When the world clamors for attention, creative practice and personal growth become even more essential to creating a better world
Sometimes in the face that all that is going on in the world, I forget.
I forget why the work I do, and you do too, is important.
I forget why it’s important to carry on with our internal growth work and our creative work— our writing, our art or creative business. Why, despite seemingly every fiber in our beings telling us to drop everything and head to the streets or hunch over our phones scanning news or to call our representatives, we need to continue with our work.
Sometimes I think “How can I take time to unravel my thoughts to get closer to my own true self when lives are being upended?”
Sometimes I think “How can spend time challenging my beliefs, when people are being picked off the streets, flung into foreign prisons with no due process?”
Sometimes I think “How can I write when the world is on fire?”
It stops me sometimes. And then I remember.
I come back to what I know is true.
One of the problems in our society is how much the current cultural narrative uses machine-like language to talk about human beings. While this is inherently useful for a capitalist society bent on extracting more productivity, it causes all kinds of issues. It divorces us from our true nature as interconnected living beings.
I find more useful metaphors by looking to nature.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about prairies grass and how strong it is. It often doesn’t show much outward growth (at least initially) it’s focused on internal growth and creating underground interconnectivity and an incredibly deep root system.
It is this often-hidden work that allows prairie grass to survive stressful events.
It’s resilient, able to grow back after devastating storms or raging fires. Disasters that wipe out seemingly everything on the surface can’t touch these grasses because their roots stay intact underground.
Internal rooting helps us move externally.
Likewise, I, and you too, can focus our efforts inside. We can get clear about our values and align our outer and inner lives. We can question the assumptions we carry from systems and culture that cause us and others harm.
And we can free our self-expression and deepen our existence and experience of living through our writing, or our art, or any other creative pursuit.
And when we do these things, any action we take in the outer world—from working to reverse climate change to caring for our elderly neighbor— will be more rooted and resilient, making those actions more effective in the end.
In short, when we bring our work into the world in this way, we make it a better place.
How will you strengthen your internal roots this week?
Photo by 709am on Unsplash
Join La Roseraie - Women's Online Writing Experience
Our April session just kicked off yesterday! If you're curious about La Roseraie but weren't ready to commit, I'm offering a special opportunity to sample our supportive writing community. You're welcome to join one of the upcoming live sessions on April 15 or 22 as my guest to experience what we're all about. It's the perfect way to see if La Roseraie is right for you before our potential May session. Interested? Please send an email to reserve your spot or learn more.