What Is Your Work?
My writing group was inspiring last night. I thought I'd share with you the exercise that moved me in the hope that whether or not you're a writer, it might move you, too. The prompt was a Mary Oliver poem called "Messenger" If you're not familiar with Mary Oliver, her poems tend to be her observations of the world. Only she sees the world differently from most of us, as if she has lenses that help her see its beauty. And then she shares that beauty so we can be reminded to see it, too.
The poem we read begins with this line, "My work is loving the world."
That line caught my attention, and so I wrote at the top of the page, "What is my work?" And by that I didn't mean things like making X amount of dollars or going to an office/school or taking care of my kids or any of the ordinary jobs we do. I meant it as a soulful question. I wanted to know the essence of what really matters to me about this writing thing I'm driven to do. I knew it wasn't really about writing to market trends or to please an industry professional or to sell X amount of books. But I wondered in what way what I'm writing matters. And when I wrote those words at the top of the page, I had no idea what the answer would be. But as I wrote, the words began to show me the answer, show me the essence, the purpose of what I write.
I'm not going to go into the specifics of what I learned because it feels fresh and raw and I want to hold it close for a little while. And sometimes I feel like when you make things public, you give away a piece of it, and I'm not ready to give this away yet. And it doesn't really matter anyway, because what matters for you is your work. What is that crystal of what you're meant to share with the world? What is at the heart of what you do or hope to do someday?
If you'd like to try it, here's what you need to do:
1. Find a quiet spot where you won't be disturbed for twenty minutes or so.
2. Get quiet inside. Breathe. Listen to the birds outside your window or listen to the silence or listen to music if that inspires but doesn't distract you or listen to your breath or look at a beautiful image or imagine one. Don't skip this step. If you don't get quiet inside you won't be able to hear the quiet voice that has the answers.
3. Write at the top of the page: What is my work?
4. Begin to write, even if you don't know what to write about, even if you're not and never hope to be a writer. If it helps, you can start by writing about what your work isn't.
5. Ignore the critical voice in your head that wants you to feel like this is stupid or your ideas will never matter or you have no purpose. That voice lies.
See where the words take you. I hope they bring you inspiration. I know that's what they brought me.