Lately, I’ve been attempting to live by a new concept – at least
new to me. Instead of my usual fight to
bend the world to my will, I’ve taken a step back and am embracing the universe
and all its rhythms. I am trying to work
with the uncontrollable forces of my
life instead of in spite of them.
For example, this spring as I worked in my garden, I focused
on what was easiest to do each day. If
it were rainy or wet – I pulled weeds because they removed with ease in the wet
soil even though my head told me I needed to be planting because it was getting
late in the year. But last year I
learned that planting in the rain could wash away the seeds and walking through
the mud in my vegetable garden destroys the composition of the dirt – so I
listened to the world around me and only planted after the soil had dried
enough that it was no longer easy to pull weeds. Then on the really dry days when even
planting was difficult – I pruned the overgrowth.
My logical side was appalled by my new concept. Everything has an order. Finish one project
before starting another - planting before weeding. But this year I
didn’t listen to my logic and somehow my garden grows.
The vegetable crop is maturing admittedly later than usual but the work
was much more enjoyable.
So looking at my work as a writer, I’ve begun to wonder if
the same concept applies: listen to the
universe and my writing will come easier and better than trying to fit it into
an agenda. I’m not sure. We’ve all had those days when ideas flow from
our minds with elegance - or had days when editing comes easy by using a
critical mindset and seeing what works and what doesn’t. But I fear that if I don’t stick to an agenda,
I will avoid and neglect specific activities indefinitely and never
finish anything.
In either case, I’ve had a bad case of ‘I don’t want to work with anything dealing with writing’ and I need to find a way to break out of
this slump.
