Write Where You Are

Writing can be a challenge. I find myself in a peculiar space as I re-edit my book with a singular purpose in mind–to write where I am. It requires me to dig deeply into what I want to say, then translate it into something meaningful to my readers.

 What does that mean, to write where I am? My book is not a normal memoir. It chronicle events, but the story follows my mystical transformation from hiding empath to vulnerable storyteller. Through time, I attempt to write where I am, physically and metaphysically.

Realizing I hadn’t captured the depth of my transformation deeply enough, I’m editing my book one more time, replacing descriptions of how I feel with sensations and action. Readers should be able to “feel” along with me, not just read. It's called “showing” not “telling”. It feels peculiar because I’m reliving the book as I edit and spending more time in those singular moments of awareness that preceded all the changes I made.

All my editing stops for a single day to write my blog. I look for inspiration during the week and usually have a story incubating before I sit down to write. Sometimes I don’t have a clue. That was the case this week, so I resorted to petitioning the mystical world for help.

 As I drifted off to sleep, I made a mental note that I wanted the title of my blog when I woke up in the morning. I woke up and searched my memory. No title! Disappointed, my memory remembered the movie I watched last night called “Life or Something Like it” starring Angelina Jolie and Tony Shalhoub. My partner and I are Tony Shalhoub fans, but it wasn’t a movie he enjoyed. He went to bed.

 The plot fascinated me. Shalhoub plays a street seer who sets up his box in the middle of a busy Seattle street, steps onto it, and shouts his predictions to all as he hears them. The main character, a lifestyle reporter working for a TV network, covered the seer. Jolie gets her story all right. He tells her in a week, she will die. You can imagine how unnerving that might be and we follow her through the week as she tries to discredit the seer’s predictions, then fall apart when each one he shouts from his crate comes true.

Still without a blog topic, I thought about the title of the movie and the process of editing my book and heard “Write Where You Are”. Eureka, that’s my title, I said, leaping out of bed and running to my computer. That phrase has multiple meanings. To me, it was a directive and a title. If you’ve read any of the 82 blogs I’ve written since I started my career as a writer, you’ll know I often write about huge, collective issues and then scale my point of view down to individual action steps.

 Write where you are is a directive to incubate what I’m sensing collectively and focus it on where it applies to individuals. My intent is to arrive at a conclusion that inspires the reader to rethink and act. How do I do that? Watching the movie, then distilling its message into the title of this blog is an example. Editing my book to bring mindful moments alive is another example.

How does my title apply to the individual? The answer is “mindful moments” and “integral pauses”. Yes, there are broad collective incidences of beingness in these two states, but in this context, I’m writing about individual experiences. First, let’s define those two states.

Take our reactions to politics, for example. We could rail about how and why we chose our Prime Minister. Our American neighbours can bash each other about how and why they chose their President. Here comes the ginormous “but”. The past is the past. The question becomes where are we going and what are we doing in this present moment? It requires an “integral pause” to clear the fetid air of the past.

 An integral pause, as I define it then, is a pause vital to completing the cycle of challenges, changes, and stressors caused by trauma, signalling our way back to wholeness. The integral pause starts the healing process and usually occurs halfway between the trauma, crisis, or change, and resolution and healing.

In my life, this type of pause allowed my mind, emotions, soul, and body to work together to deal with the changes moving through me. I allowed space for me to catch up and had faith that something new was being birthed. I can’t emphasize this enough. The integral pause takes place as we’re able to allow and listen to our thoughts and emotions without judgment. These steps may sound simple, but don’t underestimate their healing power.

What about mindful moments? Amid our busy lives, being present creates a mindful moment where time stretches and accommodates the experience. It’s followed by a significant “aha” that disrupts the way we think or feel. I had a mindful moment watching an older couple drive through a parking lot. It transformed my derision into compassion and it changed me. The complete story is in Chapter 10 of my book.

 Ok, I’ve defined integral pause and the mindful moment. What’s the why in this post? What would motivate us to rethink and promote inspired action? I’m stepping up on my wooden crate to speak what I see ahead. I see people taking time to pause in an integral space, and in that space, they examine their motivations, beliefs, and biases for anything that isn’t charitable or authentic. Can you tell which motivations, beliefs, and biases are hurtful and false? Yes, you can.

 Look inside for an extreme response to something most people wouldn’t react to. Then examine where others have hurt you. A revealing activity is to find something negative about yourself and ask a “what if” question. Jennifer McLean is the author of this technique. What if I could turn this negative into a positive? What would that look like?

My last tip is to request inner guidance regarding personal changes, then dedicate time for introspection even if you don’t know what changes to make. Walk, unplug, listen. Write where you are from your heart. Write your aha moments, celebrate, then repeat. Enjoy romantic comedies? Look up “Life or Something Like it” on Netflix and imagine standing on a wooden crate, sharing what you hear with the world. Love the change you see in yourself? Then take the next step and write, right where you are.