Bane of Your Resistance

If you’re like me, and I have a strong feeling you are, some days, the words and images appear in our mind and flow effortlessly and joyfully out of our hands onto the screen.

Some days, we’re afraid they won’t.

But it’s certain that if we don’t show up for our writing practice, the words and images can’t show up either.

On the days when we’re afraid, it helps to offer a prayer (or poem if you prefer). 

I’m about to be cheeky, so presumptuous in fact that I’ll extrapolate from a prayer/poem written by esteemed Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh in an attempt to tailor his wisdom for myself and my fellow writers.

Thich Nhat Hanh’s Original Prayer

First, the original in Prayers for Healing:

Our true home is in the present moment.

To live in the present moment is a miracle.

The miracle is not to walk on water.

The miracle is to walk on the green Earth in the present moment,

to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now.

Peace is all around us —

in the world and in nature —

and within us —

in our bodies and our spirits.

Once we learn to touch this peace,

we will be healed and transformed.

It is not a matter of faith,

it is a matter of practice.

Prayer/Poem for Writing Practice

Now my revision for writers. It is not an improvement; I simply hope it will resonate for you. May you remember where you find your miracles in writing. If you rewrite or have another poem or prayer for writing practice, please share it in a comment or guest post.

Our writing home is the present moment in our imagination.

To write in the present moment is a miracle.

The miracle is not to write perfectly, profusely, perpetually. 

The miracle is to both leave and remain in reality and walk in our imagination on the green Earth or another planet or among the stars as another person in another place and time,

To revel in vast possibilities and to record what is available now, no matter how imperfect, incomplete and halting our words are.

Possibility is all around me —

in the world and in nature —

within me and within another me —

in our bodies and our spirits.

Once we learn to trust these possibilities,

we will heal and transform ourselves and our other selves.

It is not a matter of faith,

it is a matter of practice.

Source

Thich Nhat Hanh, “Entry for Aril23” in Prayers for Healing: 365 Blessings, Poems & Meditations from Around the World, edited by Maggie Oman, 1999, Conari Press, Red Wheel/Weiser.