Saturday, March 7, 2009

Why we write

The older I become, the more I cherish those elusive moments when my world feels completely in balance. Nothing amiss, astray, or awry. All is well.


There are many forces in our lives that conspire to compromise our inner peace. The key to a healthy existence, as Allison suggests with her blog title, is to "keep calm and carry on," and to gravitate towards and revel in whatever it is that brings us closer to that state of pure perfection.

Sometimes it is triggered by something singular; a breathtaking vista, a lover's glance, a song or a poem. But more typically it is the collective sense of balance we are blessed with when the disparate tangle of daily details somehow settles into a sustained moment of blissful harmony.

For many of us who write, the process of putting our thoughts into words speaks to this quest for an inner euphoria. Whether we are striving to fill a void, or feverishly attempting to expel an excess, the compositions we create, in prose or poetry, soothe and satiate our restless, imaginative spirits. When we manage to capture and corral those voices and ideas that continually swirl and eddy about in our brains and tidily formulate them into a meaningful or funny or poignant or even an angry flow of articulate phrases, we feel accomplished. We read and re-read what we've written and think, YES that's it... I said it, there it is, and hey... it sounds pretty good. It works. And whether we share those words with the world or keep them completely to ourselves, they allow us to savor a small joyous moment. We pause. We enjoy. Then we pat ourselves briefly on the back and move on. Because there's always more to say.

Pamela

13 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. One of my favorite quotes about why we write is by Anais Nin. She said, "We write to taste life twice: in the moment and in retrospection." I guess that refers to journaling, but it stuck in my head when I first read it. I find old journals all around my house and sit and read them and thank God I write because I had no recall of what happened! LOL!

    I guess there are as many answers to why each of us write as there are questions. I love to write longhand---with a good pen and an oversized notebook. I just love the feel of the flow of the ink. As long as I can remember, I've hoarded "good" pens. I often use some old cartridge pens that I bought at Hobby Lobby in the calligraphy/ink section. They're for special cards and poems and such. I have three of them with different colors of ink in each one: red, green and purple. When I'm feeling ambitious, I put quotes from books, etc. in a different color. Mostly, though, I just scribble with a black rolling ball ink pen.

    (I deleted my first comment because I made several boo-boos. Oops!)

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  3. Ahhh. Good pens. I always misplace them!!
    Ahhh. Boo boos. The priviledge of humanity!!
    Happy Saturday to you Marion...
    Pamela

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  4. Pamdog
    This last paragraph is so true!
    Whether we are striving to fill a void, or feverishly attempting to expel an excess, the compositions we create, in prose or poetry, soothe and satiate our restless, imaginative spirits
    YES

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  5. Linda: Your post about poetry addressed some similar issues and was partly what inspired me to write this entry. P

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  6. Excellent posting and thanks for your comment on my blog this evening. I once wrote for a living and had no time to simply ponder, notice a poem or take pictures because I wanted to...Blogging satisfies some of that.

    Have a good week.

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  7. Yes, that's it. I've been trying to figure out why I do it, but you've said it.

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  8. Pam, first off I have to tell you how awesome your interpretation of my dream was the other day..lol....that totally clicked with me :)
    Your post here resonates with me in more ways than one, writing gives me that sense of calm that I can't seem to get anywhere else. It's that little piece of me that I get to keep for myself..and share if I feel like it. Blogging has cleared my mind and helped me refocus. Writing outside the internet has always been my sanity saver in less than ideal times as well.

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  9. Where are you Pam? Miss your posts
    Linda

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  10. Hey, Pam! I have a new blog which seems to work most of the time and just wanted to let you know. My old one had a complete nervous breakdown, so I started over.

    I hope all is well with you. Hang in there and keep the faith! (((HUGS))) from Louisiana!!! I miss you!!!

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  11. I know far too well of those forces that conspire to keep me out of balance. This past week I had an epiphany regarding such things. I realized that I should learn to go with the flow, lean into it like a motorcycle rider navigating a curve, and not struggle against it. Struggling doesn't seem to solve anything and only makes the ride more nerve-wracking.

    If I simply allow things to take their course, so much beauty and wisdom can be found that I would have otherwise missed.

    I love the way you write. Beautiful! ~♥~

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  12. Hello Pam ....as an update hope life is moving in the direction you want and need.
    Hugs
    Linda

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  13. "The older I become, the more I cherish those elusive moments when my world feels completely in balance."

    The problem for me is that, the older I become, the less I experience moments when the world feels balanced. Does yours feel more or less balanced as you age?

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