Writing Your Life Down
Friday, March 12, 2010 at 7:52AM More than 20 years ago, I heard Tony Robbins say, "If your life is worth living, it's worth writing about." After that, I made a serious and sustained effort to keep a journal, despite the fact I didn't really think of myself as being worthy of the life that I was given. It may seem over the top to say such a thing, but that is genuinely how I felt as a newly recovering addict, wanting to ignore the mess I had made of my life and my relationships with others.
Within my journals is a record of my travels through This life. Beyond writing about my experiences, I have quotes, fragments of paragraphs from books, important emails, pictures, haiku, poems, personal insights, ideas and a record of my Zen training. I only stated doing that after being encouraged by Genjo Marinello, Osho to do so. Prior to this, no other teacher had encouraged or suggested that I do so. It's been incredibly helpful, to the practice of my life.
In my day-to-day running around, I sometimes have a way of losing track with myself. I can be so far into my head, I can feel as big as Eddie VanHalen. Look out world... But when I start writing things down, I realize that some of the takes on my own experiences are much closer to thinking and feeling like Homer Simpson. Seeing my thoughts and feelings written down can change things dramatically for me. Sometimes I'm like, "Wow, I never realized I thought or felt that way," or "That need some addressing," or "Wow - that really connects the heart." The written words of how we are seeing and feeling our life, help clarify, what might otherwise be nothing more than muddy water.
Entry - November 15, 2008 1:15PM: "There were two fortunes stuck in my fortune cookie at lunch. One says "Anything worth doing can be done." the other says "Accept something that you cannot change, and you will feel better." That day, those strips of paper helped me. That doesn't seem random. I feel like they were really meant for me. I'm glad that I wrote it down, so that I would not forget what Life is telling me.
Please be kind to yourself. Write your life down.
Unify Your Heart,
Jaye Seiho Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO
Reader Comments (6)
I often feel the same, when going through my old journals. I can't even extrapolate, at times, when I wrote something- a scrawled note in a corner, opened randomly to get the thought down before I lost it again in my hormone-riddled brain in the midst of my depression years.
Sometimes I come across what I thought was a fresh page and find an old thought jotted down crooked across the page, which I then write around , serpentine-like. All the while I'm smiling at the little sketch, note or scribble one of my kids added when they got too nosy. That can change an entry that was sad or complaining into something else entirely.
In the same way we often overlap thoughts and impressions, getting them mixed up with other people and time periods. The longer I Practice, though, the straighter the lines get and the more confident the lettering becomes.
Thanks Seiho, for this post. I feel the same about my daily posts in Mind Deep blog. Writing has a way of helping one clarify what may still be fuzzy. In the online world, it can also act as a way to seal commitment to a particular path. It is also a way to engage with other fellow travelers, as right now, when I am responding to you. Last, writing is a creative act, that feeds the soul.
I am glad you are writing your life down. It is not only a gift to yourself, but others such as myself.
Deep bow to you.
marguerite
I like this post because it reminds me that no matter how I am feeling I can work through it in writing. I just returned from a life changing experience w/the Tibetan refugee community in McleodGanj, India. Of course being in the hometown of HH the 14th Dalai Lama was pretty amazing in itself, but the life lessons I learned, and re-learned, inspired me to write page after page of stream-of-consciousness journal entries...
Since coming back to the US just 6 days ago, I have virtually stopped writing. I think due to a combination of jet lag and some kind of mental/emotional block, or resistance at leaving behind everything I had come to hold dear.
So...having said all that, you have inspired me to go back and write some more down about being in THIS moment in THIS place...
Thank you
CrypticFragments,
I can relate with you very much. When I go to Chobozenji to practice for Sesshin (Silent retreat), it's difficult to articulate, what feels beyond the letters and words given to express them. But what a wonderful practice opportunity to digest, digest, digest to the extent, we may touch, mind to mind, even if just a little.
Please write soon.
Hands Palm to Palm,
// Seiho
Emily,
When you said, "The longer I Practice, though, the straighter the lines get and the more confident the lettering becomes." There's nothing that can be added.
With Gassho,
~Seiho
Marguerite,
Continuous unfolding.
_/|\_,
~Seiho