When the question arises, “Why write? Why create?” I’m drawn to ask, “Why breathe? Why climb to a place where you can see the horizon? Why look for things soft and durable to wrap around a wound? Why call into the canyon between us to see if anyone is there?” Because all these efforts help us live.
Repeatedly, we’re called to engage experience as a way to manifest what we carry within us, bringing what is dormant into the world. As the tree that a seed carries breaks ground in time, reflection, dialogue, and writing are seed-like forms by which we release our inwardness into the world. This is why we listen and express. This is why we write, why we create. Because expression is like sunlight that emanates from within. It causes the soul to blossom in time.
Like breathing and waking, expression is a lifelong process that no one can do without. So when you engage in a personal form of expression, you are watering the seeds of your soul. And while fear and pain can keep us hidden, our urge to express and create remains compelling and relentless. Consider the astonishing industry of ants building mounds of dirt hundreds of times their size, and the diligence of bees that can’t stop making honey. We are born with the same industry and diligence to create a home and to make honey. We do this to stay alive and to keep the Universe connected and growing.
A Question to Walk With: Describe a recent time when you felt compelled to build or repair something, focusing on the moment that energized you to do so. What did this feel like? How did it present itself?
This excerpt is from my new book, Drinking from the River of Light: The Life of Expression, due out in September from Sounds True.
*Photo credit: Pixabay
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