After Monday's class, Margaret sent us an email encouraging everyone to establish a daily spiritual practice in addition to a writing practice. I kind of think my writing practice is my spiritual practice, and Natalie Goldberg (Writing Down the Bones, Wild Mind and many other books), as well as Julia Cameron (The Artist's Way, plus) would agree with me.But Margaret makes a good point. Currently what I do to ease into my writing time is to either make a cup of coffee (at home), really strong coffee, or to buy a double-tall, nonfat latte (when I'm writing in my car). The coffee is the signal, the anchor, that tells me, "Here's your writing time."
What if, instead, I tried putting my feet squarely on the floor, closing my eyes, and practicing breathing?
Don't look for me to give up drinking coffee. But I'll give this a whirl.
While I'm at it, I'll take down this book from my shelf: Writing Begins with the Breath, by Laraine Herring.
Never having been in your home, I can't imagine the spaces. But, writing doesn't really take space - a lesson I have been slow to learn. I'm wondering if there really isn't a space you could convert? I remember about 20 years ago, shortly after we moved into this house and were fighting terribly (my opinion) I used to sit on the floor or our not very big walk in closet. I found the quiet in there comforting and often thought that it wasn't much smaller than the room I lived in, when I lived in Spain. I also used to write in my car - but I haven't tried that in a long time.
ReplyDeleteLori -- I keep trying to post a comment back, but can't seem to do it. I think the college may be blocking blogspot!
ReplyDeleteAnyway you have inspired me to take another look around my house. If I would throw out a tv, or kick out a couple of 18year olds (just kidding) I'd have the space I need!