our thought.
Writing is an expression of thinking. A word is an
expression of the thought. – Neha’s Notebook
There are always some variations in moods, vocabulary,
tone and structures. While some individuals like to write plain, crisp and
sharp, some other individuals like to take a longer route by taking their time
to dip into some oceans, to dive into some galaxies and to wander their way
through various sorts of wildernesses before arriving in the present moment, a
page or a two later.
While some like to express words of wisdom and
inspiration, some others like to express the fantasies and imaginations
bubbling in the valleys, dungeons and meadows of their heads. While some of us
like to write in a fully-syntaxed technically-documented manner, some like to
write liberally and right away as they feel.
The main thing, everyone writes in some or the other
form.
The act of writing helps us learn a lot about life too.
Thereupon, in this piece of writing, I’d like to share
eleven of the gorgeous tools that I have always found to be useful in the
process of my writing as well as in the processes of thinking and navigating
life. I have curated and collected these tools from my own experience and from observations
of my writing practice. In fact, if you take a close look at these, you will
see that we all use these tools in some or the other way already, unconsciously
or consciously. With different forms of writing, the tools and techniques
differ of course, but these tools will appear to inculcate the background
framework in most cases. I think.
I like to say that the writing tools listed below will
help you connect your writing practice with your inner thoughts as well as with
your everyday life. So, here they are, for you to read!
To begin with,
#1
Exposition & Magnification
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Words have a nature of making way for you. They are
like kaleidoscopic glasses through which you can enter a new world each time
you look through one. And they are like stepping stones which can double up as
the pathway too. Once you gather the courage to step atop one of these, the
other one automatically pops up in front of you.
Thereupon, this tool, that is, “Exposition &
Magnification” helps us do just the same. That is, to look through the
kaleidoscopic glass or to take a step forward in your writing. Most basically, to pay attention.
Let’s say, there are two kinds of appearances. One.
which you can see or experience in your awareness. And second, which you are
unconscious of, or which you cannot yet see or experience in your awareness. In
a way, the thing which is unconscious for you, literally doesn’t exist. For
example, in a given moment, you can either think about a particular tree or you
can see or experience the actual details of the tree. But you cannot do both of
these things simultaneously. No two waves of water are the same, in the same
way, no two appearances or their experiences are the same. What helps us dig
into their uniqueness is to expose them, to roll them out like an old-school
chart paper in full-fledged detail.
This is what this tool ‘Exposition &
Magnification’ is all about. The word ‘Exposition’ comes from the word ‘to expose’ which refers ‘to reveal the true nature of
(someone or something)’, or ‘to describe something in comprehensive detail’, or ‘to make something visible by uncovering it’.
In the similar sense, whether there is an article topic, a question, a story
title, a journal prompt, or anything else for that matter, the tool of
‘Exposition’ allows you to expose it, to
throw light on it, to magnify it and
to reveal its true nature in uttermost precision of detail possible.
Let me explain (and expose!) this to you with the help
of an example. This is a snippet from a famous Indian tale called ‘Dronacharya
& the Bird’s Eye’, in which an archery teacher Dronacharya is interacting
with the students of his school.
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During this interaction, Drona asks the students to
focus the tip of their arrows at a sparrow’s eye that is sitting on the branch
of a tree in front of them, and to describe to him in detail all that they can
see through the wink of their eye. One by one, the students start describing
the scene, as appearing to them.
Pay attention here!
The scene is one and the same. But when it comes to
the students’ eyes and their individual attention, the scene is appearing altogether
unique to each and everyone. Nevertheless, they start describing the scene
according to what they could see. While one student’s description included everything
from the sky above the sparrow’s head to the grass beneath the tree, the
description of another student was focused at just the tiny dot of the
sparrow’s eyeball.
While, as I can see, that, here, I have totally
slanted away and distracted from the moral of the original story, however, it
does explain a good deal about the tool that I intended to explain here!
In the given story, the sparrow-eye scene’s
description turned out to be unique for each individual student. Likewise is a
piece of writing for each individual writer. It’s all subjective, to say the
truth.
Saying that, the main point herein is to magnify what
you can see…whatever it is. That makes the way by itself.
In addition to this example, I like to use the
metaphor of a pair of binoculars. A magnifying glass is also an apt analogy.
So, you take these imaginary binoculars in your palm and you start to magnify
the scene wherever your attention is focused in the moment right now. And this
starts to shift your inner tectonic plates, little by little, whether or not
you can feel the spine-tingling sensations right away.
So, how can I
make real use of this tool anyway?
Well, what I usually do is to start with Free Writing, also known by the terms Automatic Writing, Faucet Writing or
most commonly, Stream of Consciousness
Writing. In her wonderful book The
Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron has described this form of writing by the term
‘Morning Pages’.
I stumbled upon this technique somewhere around 2011.
And this technique of writing almost always seems to work. In fact, this
technique has proved to be life-changing for me and not just writing-changing!
So, how do you begin with it? Well, at first you open
a blank notebook page or a blank computer document. Then, you take a deep
breath simply to remember where you are right now and where your attention is.
Then, you start by writing a word. The first word that pops in your head as
soon as you take the breath, write this first word. Then write the second word.
Do not think about grammar, punctuation, structure and even meaning. The
sequence in which the words are being written doesn’t have to make any sense
here. Keep on writing like this, and after a few pages, or a few days of this
process, you’ll see that a space is getting clearer in your head for your
writing voice to appear therein. Once where there was just a jumble of words,
slowly by slowly, you’ll begin to see some kind of a form, direction or
structure appearing in front of you.
Writing a first draft is very much like watching a
polaroid develop. You can’t know exactly what the picture is going to look like
until it has finished developing. – Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
But until then, let the faucet on, and let the idea,
scene or lesson reveal itself to you.
I don't exactly
know what I'm going to write about today so what I am going to do is just keep
putting words down on paper until I start to get some direction.
― Gary Halbert, The Boron Letters
And once it does, check up on this writing tool #2
explained below!
#2
Description
When I first read the book The Catcher in the Rye, I was fascinated by the straightforwardly
simple expression of writing which is also rooted in the emotional depths
rather than merely branching out from the surface. The range in which the
thoughts and feelings are expressed in the book sounds simple enough for a
layman but powerful enough to add into the favourites book list of Mr. Bill
Gates himself.
Another example is the poetry of Rumi. Or, the poetry
of Rabindranath Tagore. Simple yet profound and deep.
If you have also read a book like this, you too would
have experienced the same feeling in which there is much detail of thought and
much elaboration of emotions underpinned into the words, something where a
space of awareness is holding the strings of the thoughts rather than otherwise.
So, this second gorgeous writing tool namely ‘Description’
helps you do just the same for your writing and for your thoughts in general.
Once you have the space cleared for the scene to appear, and once the scene has
appeared, it is now the time to describe this scene. Once you’ve allowed yourself
to step into the scene and put on a pair of magnifying glasses, its now time to
pay attention to the details. To describe all that you can in the scene, in
words.
Tiny details, big details and everything in between.
All of these.
Step into a scene and let it drip from your
fingertips – MJ Bush
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by Nicole Burton via www.sortra.com
In her book Bird
by Bird, Anne Lamott shares her experience of looking through the index
cards to have a clear picture or a scene of what she was beginning to write.
I
have index cards and pens all over the house—by the bed, in the bathroom, in
the kitchen, by the phones, and I have them in the glove compartment of my car.
I carry one with me in my back pocket when I take my dog for a walk. In fact, I
carry it folded lengthwise, if you need to know, so that, God forbid, I won’t
look bulky. You may want to consider doing the same. I don’t even know you, but
I bet you have enough on your mind without having to worry about whether or not
you look bulky. So whenever I am leaving the house without my purse—in which there
are actual notepads, let alone index cards—I fold an index card lengthwise in
half, stick it in my back pocket along with a pen, and head out, knowing that
if I have an idea, or see something lovely or strange or for any reason worth
remembering, I will be able to jot down a couple of words to remind me of it.
Sometimes, if I overhear or think of an exact line of dialogue or a transition,
I write it down verbatim. I stick the card back in my pocket. I might be
walking along the salt marsh, or out at Phoenix Lake, or in the express line at
Safeway, and suddenly I hear something wonderful that makes me want to smile or
snap my fingers—as if it has just come back to me—and I take out my index card
and scribble it down.
Why Description?
Well, let’s consider an example. Let’s say you are
describing the childhood memory of your school picnics to a friend of yours.
So, would you say “Oh yeah, we carried
tiffin boxes to school picnics in addition to all those snacks” or would
you rather tell them,
“You know what, in all those school picnics,
we would carry a big plastic picnic bag, and in that bag we would carry all
those packets of snacks – chips and chocolates and all! But even though we
carried all these snacks, our mother made sure to pack us the regular tiffin
box just like an added security for our hunger pangs, or perhaps it was a form
of her motherly love….”
You see, here? A description allows you to express the
depth of your emotions which are attached to the words you’re writing. And
after all, what are words without emotions if at all. They’re rather bland,
dull and boring.
What crannies of
untouched perception can you explore? What autumn was it that the moon entered
your life? When was it that you picked blueberries at their quintessential
moment? How long did you wait for your first true bike? Who are your angels?
What are you thinking of? Not thinking of? What are you looking at? Not looking
at? ― Natalie Goldberg
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Thereupon, a description can prove to be a useful tool
for adding depth to your writing. And even if the resulting piece of writing
doesn’t strike the expected chord in the reader, at least that piece and the
process of writing that piece would turn out to be its own reward for you.
But what if I don’t
have a good-rich vocabulary?
Well, I can hear that within myself. Stumbling over a
new word is always an exciting experience. It feels pleasurable to take delight
in eating a new word whether it is a term used to describe a kind of a
particular fashion dress or simply a glamorous adjective.
If you can relate to this, it feels super-feastful to
collect words from different places, snippets from random places, and all the
places. I love this part of the creative process. However, if you move ahead
and deeper in your writing practice, you will often discover that even less is more if we use it with full
attention.
We do not really need
to overconsume words of vocabulary. It might sound like a paradox at first but,
it’s not really the complex vocabulary which adds depth to a description but instead
the depth of the attention with which the description was written is what
matters in the first place. Scientific manuals, for instance, contain a lot of
rich vocabulary but the purpose of this form of writing is to represent a set
of factual data and not to touch your heart. On the other hand, when a child
writes his or her first sentence, irrespective of its meaning, the sentence
becomes a cause for celebration indeed. So, while you intend to write your
heartbeats out, it really doesn’t matter how big or small your box of
vocabulary is.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. –
Leonardo da Vinci
Besides, there are always libraries of books, and
there is always the internet. And if nothing else exists, I think that a human
being can always make-up their own set of words. Every existing word, after
all, was discovered by some or the other human, ain’t it so!
#3
Separation of Thought Processes
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There are a variety of our brain’s processes that are
involved in the act of writing. The deeper we dive into our writing practice,
the more and more of these processes begin to reveal themselves to us. Gaining
knowledge of these processes can help us to discriminate our own intentions
behind writing a piece, thereby, to refine the results of our writing, for
ourselves.
Let’s consider this example.
“There is a flower
dangling from a branch on the tree. The flower is pink in colour. The shade of
pink lies somewhere between the shades of baby pink and dark magenta. There are
about five to six flowers on one branch. When I walk close to the tree, the
flowers give out a sweet-perfumy fragrance…”
These are the sensory details. Here our brain is
involved in carrying out the initial process of labeling of the experience. As
we experience, so we label it using the words which make up our memory.
Straight and simple!
Next,
“Whenever I look at
these beautiful pink flowers blooming on the tree, I come to know that the
spring has arrived…”
This is interpretation of the sensory details. Now, our
brain has started moving from the sensory details and deeper into the realm of thought.
In this moment, we are no longer in our senses but we have stepped into our
head already.
What happens next?
“I love these
flowers of spring because whenever I look at them, I am reminded of my school
days when my exams would be over. I would play in the wet morning grass and I
would stare at the clear blue sky for hours and hours…”
This is a memory narrative. Herein, our brain has
begun to form neural connections between the present experience and the
memories of the past. Little by little, we start connecting each element of our
present experience to some or the other of our past experiences. To say it more
clearly, in this phase of the process, our brain is now beginning to step inside
the well of emotions stored in the subconscious.
“I love these
flowers because they make me feel happy but I also hate them because they
remind me of my school report cards…”
Now, this is a feature of our brain called as ‘Projection’ which is at work here. In
this part of the process, we have travelled deep into the memorylanes of our
past, and we are now re-experiencing
all those past moments, this time, with a new point of view. That is, “what I feel and think NOW for what happened THEN”.
There are still the physical details of pink flowers in front of the person’s
eyes, but the person’s brain, (aka the writer’s pen) is wandering in its own
well.
So, as writers, our task is to know the separation
between various thought processes going on in the background of our writing.
In the end, all these processes are but only
categories of one and the same process, that is, experience. However,
separating and categorizing each kind of process helps us sort out and refine
our thoughts in a much easier manner.
When we practice being aware, we automatically begin
to know what’s going on right now, what’s
happening in this experience? Is my brain simply labeling the experience, or is
it reminding me of some past memory narrative? Is my brain telling me the clear
sensory details of what is appearing in front of me, or is it projecting some
kind of subconscious beliefs or patterns here?
What is happening inside your mind when you are
writing a piece? Whether you’re writing
simply for sharing and expression, or whether you’re writing to push away or
latch your ideas/emotions onto others; that makes a difference, not for others,
but inside you. In the similar way, if you resist writing what you truly want
to express or write, out of fear or resistance, even that is going to make a
difference, not to others, but inside you. Separating your own thoughts
supports you in gaining awareness of what kind of a difference are you allowing
to happen inside you. And once you have the awareness, it is much easier to
decide your goals pertaining to writing a piece.
The goal, overall, behind this writing tool, is to
refine your own clarity of intention behind writing a piece by separating them
from the task of processing your personal emotional projections.
#4
Befriending
Fears of Criticism & Judgement
Here
is something to remember: DEFENSIVE BEHAVIOR INVITES AGGRESSIVE ACTION ― Gary Halbert, The Boron Letters
People might pounce upon you for writing something, or
you might get surrounded by thunders of claps. Anything can happen. Any outcome
can appear. That’s life, and life by its very nature is meant to be uncertain. Irrespective
of our expectations, irrespective of our intentions, irrespective of our
masteries and skills, even irrespective of our efforts, all of it boils down to
life, and the unpredictability of the outcome that it is going to offer you.
The main thing is to befriend your own fears, to
dissolve your own inner barriers, to free yourself from whatever the external
reactions might be, as a result of your writing. As Erica Jong writes in the
quote mentioned below, we don’t really need to kill our fears, rather, to make
peace with them.
I have not ceased
being fearful but I have ceased to let fear control me. – Erica Jong
If people get offended by what you write, it is not
your problem as long as you learn to separate yourself from it. Let each
individual handle that for themselves while you take responsibility for your
own reactions.
Each one of us human
beings is one part saint and one part devil. – Neha’s Notebook
Each one of us human beings is one part saint and one
part devil. Most of the times when people seem to get offended is, because they
don’t yet accept that part of themselves that they’re offended about. That’s
human nature. Almost each one of us lives in some or the other form of a biased
reality. And whenever your writing will seem to hit or trigger a bias in
someone’s head, it is evident that the outcome will be an angry reaction. And we
cannot truly control the outer reactions. All we have control over is our own
intentions and choices.
In case like that, I have found that knowing yourself
and befriending your own fears often helps you to accept the criticizing or
judging reactions of others. When we know that, this is just one situation. In
this situation, I am getting criticized, and in another situation, I could be
the one who is criticizing or judging instead. So, making peace with your fears
helps us to make peace with other’s reactions as well.
Anne Lamott in Stitches—
Courage is fear that has
said its prayers.
By cultivating a habit to know ourselves and to
befriend our own fears helps us to deal with all kinds of external reactions in
a much more effective way, without blocking our own freedom of expression or
without getting frustrated.
Harsh criticisms, brutal rejections, misinterpreted
judgements and defensive reactions will always be the part of the process. All
of us go through situations like these. Oftentimes, they leave us feeling
bitter. But how we take these and how we choose to look at these, is something
which can make us happier or miser.
If your goal was never to offend or hurt anyone, then
eventually, any or every form of external reaction will be more or less the
same for you. Befriending your own fears doesn’t help anyone else but it will
free you. I like to say it with a quote from my reading collections…
If you are not
afraid of the voices inside you, you will not fear the critics outside you.
Besides, those voices are merely guardians and demons protecting the real
treasure, the first thoughts of the mind. ― Natalie Goldberg, Writing
Down the Bones
And, this doesn’t imply that criticisms and judgement
are always bad-sounding. Sometimes, they could take the form of false praise or
idolization. I could write a gem of a piece but find it inside people’s garbage
bins, or I could write a piece randomly and discover it to be landing into people’s
treasure. In that case too, it does a great deal of benefit to you if you know
yourself well, and don’t believe what people say about you or your work.
Rely on your own strength instead of somebody
else's compassion! ― Gary Halbert, The Boron Letters
In truth, there is no good or bad writing. There is
neither garbage nor gems. There is no standpoint to judge. There are only
unique pieces of writing.
From “Hey,
what’s up!” to “Gentlemen! The
airplane is about to land and the weather here appears to be all perfect and
fine”, each expression of writing is a unique expression of the writer’s
inner labyrinth.
If a badly written sentence accomplishes the purpose
for which it was written, then it doesn’t really matter how badly it was
written.
But this is also true that the world and its people
will always judge, criticize and analyze your writing based on their own points
of view, their own expectations and their own amount of self awareness.
Added to this, there is yet another factor which
determines our receiving of criticism and judgement. That is, the point of view
of work and business. Say, if a writer has spinned an incredible idea for an ad
script however, if the purpose of their client was more entertainment than advertising,
then in that case too, the writer might be at the end of receiving some amount
of criticism, failure, disappointment or rejection for their work despite of it
being fantastic and perfect.
Let me call this, the ‘match or difference of intentions and expectations’.
...the match or difference of intentions and expectations…-
That is, if my intention behind writing a piece doesn’t match the
expectation of the reader or the client for whom I am writing a piece, then the
piece of writing is at the edge of receiving an amount of criticism, judgement,
rejection or failure. - Neha’s Notebook~=
That is, if my intention behind writing a piece
doesn’t match the expectation of the reader or the client for whom I am writing
a piece, then the piece of writing is at the edge of receiving an amount of
criticism, judgement, rejection or failure.
The main thing is to always stay ready for criticisms
but not take any of those into heart. To remain open to the fact that your work
will be judged and misinterpreted, but to not let the fear of judgement control
you or your work in any manner.
Fear is
intrinsic to everything you do as a creative person. You’re constantly putting
yourself up there to be judged and trashed. – Black Swan, movie
#5
Shattering & Destruction Of Our
Biases
There is a difference between a person who is a
real-time murderer and a person who creates a cinema movie whose protagonist
character is a murderer. But if you look closely, both these individuals, the
murderer and the artist who makes a piece of art on the murderer, both of these
have the detailed knowledge of the murderer’s character in their head. Likewise,
a writer intending to do deep work is not just aware of positive-sounding wisdom,
knowledge and intelligence, but also the negative and the cruel side of the
world, the darkest and the sadistic sides of oneself, the dirty and the
psychopathic side of the world. Too.
I think everyone has a little black swan in them. Its
just a matter of when you let it out. – Mila Kunis
Oftentimes, we start judging our own writing based on
the biases and splits programmed in our heads. In fact, that’s quite natural.
However, the straightforward consequence of this is, it tends to suppress our
own inner voice rather than anything else.
The Buddha, the Godhead,
resides quite as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or the gears
of a cycle transmission as he does at the top of the mountain, or in the petals
of a flower. To think otherwise is to demean the Buddha - which is to demean
oneself. ― Robert M. Pirsig
It doesn’t matter what you choose to write as long as
you are writing it out from the space of an unbiased witnessing and acceptance.
Though, each one of us carries some or the other bias by default, but whether
you’re feeding your biases or shattering these, that’d determine the expanse of
your writing.
This could also mean that cultivating total acceptance
for whatever it is that you are designed to write, whatever is your unique
style, whether or not it is liked by everyone. To say it in simple words,
Perfection is not just about control. It’s also about letting go. – Thomas
Leroy in Black Swan
#6
Detachment from Words
Image source:
Pinterest
A word, by its nature, is dual. Each and every word
comes with a set of opposites and polarities. Herein, when we write something,
that piece of work always contain its own set of polarities. Thereupon, if we
take our own too personally, we might as well take personally its aftereffects,
outcomes or comments which can be either pleasurable or utterly unpleasant.
Let’s say, a writer writes a piece which is highly
inspiring, uplifting and wisdom-filled. However, what is this piece of writing
really? It is a structure of words. And the words in this piece, all carry their
respective polarities. Now, it isn’t always possible that the readers who are
reading this piece would have the same state of mind as the writer. So, in
response to this joyfully-written piece, the writer may receive responses which
are joyful too, or the writer may receive responses which could range from
unpleasant to utterly opposite of ‘inspiring,
uplifting and wisdom-filled’.
Now, if the writer who has written this piece has a
habit of taking it personally, then the writer might be at the receiving end of
some form of bitterness invading their joy.
So, when we learn to cultivate the quality of
detachment towards our piece of writing or work, it becomes easier to say to
ourselves, “Oh, it’s just about my work,
and not about me!”
Life is made up of contradictions, opposites and
paradoxes. Likewise, thoughts, and thereupon, words. Its only when we learn to
make peace with our own inner polarities is that we begin to make peace with
our work as well!
#7
Shadows of Creator Identity
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Metropolitan- 1938 by Herbert Bayer via Pinterest.com
Like everything else, the creative process too comes
with its own shadow side.
Creating a piece of writing or a work of art is a
thing of joy. To most people who indulge in some kind of an artistic practice,
whether as a hobby or as a profession, it is oftentimes that they explore a
part or the other of themselves, through their creations. Be it a flower doodle
or a full-fledged novel, creating a new piece from scratch does take energy. However,
soon enough, you’ll discover some of the ghastly shadows lurking in the
background of your head. Often, they are trying to blacken the pleasant
rainbows of joy that you experienced while creating a piece of work.
The first of these many shadows is the fear of your
creative idea getting stolen.
No wonder, we put much energy in creating a piece. And
the moment when we put it out into the world, it ceases to be our own any longer. It is no longer our
own. So, it does feel a good deal of shivers to see that piece getting broken,
misinterpreted, shattered and torn to pieces. Perhaps, what we intended to
express through that piece never seemed to reach the world. Maybe, it was
received in a manner that we couldn’t even expect. That happens.
Often, we find ourselves muttering, “This is my idea. I am the creator of this
idea. And no one’s got to steal it. That’s unfair. I don’t accept that…” We
end up getting our peace and inner self attached to the piece of work.
When an individual tends to personally own the idea,
story or a piece of work, and, when we carry out all the processes of writing,
there leaves remnants in our head which tend to make us believe that I created this work.
Oftentimes, we find ourselves too much identified with
the identity of the creator. However,
little do we realize that unless our mind has supported us, we wouldn’t really
have been able to create this piece. And now, by clinging to an idea, we are
causing hurt to this very mind of our own.
But, we can learn to deal with this fear. That is, by
understanding what an idea truly is. To begin with, I’ll share a quote from one
of my all-time favourite books!
The
law of gravity and gravity itself did not exist before Isaac Newton." ...and
what that means is that that law of gravity exists nowhere except in people's
heads! It's a ghost! Mind has no matter or energy but they can't escape its
predominance over everything they do. Logic exists in the mind. numbers exist
only in the mind. I don't get upset when scientists say that ghosts exist in
the mind. it's that only that gets me. science is only in your mind too, it's
just that that doesn't make it bad. or ghosts either. Laws of nature are human
inventions, like ghosts. Law of logic, of mathematics are also human
inventions, like ghosts....we see what we see because these ghosts show it to
us, ghosts of Moses and Christ and the Buddha, and Plato, and Descartes, and
Rousseau and Jefferson and Lincoln, on and on and on. Isaac Newton is a very
good ghost. One of the best. Your common sense is nothing more than the voices
of thousands and thousands of these ghosts from the past.”
― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and
the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
I like to think that an idea is a permutation &
combination of the clouds our thoughts, all of mind taken together. Each one of
us is a vessel through which the universe is expressing itself. Consider the analogy of the clouds in a sky.
Who we are is the sky. And what ideas are like, the clouds popping in the sky.
So, when we try to chase, resist or cling to a particular cloud, aka an idea, we might end up losing our
connection with the source of ideas instead.
You can also check out this wonderful video by Eckhart
Tolle in which he talks about the same thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjTlDc_UYCE
And listen. Even if you feel much attached to a
particular idea of yours, then know this simple thing. Your ideas can be stolen,
okay. Your style, your pathway and even the elements of your experience can be
stolen, but what cannot be stolen from you is you, because you see, according
to quantum physics, you don’t even exist and you are just an illusion. So, no
one could possibly steal an invisible illusion, oh no no!
Well, you open yourself up for the possibility that
your work shall not reap you any rewards, but if you have done efforts with all
your heart, then its your heart only that will reap its rewards. There are no
calculations in the outer world but when it comes to your heart, it is run by a
magnificently intelligent cosmos. If you put joy in something, the joy will
come back to you in some or the other form. If it is not something, then the
work will end up being its own reward. The universe listens!
That is why it is so important to let certain things go. To release them.
To cut loose. People need to understand that no one is playing with marked
cards; sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. Don't expect to get anything
back, don't expect recognition for your efforts, don't expect your genius to be
discovered or your love to be understood. Complete the circle. Not out of
pride, inability or arrogance, but simply because whatever it is no longer fits
in your life. Close the door, change the record, clean the house, get rid of
the dust. Stop being who you were and become who you are.
― Paulo Coelho – The Zahir
#8
Surrender To The Resulting Piece
Photo via Unsplash
Am I writing it
right?
What will people think
if they read it? What if they think that it isn’t perfect? What if it really
isn’t perfect?
Will I get the
rewards I expect from this? What if I don’t get any response at all? What if I
end up causing embarrassment for myself?
What after this
piece? What if I am out of ideas? What if I don’t feel the same passion or
interest for the next piece? What if…what if…what if…
Commonly, our resistance to surrender starts turning
into an obstacle. We start to overthink everything. Every little move ends up
becoming a mechanical battalion consuming a lot of our energy.
Its like, we are always getting ready to get ready all the time but never get ready. I think, this is
from a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Anyhow.
This is one form of resistance that writers or
creators tend to feel for their work. It could be synonymized with
perfectionism. Maybe. I too have felt this feeling and still do more often than
not. For example, the moment I post a piece of work, within a few seconds, I am
nerve-wrecking to delete it or to unpost it somehow. And I have given in to
this impulse about a thousand times. But sooner enough, I observe and realize
that it is really our fear which makes us resist, and not the true voice of
improvement.
Rather, when we begin to surrender, the quality of our
work improves naturally. When we surrender to our own work’s pace and style and
voice and expression, when we let go of comparisons, insecurities and
expectations, it becomes much simpler to get started on a piece, to finish it
and to share it out into the world.
This also reminds me of a line from Charlie Chaplin’s lovely
poem As I began to love myself.
As I began to love myself I quit trying
to always be right, and
ever since I was wrong less of the time. Today I discovered that is “MODESTY” –
from, As I began to love myself, A Poem
by Charlie Chaplin
Write it all away. Do not worry that the writing juice
will be emptied up. Do not worry that your writing will not turn out to be perfect.
Just write it!
#9
The Gateway of Boredom
Image Source: www.thecultofskaro.com
There are mainly two kinds of boredom. One arises out
of an inner frustration whereas another is basically just like an empty space,
a waiting time preparing you to get ready for the next adventure. Eventually,
everything dissolves into boredom. No matter how passionate or attractive a
love story is, no matter how tasteful a food is, no matter how gorgeous-looking
a dress is, after a point of time, eventually everything settles and dissolves
into a sea of boredom. And that is not a boring thing at all if you look at it
with a right form of perspective.
In many writing communities, you might have heard it
by the term of ‘writer’s block’. In many art-related fields, it is also known
as the ‘creative block’. What happens is, land into a place where we tend to
think that we have run out of ideas and we’ve nowhere left to go. Or, we tend
to think that despite of having infinite ideas, we can’t seem to find a way to
get started to this day. It could be imagined just like a boat in the middle of
the sea which is going from nowhere to nowhere. Or, it could be imagined like
having legs which are as good as frozen. That is, we can’t seem to move
forward. We tend to feel like we’re just floating around in the middle of a
vast sea randomly and aimlessly.
In a scenario like this, this tool proves to be a
powerful way to get back. That is, if all
you have is a feeling of boredom, then let this feeling of boredom become your
next interest.
Yes, boredom truly is an interesting gateway. To
elaborate this further, check out this beautiful article which I discovered a
few months ago, link enclosed.
First
of all, at the very least, boredom is a useful alarm bell. It lets me know that
I've had enough of whatever it was I used to desire. This may not have much to
do with 2012, but it is a really helpful thing to notice, and, I think, it
helps check some of the over-enthusiasm of magical thinking. At some point,
fascination with an object, person, sensation disappears. It
probably goes without saying that most of our lives are spent either desiring
certain things or really not desiring others. These things may be material
objects, or mental states, status, or love -- whatever. It's heartening, maybe
even enlightening, to see that we can get bored of just about anything, no
matter how great it is. Eventually, the mind's had enough. - https://www.huffpost.com/entry/boredom-spirituality_b_846147
#10
Appreciation For Simple Things
Since reading this book, Writing Down the bones, one particular moment has stayed with me
which always reminds me to cultivate appreciation for simple things when it
comes to my writing too. It was something like this. In that chapter, the
author Ms. Goldberg tells that while was picking up some books from a library
she stumbled upon a book of poems which was written on the topic of vegetables….and
how she was fascinated that how could a poem written on such a plain topic. I
do not remember the exact words, but I seem to feel fascinated too, by the
thought that, in little things lie great treasures.
But simple little
things are the hardest to notice. Many a times, we can find ourselves waiting
and waiting and waiting for a big idea while we let the simple little things
pass away without paying much heed to them.
The
truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the
truth," and so it goes away. Puzzling. – Robert Pirsing, Zen & The Art
of Motorcycle Maintenance
Nevertheless,
it is almost always that in the little things lie big lessons. When it comes to
the process of writing, appreciating little things does a great deal of benefit
in just getting started.
Say, for
instance, by making lists or your personal pocket journals. By appreciating the
little things of our everyday life, the things around us, we will notice that
the inspiration for our writing or art is everywhere around us. Already.
#11
Music & Sound
It cannot be
denied that writing is inseparable from the realm of sound. Or music. Before I
explain it from my point of view, I’d like to share one of my favourite quotes
by Gary Provost.
This sentence has five
words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several
together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting
boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some
variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The
writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short
sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am
certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable
length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a
crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals–sounds that say listen
to this, it is important.” ― Gary
Provost, 100 Ways To Improve Your Writing
Music, tone and rhythm form a major part in the styling element of the writing
process. Not just in poetry or songwriting, but a plain article written with
musicality reads beautiful.
Its interesting to observe that each word comes with its own sound
quotient, its own musicality. Lets consider the word oodles. It isn’t a straight line of rhythm. Rather, it is like a
waterfall. And so is with every other word.
And so, like charms and trinkets, the music of the words do add the
essential decoration to a piece of writing. Now, I do not know if this is
really true or not, but I find it quite interesting to explore in my own practice.
What do you say?
Good writing is like music. It has its distinctive rhythm, its pace, flow,
cadence. It can be hummed. The great stylists seem to have an inner music...
― Leonard Ray Teel
Ending with…
All of these are simple ancient techniques that I have
tried to describe and implement in a contemporary format. I hope that you
enjoyed reading these. Tell me in the comments below.
