Goodnight Moon
Tonight I am falling asleep by candlelight with nothing but the soundtrack of the world outside my window blowing through the billowing of my curtains as the scent of vanilla and strawberry candles flicker against the bright colored paintings on my wall. It is now officially Fall. Even though I adore Summer, this is slowly but surely becoming my favorite time of year. The sky is bright; the breeze is crisp and detailed, sweaters, boots, hot chocolate and laughter. Yes, I am ready for this new season. Literally and figuratively.
I’ve been reading a lot lately, and have been very quiet. Not saying much, just observing. I realize that the quieter I am, the more I write and the hungrier I get for art. I have decided that this weekend is going to be another one of those what I like to call ‘writers retreat’ weekends, where the phone is off, the location is undisclosed and I am finally free to spend my time exactly as I please. I can sleep, I can read, I can lie around in my underwear, notebook always resting directly to the right of my hand because you never know when a line, a word, a picture, a fluttering of a leave will inspire a story or a poem or a song, so I must stay read. I love it.
Even though I would love to stay up all night tonight, I feel the weight of my work week bearing down on me, begging me to just go to bed and start fresh in the morning. Even this coffee I am pretending to drink isn’t doing the trick. My body wants to lie down, so I must oblige. But I am feeling good, inspired, encouraged, ready to face what’s next. I am looking forward to the still quietness of the morning. Writing before the world starts stirring, that is exactly how I want to start my day.
So this weekend I am taking Virginia Wolf’s advice and creating a room of my own. I am going to spend all of my time with Alice, Zora, Langston, Paulo, and James. I need my literary mentors to speak to me this weekend and guide me as I start this new project. The voices of my characters have gotten quiet so I am going to take advantage of this time and simply write for the sheer joy of the sensation of a moving pen. Yes. Sleep is tapping lightly on my shoulder, so I will lie down underneath the comfort of these candles and this breeze and tomorrow before the world outside my window stretches and prepares for the day, I am going to sit down with my pen and my pad and write out my dreams…
And the following story is something I found on Paulo Coelho’s blog and this is exactly the type of thinking that I plan to immerse myself in…
story sent by Anupam Karn
A master asked his disciples:
‘Why do we shout in anger? Why do people shout at each other when they are upset?’
the disciples thought for a while, and one of them said
‘Because we lose our calm, we shout for that.’
‘But, why to shout when the other person is just next to you? ‘Isn’t it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice? Why do you shout at a person when you’re angry?’
The disciples gave him some other answers but none satisfied the master.
Finally he explained:
‘When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other through that great distance.’
Then the master asked:
‘What happens when two people fall in love? They don’t shout at each other but talk softly, why? Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small…’
And he finally said:
‘When they love each other even more, what happens?
‘They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love.
‘Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that’s all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.’
Long live art….
Peace Y’all,
B
