By Amanda Moreno
It is so hard for me to write when I’m not inspired. It’s nearly impossible. My writing process very much has to do with being in the flow and with tapping into that feeling of being able to channel words as poetry. Regardless of whether I’m doing academic writing, prose, poetry or this column — which tends to be a mix of any of those — the flow is so important. Fortunately, I tend to be easily inspired.
Photo by graywacke/A Landing a Day
I’ve been out of the flow, and out of inspiration, for a spell now. It’s a theme I’m noticing among friends and clients as well. Things feel flat, dull, surreal, nebulous.
I’ve been able to push through it for the most part, as I tend to keep a notepad on me and jot down ideas throughout the week. There is typically something that ends up being viable if I can’t just pop into writing mode and spontaneously see what comes out. And I won’t lie, popping into writing mode tends to involve a Manhattan. Or a margarita.
This week I have waited until the last minute to write. I consulted the Planet Waves main page to see if I could find some inspiration — and I did! I love using my tools. It came in the form of Len’s piece, which encouraged the ‘walking away from it’ technique.
I’ve done that several times now to no avail. I was several paragraphs into a piece about cathartic regression therapy, but had to ditch it. Usually I can just push through it and hang in there.
I’ve been writing this column on a weekly basis for almost a year. I’ve missed 3 or 4 weeks, but still, it’s become a process I value deeply. It keeps me on my toes, challenges me to keep paying attention, and adds a much-needed bit of discipline to my life.
It’s been far more personal than I intended it to be. Sometimes sharing at that level has felt incredible and sometimes it’s felt impossible. Sometimes that impossibility turns out more objective, non-personal pieces. All I know is, I have never felt as stuck as I do right now.
I have also been encountering a theme again and again, and I’m still working with it. I’ve realized that parts of me are afraid of the power of words. I’m in a super-conscious phase when it comes to what I put out into the universe in words, and as I work through what is underneath that fear, the inertia I feel is compounded.
This column is supposed to be about ‘spirituality’. That gives it a bit of focus, but when it comes down to it, part of the struggle for me each week is choosing a topic. The scope is broad, and although I try to keep it somehow rooted in current events and trends, sometimes I dream of having someone else narrow down the options for me.
So! The purpose of this current post is to open it up to you, dear Planet Waves community. What would you like to see being covered in this space? Are there topics I’ve covered that you would be interested in hearing more about? Are there ‘spiritual’ topics I haven’t covered that are on your mind? Do you have other insight it feels appropriate to share?
As always, thanks for tuning in.
Amanda, I appreciate your writing struggles. I am also a writer and encounter similar problems and yet have plenty of fodder from which to choose to write. I like what you wrote here because it’s real and an open conversation, which exemplifies the writing style of planet waves articles. I would expect no less, which is what keeps my interest and inspires me to contribute on your discussion board.
I don’t think anything that is described on this website can’t help but touch on the topic of spirituality, at least if you are aware, but many aren’t aware, but I don’t think those are the folks that are visiting this website. So I think you have to keep doing what you are doing and follow your heart and intuition, always mindful of keeping it honest.
It’s possible that its difficult because more and more we are reminded of just how revealing our writing is because of the media platform available in perpetuity. And of course, the Big Brother effect. We can own it, as you do (I obviously do not own it fully given the pseudonym but then again, I am only a blogger) or not. Your responsibility is much larger but there is nothing that you or others have not written that has not garnered our attention. There is enough diversity here that keeps it going so you really have to be authentic to who you are and write from that place.
A drink or two may help break the writer’s block, but it may also help to visit a library, a museum, or a beach. Sometimes people watching for a day can bring you inspiration. The human spirit is amazing in and of itself.
Good luck, I am certain you will find it each week and continue to keep our attention!
“All I know is, I have never felt as stuck as I do right now.”
That is a confirmation I needed to hear today Amanda.
You have given me a piece of peace after struggling with some most recent events .
thank you!
That cathartic regression therapy sounds interesting if you can get it back…perhaps when Mercury straightens out, we will too. I feel you, Ms. A, as mental constipation seems to be a common affliction. Hang in there, this too shall pass.
Hello,
Have you ever gone through Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way?” or tried setting aside the pen/keyboard to try a completely new creative outlet such as painting, sculpture, cooking, etc.?
Finally, what are YOU curious about? Write about that. If not for us, for you.
“The Artist’s Way” has been a great resource and inspiration for me over the years. The act of putting pen to paper for morning pages often reveals the dream I’ve just had. Automatic writing kickstarts my brain and opens up fresh ideas below the surface and outside my box. Thanks for the reminder, abc123.
Amanda, your words mirror my experiences of late. I have been struggling with the writing process for some time now.
When you write that you are “afraid of the power of words” and the “fear that creates the inertia” you are giving words to the nebulous feelings I have been at a loss to nail down.
Daily, as a practice, I have. been looking for things to write about. I wrote to the journalist in The Sonora News who wrote about the near extinct fly catchers that inhabit the southwest and shared with her the story of how they come to nest under the awning on my front patio every year (three broods strong this year). I wrote to the department of transportation requesting information on the product they were spraying on the easements of the road to controll dust. I write of things close and near to my heart
The words of Rilka, (your mentor and mine) speak to me from the ninth elegy where he writes
“Praise this world to the angel, not the unsayable one,
You can’t impress “him” with glorious emotion; in the universe
Where he feels more powerfully, you are a novice. So show him
Something simple which, formed over generations,
Lives as our own, near our hand and within our gaze.
I don’t really have to be in the flow to write because if I did I would rarely write. It’s nice to be there, but it’s really only happened for me a handful of times since I’ve been writing, starting with poetry before I was ten. I haven’t been writing consistently since then, but I’ve had phases. I had one distinct moment in the shower at about ten years old when I came up with a poem, and it made me feel like I had tapped into ‘flow’. Like I said, I’ve only had that happen maybe 5 times in twenty something years.
Yet, borrowing an idea I heard from Allan Watts, we are never, ever, outside of the ‘flow’. We are always in the flow, it’s just that when we think we aren’t, we’re fighting the current, but still in the flow.
Today I read a bit of Melanie Reinhart’s ‘Saturn, Chiron and the Centaurs’, specifically, a section on having been born with Saturn in the 3rd house. I was, and a lot of what is written relates to the struggle of not being able to communicate in words. I feel intellectually inferior sometimes. I’ve learned how to use that feeling to spur myself into action, to keep keeping on, playing the game.
Another problem is, I just don’t have a lot of ideas. Add to that my problem of choosing topics to write about. How do people do that? I’ve never been much of an ‘idea’ person. I’m not an inventive writer in that sense. When I sit down to write, I feel like I have to have something to say. I feel the need to be wise, or emotionally mature, or clever, or inventive, or whatever. All those factors come into play. But why? Using cannabis helps me break through most of those mental barriers, and feelings of insecurity.
More than anything, when it comes to writing, I get in my own way. But how can I keep from getting in my own way? It’s impossible, I am me, I’m not going anywhere. It’s all a process, and the onion peels in layers. I have faith that if I keep chopping through this jungle of a mind, I’ll get somewhere, feel something, or make someone else feel something. So maybe just keep doing what you’re doing.
Amanda, the topic that interests me is the lines where everything changes and how to get there in (any) specific circumstance and through.
when does politeness become insincerity is a simple one,
another one would be if you go to a garage and your car has something wrong with it the mechanic finds out what is wrong with it and fixes it. Human beings are much more alive and living and flexible and possibly therefore nebulous, but it should be possible to arrive at far reaching change – if a mechanic can rebuild a car from scratch at need how come we aren’t managing the same with people: what are the big paring back to bedrock and rebuilding techniques available to us at a soul level. To what extent is life just ‘constructs’ and how do we change the construct or make this flexibility work in extreme circumstances. Are there any circumstances where a construct is not just a construct but indicative of solid ground also. And then what?
xxxp
Amanda – I find that one of the great things about your posts are their spontaneity and honesty. I know it’s not particularly helpful – but whatever you come up with is a pleasure to read, for me.
I agree with Lizzy, Amanda. Your posts always inspire thought and awareness, and are remarkably timely, as is Planet Waves in it’s entirety. I enjoy your take on the spiritual in the daily, and as I read your process in your words, I am simply inspired to look more deeply into the everyday and connect the dots.
This retrograde has been the most challenging I have ever experienced. Hopefully all of us will be back in the zone in a matter of a few more days. much love and grace to you.
“I enjoy your take on the spiritual in the daily” — Tracy, I’m curious about what you mean by “the daily”? Is there a word missing? Or are you referring to Amanda Moreno’s writings elsewhere (not on Planet Waves)?
Hi Amanda,
I have JUST started looking into Kundalini meditation and have so far discovered that several mudras or use of the hands tie into universal energy and also astrology, so far in the fingers and palms of the hand and how touching these areas during meditation links us to the power of those planets. In terms of spiritual topics and my extremely basic knowledge of it all so far, is there a way there could be some link to astrology and spiritual elements such as that? Chakra wisdom?
I also want to know more about the moon, what to do when it is in certain signs, also what not to do during VOC. Thanks for your writings and photos, always enjoyable.
Oh, hey! Thanks for reminding me that I started doing kundalini yoga of some kind a few weeks ago….aaaaaaand then totally forgot about it. *shaking head* That’s a great thing to go back to 🙂
Amanda you always write about you, with a deep and revealing honesty . It always connects with a great many of us. As for me what you feel today resonates. What more can you do? Just because you are a writer doesn’t imply you should have the answers. Sometimes the question is the focus.
When you express the question I am feeling – I feel better. Thank you for writing what you do.
The question of “where does inspiration go?” is a big one for me. When I am inspired I am feeling as if I am in the flow and its like I am channeling a stream of consciousness that is larger and more than I am alone. When I struggle to access that flow I feel frustration because it reminds me of my limitations. The flow always seems to answer the question that I have but without the flow – it is the question that drives me. The question always drives me to find the answer which leads me back into the flow – but – not until I am ready, I think. And from the questions perception I am unsure of anything. It humbles me.
Thanks so much, everyone, for your comments and suggestions and sharings. I’ll be writing the suggestions down and…we will see what happens next! 🙂
Amanda: Thank you for always doing more than your part to keep what comes around going around in the best possible way.