The Work Changes | Your Purpose Doesn't
Ahh, it feels so good when you are on track, am I right? It may be chaotic, but we can ground in anyway, as my recent podcast guest, Damini Celebre mentioned: “The answers are in the body and not the mind.”
Ever noticed how your body gives you a sign that an idea or inspiration feels good? In writing, we have learned to write what the reader can feel, sense, taste or even touch to draw them in. In therapeutic writing, we can be encouraged to write out until our body feels better:
Recently, I came across the landmark research of James Pennebaker. In the 1980's, he discovered a link between “expressive writing” — writing for 15-20 minutes at a time, over several days, about a past traumatic event, or secret concerns — and measurable improvements in immune system function. - 🔗Dr. Susan Biali Haas
Ever notice how many life coaches and creative coaches suggest that you write down your goals & journal out your morning. Have you heard of morning pages? As far as I know, we have Julia Cameron to thank for that — The Artist's Way. In her seminal text, Cameron says, every morning put three pages of longhand (yes, longhand) on the page. That’s it. Then three more tomorrow and three more the next day. It’s a powerful practice, as a writer and as a human.
Writing down your goals is a distillation. Writing morning pages can help you get there. Why you ask? Well it gets the gunk out. It skims the surface. It gets the gears flowing. It trains the writing muscles. It reveals to you what is going below the surface because oops, sometimes really great ideas or answers tumble out once you get going. What’s left when you get out all of the reasons you can’t and you are staring at one repeatable gem waiting for your support?
Jesse Gittler, speaking of cultivating consciousness, recently gave a fabulous reframe on morning doubts. He said, at night you set your intentions, reflect on your day and pray for what you are calling in (this also happens when you put down the writing space for the day, and work through what you need to achieve tomorrow.). Gittler says, you wake up and you have all these doubts. You think it’s because you are wrong for wanting what you are wanting — but this is Life letting you know the ideas, beliefs, and blocks you need to move through to have the capacity for that which you desire.
Does that not make the most sense of all?
So those morning pages, or sitting for morning meditation, or getting out to walk first thing in the morning like I did this morning — gets you through the doubt to the gold that is there and waiting. This frigid morning I was rewarded by seeing a bald eagle swoop through the woods. At first I doubted myself — then the eagle doubled back, and flew past me about 50 feet away and I saw the shock of white feathers in his tail and head. They are so magnificent. That to say, some mornings I get up pre-dawn to write, journal and create in the quiet and some mornings. Other mornings that is not possible, and I get myself, my son and my dog out because I can’t write (hello motherhood) but I can get us moving into our day. The mornings are so powerful. So powerful. And having a set schedule of sitting for silence and moving for momentum are keys to living our best day as writers, as parents, as creatives — as people.
In fact there is a play, as Dr. Haas goes on to mention (in article linked above), between getting the body moving daily and having the body sit consciously daily. There are universes of unknown power in simple actions and attention taken to our form. Often we know it subconsciously, but need an accessible, designated forum in our over-stretched day to drop into hearing ourselves and listening. It’s also part of being human : community.
Why all of this talk about moving and sitting? Because there is so much emotion and motion at the end of the year, I am offering you an invitation to slow down to tend what you are most committed too, or to heed the call of the pivot. When you lock in on a purpose, it can be surprising when the pivot comes. Your work may change, your substack becomes an e-book, your love for dogs becomes a dog-walking company, your passion for people means you accept a new job at a lower pay because you have a whisper you can rely on that it leads to something more. These pivots are easier to trust and follow when you have practices that allow you to clear the slate and cultivate a relationship with your own voice. The work changes. Your purpose doesn’t.
Trust that as the end of the year has you face-to-face with that which is no longer needed, so you may have a clear space to open your wingspan.
Let me know how it goes,
Kate
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