Love Letter to My Life #69: Regaining beginner's mind
Another gift from Substack
(We know the day we were born, but most of us do not know the day we will die. This love letter to my life is written on the day I've designated as my death day: the 17th of every month, and reminds me to be grateful for my joy-filled life. — Joyce Wycoff)
Today is Day 7 of a ten-day self-challenge of “jazz writing,” riffing on a visual/word prompt. I’ve been writing and studying writing and creativity for a very long time … so I’ve been through a lot of books, workshops, courses, lectures, videos, etc., including many different forms of free writing.
Bottomline: It’s hard to have a beginner’s mind when I think I’ve “been there/done that.”
I’ve always thought of myself as a B-level writer, B+ on a good day. After a few published books and 14 years of blogging, I felt like I had pretty much topped out as far as my writing skills were concerned. What I really needed in order to be a better write was more and better material, as well as being more vulnerable and authentic.
As I head toward two years being on Substack, my experience here is challenging almost every aspect of my writer’s life (something I never expected to have, by the way.)
’s “Stunning Sentences” opened a whole new level of potential writing mastery and makes me want to learn how to pull those magic sentences out of a hat.There are so many writers here who inspire me, not only with what they write about, but also with their incredible and recognizable styles and artful craftsmanship. Three of the many who come to mind …
who writes “Everything Is Amazing” explains highly complex systems in a self-effacing humorous way that helps me understand at least part of what he’s talking about. writes “The Fiertzeside” which is like sitting at the feet of the wisest woman in the village whose stories take me to places I never knew existed but, somehow, always yearned to go there. who writes “Cosmographia” and “The Books That Made Us” is a pied piper of perfection … somehow wrapping content, beauty, and style into a bright package with exactly the right ribbon.Back to the point of this post.
I could go on and feel wretched that I don’t have enough space to list all of you who have touched me on this journey. However, the reason that I started this particular post was to talk about
who writes “Imaginative Storm.” Something that Allegra said intrigued the “been there/done that” me enough to join one of her free, prompted writing sessions (Saturdays and Thursdays).I was impressed with the prompting process she and her partner Navé developed and have popped in and out over the past few months. A few weeks ago, though, something twinkled. I felt my brain relax and open in a way I haven’t felt before … enough that I set out on this 10-day journey using their process. The clouds haven’t parted, however I do feel something shifting, relaxing. It’s almost like there has been a brain centurion at the door who suddenly stepped aside and said, “Aw, come on in. Maybe it’s time to play.”
I don’t know where this will go but I do realize I’ve always been pretty serious about writing seriously and seriously writing. Recently, I’ve read posts from
and when they post evocative writings that baffle and yet somehow call to me … in somewhat the same manner as jazz (which also confounds me.) In the prompted writing sessions Allegra and Navé lead, I hear that same strange, meandering riffing, that somehow lands in a place that seems meaningless and yet nails a feeling or an insight in a way that is non-rational and deeply moving.I want that. Of course I know that it will take more than 10 days … but I’m hearing a new whispering that is pulling me forward and makes me delighted to be living this particular life at this particular moment with all of you as my collected wisdom teachers. Thank you to all of you and to Substack for assembling this gossamer web of creativity and commerce.
Your reflections on a writing journey cause me to consider the distance between yearning and yielding. Our Western tradition of scholarship; the search & acquisition of information, the comparison & testing of theories, is one path to satisfy a yearning. Yielding follows another route that delivers understanding beyond knowing.
I love that idea of "jazz writing," of riffing on what others have written, following that trail of thought that takes us someplace new, that excites a new sense of things. Some of my best writing has come from this "riffing." I feel like I've moved into a flow of conversation and am part of it. You've moved me to comment here, and that's part of it too. This reciprocity, evoking each other to respond.