Oh this is like the serious corollary to my “Do I follow the shiny new idea?” post. I asked precisely one of your questions in my article and you asked them all. Am gonna update that article and link to this, if that’s ok!
Resistance for me is that nudge to recognize that something isn’t quite clicking right. It’s often character motivation or I’ve lost track of a character altogether.
Well my dear friend. I am not a writer artist as you know but a painter artist. And so from that vantage point? Your dance over all these years with your art? Your writing? So. Much. Wisdom. Gleaned. 🤸 You have a whole different kind of book right there. Sharing this wisdom, your writing path, with others. Or maybe a memoir? 🤔 And of course, this is something you are by no means needing to ponder or consider at all. Just sharing that little nugget that came to me as I was following along with this post. For what it’s worth. ☺️ Admire and am inspired greatly by your dedication to your creativity. Huzzah to you! ✨🙌🏼✨
🤪 but that would involve trying to untangle my thoughts into something far more articulate than this! Seriously though…it has come up a few times and I’m going to sit with it for a while longer…😉
Thank you SO much, for your witness and cheerleading for all these years (do we dare add them up?!) - you’re right, it’s been a long and winding road but I wouldn’t change it (well, most of it). I finally feel at home in my creative practice and that’s no small thing. xo
Not a small thing, something quite grand in fact. And I’m right there with you. I’m finally in that place too. Solidly centered on my very own unique creative path. It took a long while, but yes, worth every bit to get here. Who knew?I
Absolutely brilliant!! I am so proud of you for following the breadcrumbs thru to this end. You'ge got it!! Writing happens IN life, along with kids, gardening, and foing laundry. You can't rush a great soup - it takes hours. Your writings are great soup. I love you!!
when you said "fear is the currency of our modern age", it resonated HARD. i've been thinking a lot about how the central dichotomy of human experience is trust versus fear, and how that interaction/choice/tone gets set in our earliest days...and how it impacts people all their lives, and ultimately has steered us into the disastrous corner in which we now find ourselves. (full disclosure: i live in the US, so we are talking actual disaster, as in lives being upended-despair inducing-full metal fascism, on top of various climate related disasters.) i often think how when our choices come from a place of fear rather than trust or curiosity, we create an ugly, unfriendly world. there's a lot to unpack here...and it's off-topic from your post about personal creativity and writing and how to engage or not with the outside world in our art-making. but ultimately, it is all related, yes? because being afraid of our cyclic nature and fallow periods is tied to our fear-based choices to try to control #Everything, to our lack of cultural acceptance of cycles and mortality and limits and all things non-steady-state or contrary to unlimited growth...as always, the personal is political; the micro is macro, and vice-versa.
It's quite a lens, isn't it? I've been thinking about this a lot, lately...especially in light of this rise of 'full-metal fascism' as you so aptly put it. And yes, it's all related...so much of what we experience in the wider world trickles down into our creative practices and art-making....more than I had really considered until I started digging into my own psyche. So now I make (mostly wobbly) attempts to dismantle that fear wherever I can. A work in progress...;) xo
Resistance is my old friend too. Sometimes, she shows up to insist I offer consent to the next step before I live a life of full-blown unconscious reaction (honestly, a lot of my life is still that I'm sure). Resistance says, "You could have a relationship with everything that's going on right now rather than just leaping to and fro. Would it help if I stopped you in your tracks to consider that?"
But there's something else I'm noticing too and it's tough to get close to. Resistance is resisting me or I am resisting something deep beneath my surface. I can't tell. Maybe it's just that I have a lot of planets in Cancer and I'm a crab with a shell. Maybe it's because I'm an INFP and everyone thinks I'm an ENFP. Maybe it's because I'm entering menopause. Maybe it's all these things. All i know is there is something deep inside that's always rattling about and I claim that I want to know it and see it, but I stop short. I resist.
Maybe this is why I create. It offers excavation, but it also helps me approach what is tender with great gentleness. Hmmm...plenty of things to think about. Thanks so much for this post. I'm keeping it in my pocket and turning it over in my hand. You've given me a much needed tool for this inner mystery I'm dealing with and I'm very grateful.
"All i know is there is something deep inside that's always rattling about and I claim that I want to know it and see it, but I stop short. I resist." <--- Yes, THIS! I can very much relate.
The biggest learning for me, of late, is to not immediately reject resistance as an obstacle that needs to be overcome -- which is the broader societal teaching. There's ALWAYS a lesson in resistance for me, even the resisting of the resistance lol. And yes, creating is a way to dance with it in a less confrontational way, even when the creating itself is the thing we're resisting. Which seems paradoxical and yet somehow holds true. xo
Oh this is like the serious corollary to my “Do I follow the shiny new idea?” post. I asked precisely one of your questions in my article and you asked them all. Am gonna update that article and link to this, if that’s ok!
Resistance for me is that nudge to recognize that something isn’t quite clicking right. It’s often character motivation or I’ve lost track of a character altogether.
YES!! Resistance is actually extremely useful and doesn’t deserve the terror and vilification it receives :). Absolutely, link away! xo
I am over here with eyes that see your gift and a loyal heart waiting to read whatever you write & whenever… Be good to yourself. 🌈
Thank you, dearest Beth! xo ps. missing you at the Scribble 🥰
Well my dear friend. I am not a writer artist as you know but a painter artist. And so from that vantage point? Your dance over all these years with your art? Your writing? So. Much. Wisdom. Gleaned. 🤸 You have a whole different kind of book right there. Sharing this wisdom, your writing path, with others. Or maybe a memoir? 🤔 And of course, this is something you are by no means needing to ponder or consider at all. Just sharing that little nugget that came to me as I was following along with this post. For what it’s worth. ☺️ Admire and am inspired greatly by your dedication to your creativity. Huzzah to you! ✨🙌🏼✨
🤪 but that would involve trying to untangle my thoughts into something far more articulate than this! Seriously though…it has come up a few times and I’m going to sit with it for a while longer…😉
Thank you SO much, for your witness and cheerleading for all these years (do we dare add them up?!) - you’re right, it’s been a long and winding road but I wouldn’t change it (well, most of it). I finally feel at home in my creative practice and that’s no small thing. xo
Not a small thing, something quite grand in fact. And I’m right there with you. I’m finally in that place too. Solidly centered on my very own unique creative path. It took a long while, but yes, worth every bit to get here. Who knew?I
These words were exactly what I needed, and arrived at the perfect time. Thanks, Mel.
I’m so glad they could be helpful, Kathy. xo
Absolutely brilliant!! I am so proud of you for following the breadcrumbs thru to this end. You'ge got it!! Writing happens IN life, along with kids, gardening, and foing laundry. You can't rush a great soup - it takes hours. Your writings are great soup. I love you!!
Trece, you are a tonic! Thank you — and I love you too!! xo
when you said "fear is the currency of our modern age", it resonated HARD. i've been thinking a lot about how the central dichotomy of human experience is trust versus fear, and how that interaction/choice/tone gets set in our earliest days...and how it impacts people all their lives, and ultimately has steered us into the disastrous corner in which we now find ourselves. (full disclosure: i live in the US, so we are talking actual disaster, as in lives being upended-despair inducing-full metal fascism, on top of various climate related disasters.) i often think how when our choices come from a place of fear rather than trust or curiosity, we create an ugly, unfriendly world. there's a lot to unpack here...and it's off-topic from your post about personal creativity and writing and how to engage or not with the outside world in our art-making. but ultimately, it is all related, yes? because being afraid of our cyclic nature and fallow periods is tied to our fear-based choices to try to control #Everything, to our lack of cultural acceptance of cycles and mortality and limits and all things non-steady-state or contrary to unlimited growth...as always, the personal is political; the micro is macro, and vice-versa.
thanks for a thought-provoking moment.
It's quite a lens, isn't it? I've been thinking about this a lot, lately...especially in light of this rise of 'full-metal fascism' as you so aptly put it. And yes, it's all related...so much of what we experience in the wider world trickles down into our creative practices and art-making....more than I had really considered until I started digging into my own psyche. So now I make (mostly wobbly) attempts to dismantle that fear wherever I can. A work in progress...;) xo
"third book"...yes!!!!!!!
haha...yes, I suppose that's the good news. The bad news is it's going to be a while :) xo
That's ok. Anticipation is an almost-forgotten joy. 😁
Resistance is my old friend too. Sometimes, she shows up to insist I offer consent to the next step before I live a life of full-blown unconscious reaction (honestly, a lot of my life is still that I'm sure). Resistance says, "You could have a relationship with everything that's going on right now rather than just leaping to and fro. Would it help if I stopped you in your tracks to consider that?"
But there's something else I'm noticing too and it's tough to get close to. Resistance is resisting me or I am resisting something deep beneath my surface. I can't tell. Maybe it's just that I have a lot of planets in Cancer and I'm a crab with a shell. Maybe it's because I'm an INFP and everyone thinks I'm an ENFP. Maybe it's because I'm entering menopause. Maybe it's all these things. All i know is there is something deep inside that's always rattling about and I claim that I want to know it and see it, but I stop short. I resist.
Maybe this is why I create. It offers excavation, but it also helps me approach what is tender with great gentleness. Hmmm...plenty of things to think about. Thanks so much for this post. I'm keeping it in my pocket and turning it over in my hand. You've given me a much needed tool for this inner mystery I'm dealing with and I'm very grateful.
"All i know is there is something deep inside that's always rattling about and I claim that I want to know it and see it, but I stop short. I resist." <--- Yes, THIS! I can very much relate.
The biggest learning for me, of late, is to not immediately reject resistance as an obstacle that needs to be overcome -- which is the broader societal teaching. There's ALWAYS a lesson in resistance for me, even the resisting of the resistance lol. And yes, creating is a way to dance with it in a less confrontational way, even when the creating itself is the thing we're resisting. Which seems paradoxical and yet somehow holds true. xo