I had such a good time at the Writer's Conference I attended this past weekend.
Not only did I have the lovely pleasure to connect with some talented fellow writers, I feel more anchored in my own mind, as if longer roots have developed beneath my seedling dreams to earnestly take up writing in my life.
Our keynote speaker, Jane Kirkpatrick, a well-known author from Oregon, shared her stories and writing experiences with such inspiration that she made us laugh, she made us think, and most importantly, she made us believe in the gifts that we have within us. She made me believe it too.
In our first session, Jane asked us a simple question: "What experience do you want to have this weekend? What do you want?" She wanted us to think about and become clear on why we had come to this conference and what we wanted to experience.
Possible barriers - wrong beliefs, bad attitude, fear
As the wheels of our minds started turning, Jane began to share possible barriers that we might encounter, and how we must strive to overcome them.
Things like diminishing or comparing our writing abilities and successes with others; discounting the nurturing that can happen in a place of like-minded people; being critical of the event, speaker or venue; not being able to receive the inspiration or encouragement coming our way because we think we don't deserve it.
Then there is the fear involved. Some people might be afraid to actually say what they truly desire, especially if they are not used to expressing it out loud or their voice has been silenced in the past. Or, there's the fear to give a name to what we want, because doing so indicates a need for us to move to action. And, ofttimes that action means we must leave our comfort zone. Oh-oh!
Have the courage to name what we want
So then Jane encouraged us... stressed that we must have the courage to name our desire, to say out loud what our heart really longs for. I'm thinking, how will we know when we get it, if we haven't identified the 'it' we want? And, how will we know when it's time to be joyfully satisfied if we don't know when the goal or desire's been met?
In the past, I have known times of satisfying sweetness when a want or goal has been realized. It feels good. I feel happy, complete. So, I was glad that our speaker gave us time to consider our reasons for attending this particular conference and what we hoped to gain from spending time at it.
Tomorrow I'd like to share what I wanted from this conference and how beautifully it was met.
Brenda,
ReplyDeleteThere is something to the process of identifying one's desire and saying it out loud so we can hear it (maybe so others can hear it too). It seems to add reality to something that otherwise stays nebulous and hazy.
Thanks,
Nia