Weave a Better World by Living Your Bliss

“If we will not be marplots with our miserable interferences, the work, the society, letters, arts, science, religion of men would go on far better than now, and the Heaven predicted from the beginning of the world; and still predicted from the bottom of the heart, would organize itself, as do now the rose and the air and the sun.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The world we weave would be a better place if we all followed our bliss; that which our very nature bids us to do. So often we choose to live our lives as we’ve been told we should or how we think we should, and not what would bring us contentment and joy.

Now it may seem that society is not very friendly to some of the things we would like to do for a living. So what! The world is not a better place, at the moment, for all our dutiful choices. I liken us all to a symphony, each person an individual musician who, by playing their instrument according to their particular part, brings a much needed piece to the whole. Together these individuals create a beautiful piece of music.

Play your part. Add your voice. I know you’ve heard this before, but are you doing it? Please do so if you’re not. I believe if we all do what is in our nature and be who we truly are that the world will be happier. How do you feel doing something you don’t like, lousy right? At some point you may begin to get sick. Maybe you get high blood pressure, weight gain, heart troubles, etc. from the stress of being someone you’re not. Now imagine thousands, even millions of people feeling this way. Yeah, you have our world as it stands now.

Choose to live your bliss. We all have some duties, but how we fulfill them is up to us. If you can’t rush out and live your dream right now, start following a path that will get you there. I’m finding my way back to my true self. Join me. Let’s make beautiful music together. Or in a textile metaphor: Let’s weave a tapestry so beautiful that we’ll wonder why we ever made anything else.

Mark My Words!

What do we mean when we say “mark my words?” We usually mean our words have communicated a truth about something that has yet to come to pass. We tend to be smug in our assertions about the future based on what we see or experience now. For example, let’s say the neighbor’s kid just hit you with a water balloon. In a huff you say: “That kid is going to be nothing but trouble when he grows up. You mark my words!” You are the all powerful seer and people should mark your words because they will be true someday. As much power as our words have, we are not all powerful, especially when it comes to other peoples’ lives or even the lives of the characters we create.

Of course, your words could have an effect if you actually said them to the kid. It gets messy when we use our words to try to change others, though. The opposite of what we want can happen and they may resent or blame us. The only person you can really change is yourself. And even then don’t be so smug as to mark your words for yourself. You’re an organic being, always in flux. Don’t tell yourself you’ll only be one way. If you think about it, you’re never exactly the way you were the day before. That’s great news! We can’t really be poured into some mold of our own or someone else’s creation and be permanently fixed forever in a certain form.

Remember, that I mentioned not marking your words about the characters you create? If you are going to tell a good story, your characters need to be allowed to take on a life of their own. Your character outline is not something you want to write in stone. As you write, your characters will surprise you. Let them. They may lead you to a better story or give you clues as to where you might want to take the plot next.

Be open to the creative process and to life. Things don’t work well boxed in and rarely do things go exactly how you thought they would. So relax, enjoy, and see what happens next.

Are You Speaking in First Draft Mode?

Every day we talk to many people, but how often do we think about the words we choose? In writing we dash off that first draft, more attention going to the ideas we want to express than to the words we use to do it. Then in the rewrite we think carefully about what words work best to get our idea across that threshold between minds. But when talking to people, it seems we’re often in first draft mode. This seems especially so when we communicate with those we are in relationship with, because we know that they will get our meaning, or will they?

What if we say, “I don’t want to watch that stupid show.” That may be true, but what if our loved one does like it? Now they think, that we think, that they are stupid. Of course, we don’t think that. We could question their taste in this particular circumstance, but we think they are intelligent human beings. We didn’t mean anything by it. I once told an old boyfriend that, “I feel we’re growing apart.” This threw him. He became very upset. There was truth in those words and their power set things in motion. Maybe there was no easy way to bring it up, but at the time I didn’t necessarily want to break up, but that’s what happened within a few months. With those words I set things in motion within my psyche and his. My reality shifted.

Remember what your parents used to say: “Think before you speak,” and “If you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all.” It seems they understood that words carry a lot of power. Why do we understand this in writing, but then run our mouth on automatic in our speech?

It’s too easy to just open your mouth and speak, but writing makes you slow down. Slowing down and thinking helps. You contemplate the myriad of ways to say things until you settle on the most effective way for your purposes. (If you’re not doing this in your writing and you think that the first thing that you put down on paper is perfect, I’d ask you to take a second look at what’s on the paper. Rarely is it perfect the first time, even for the most experienced writer.)

The next time someone asks you something, or you feel the need to voice your opinion, take a moment before you answer. Stop and think about the best way to express yourself. What you say can change things, so make sure you mean what you say.

What Do You Do With Back Story?

I’m in the midst of editing my novel. Sometimes this seems like a chore and then other times there is something very liberating about taking out whole sections of it. So why did I write these sections in the first place? One reason seems to be that I was telling myself details of the story that others don’t really need to know. It’s called back story. As an author I can write a better story knowing all the details of the character’s life. As a reader you don’t need or even want to know that much, you just want to get on with the action of the here and now.

Can we get on with the action of our lives without bringing our personal back story to bear on our current life situation? You know all that stuff about how your mother spanked you when you were five or how the school bully scarred you for life. The good stuff is also a part of your back story. Do these past experiences matter now? Do they continue to dictate who you are? You can reframe those experiences if need be, but my advice is to cut them out of your story. The good, the bad, the ugly can all go. Sure they reside in your memories, but you don’t live out your memories. Those are just stored away for future reference or some nostalgic moment.

Your memories are about who you were yesterday. Who are you today? What story do you want to tell? Choose your words wisely because they have power. Just look at your life now and then look at what stories you’ve been telling yourself. See? Powerful stuff right?

Change Your Conceptual Metaphor Change Your Life

Metaphor has the power to shake you up or rock your world or _________ (insert metaphor here). It’s a great tool in literature. It helps make something more meaningful and real to the reader.

Let me show you what I mean. Below is a line of a poem that is written literally.

“I love him so much.”

We understand it, but do we feel it? Do we really understand what the poet means by “so much”?
Let’s transform this line:

“My love for him boils over.”

Not great poetry, but now we see and have a sense of what the poet is really feeling. We understand now what they mean by “so much”. We feel the heat and how overwhelmed by emotion the poet is.

Metaphor not only makes better literature, it can make for a better life. This tool is how we understand our world. How else can we communicate the unseen?

We associate love with a warm feeling because as a baby we were embraced in the warmth of our mother’s arms. From this stems metaphors like “burning love”. The unconscious conceptual metaphor of “love is warmth” translates into many of our conscious metaphors like "you give me a warm feeling".

Not only are these conceptual metaphors hard wired some are also cultural like “time is money”. Though we may consciously say this we take its meaning to heart, it is deeply imbedded into the collective unconscious. This particular one is so powerful that it has taken over our way of perceiving the world in the past few centuries. How’s that for rocking your world.

Know the power of metaphor. Use it to make a better poem. And really know the power of conceptual metaphor. Dig into your unconscious mind for them and see what rules your world. If you don’t like what you see all you need to do is change it. Come up with some new metaphors for your life in 2010. See what kind of life and art you can create in the coming year.