Writing And The Fear Factor

My goal is to upload a new post to the blog once a week. This post is two days late. The reason for its tardiness may be of interest to some and I share it below.

On Wednesday a huge boulder (negative thought) fell on my head. You might be familiar with the concept. A thought that smacks you so hard you begin to run round and round in your mind. It is the kind of mind numbing ambivalence that stops all productive activity.

The pull out the old ratty sweats, crawl under a rock and eat comfort food totaling 50,000 calories per bite kind of situation. By Saturday morning I had landed myself in full blown terror. I was fresh out of rocks large enough to crawl under. The fridge was empty, and the sweats were in desperate need of a wash. Motivated by anger and frustration I decided to try something different this time. I sat with the blasted anxiety and went right ahead and felt the fear.

Unable to grasp any rational reason for the fear I decided to turn on one of my favorite self help tapes. As usual just what I needed to hear at that moment blasted from the speakers.

A neighbor thumped on the wall. I whispered a curse and lowered the volume. The boulder began to crack. In reality this boulder was no bigger or smaller than the last time it splattered me to the ground. I got back up again. Hell, I thought, what exactly am I cursing? There isn’t an unseen force, or fate randomly dropping these rocks on me for the fun of it all. The boulder was created by my thoughts. A negative thought was creating feelings of fear inside me. This was stopping my productive thinking and activity I was responsible for the dis-empowerment.

What, I am responsible? Me?

I still had to uncover the actual thought. Could it be buried in my sub conscious? Because I was responding to the fear rather than reacting to it I was able to question it better.

I discovered the thought creating the fear had come from a comment someone made earlier in the week. It was not a significant comment in any way. Actually it really doesn’t affect me one way or another; it was just an off handed comment. What I was feeling is truly not real I told myself.

To relax myself, I used a method that has worked for me in the past. I pulled out a book by a self help guru I have come to trust over the years.

I read the wise words of Bob Proctor. Fear is merely a genetically and environmentally conditioned state induced by old tapes in the brain. This is a stop barrier that teaches us to play it safe.  It is the imagined wall we bump up against when we truly know we can achieve that goal.

When we are in a state of overwhelming terror or fear that is perfectly balanced with the knowledge we can accomplish our dreams we hit this imaginary barrier.   We want to complete the goal and at the same time we are struck with this terror that we should play it safe.

I continued reading and remembered a project I am working on has a deadline quickly approaching. What will I do I wondered. My own conditioned fear can at this moment stop me from achieving that goal. The comment that had no baring on the situation at all was only a smoke screen hiding the play it safe fearful conditioning. This is self sabotage, I thought.

The self help literature I was reading reminded me that while there is a strong fearful reaction to creating something new, there must also be the opposite thought which is enthusiasm for what we love to do. And that the best way to get past the fear is to work on the enthusiastic thinking that drove the dream to begin with.

How many greats have reminded us, if you’re scared, then do it scared! I thought about why I love to write and remembered the passion, enthusiasm and drive behind it. I cuddled and coddled my mind and feelings back toward the passion that I enjoy when writing.

Yes there will be fear. Fear is a guide post, when kept in proper perspective not a wall. If fear is absent the goal needs work, because only things that challenge our growth can bring up fear. And a worthy goal is always that which challenges us to new growth.

I give thanks to and have deep appreciation for the women and men who put these teachings out there to encourage us to keep going. The tools they offer are far beyond the scope of commonly accepted studies. Their commitment to help us along this journey is a truly selfless act.

Here’s to dreams that press us forward, and create feelings of passion and enthusiasm for life.

The Secret of Bringing Stories to Life

This week I focused my writing studies on bringing a more realistic experience of story to the reader. To do this I considered the best way to evoke an emotional reaction based on word choice.

I turned to the modern and popular understanding of Law of Attraction for help. What I discovered is the rules of LOA can help elicit an emotional response from the reader quite effectively.

In the Law of Attraction it is understood that words carry vibration (energy). When a particular word is read and intellectually processed a vibration begins to resonate within the mind and releases energy that that triggers the corresponding emotion.

If that word is joined by other words with a similar energy the emotional response is intensified.

This rule can be applied to writing. If you want to evoke an emotion during a particular scene in the story, it is important to choose words that have a similar resonance to each other and give off a singular energy in order to produce a pure emotional experience, such as fear, happiness, grief, love etc.

In this way instead of sitting on the couch detached from the story the reader is transported to the experience and it becomes more than an intellectual exercise. Not only is the intellectual sense engaged in the process but the emotions as well.

When both mind and emotions are invested a richer and more vivid experience of story is created.

The simple rule here is choose words of similar resonance to create a harmonic flow of energy for the readers emotions to follow and watch your story come to life.

Do you feel creating an emotional experience for the reader is important? If yes how do you achieve it?

Micro Tattoo – Why “waste” time writing?

Recently I was asked AGAIN why I write. The question has come up a number of times. I wonder if a micro tattoo exists that would answer the question in a single word. Maybe I can have it tattooed on my forehead and save us all a little time that could be spent on taking a deep breath, exhaling and knowing we are alive!

I answered the writing question, this way, “it makes me happy.” Did it work? Nope. It led to more questions. The person who asked the question is a friend and has a genuine interest in people, as do I.

But regardless of my intimate relationship with and knowledge of their caring side, my thoughts led me straight down the path of feeling selfish for doing what I love to do, and the defenses went up.

Whoa I thought, what’s with all the resistance here, check it!

“Selfishness” is a negatively loaded, tricky word. The first thing I did was choose an alternative,  “self interest.”

The differences in the two words are miles apart. Selfish (as commonly understood) is the narcissistic idea that me and only me matters. Self interest is the exploration of one’s life, desires and identity.

The question of why I write when framed with selfishness sounded like an accusation. It brought up negative ideas in my thinking. I must be a bad wife, mother, daughter, friend etc to waste precious time on such frivolous things as story writing.

In removing the why and selfishness from the process and inserting desire and self interest in their place, it set up entirely different thoughts and feelings.

Desire framed as selfishness uploads tons of self judgement to the brain and is unhealthy. It leads to a lack of appreciation for life. There is no way to make yourself, or anyone else happy with that attitude.

Desire framed as self interest, uploads a freedom to explore you to the brain and is healthy. This is self empowerment and leads to an interesting life filled with appreciation. Thinking with empowered thoughts moves us toward self approval and acceptance of others.

When you follow a desire that makes you happy such as writing, you explore a part of the life you came here to live. Each piece we put in place that fits brings more happiness, peace and well being.

The simple, if not so simple answer is, if writing makes you happy then in self interest do it! Do it with the same degree of enthusiasm you give to your loved ones, friends and strangers when supporting and interacting with them.

If you want to escape selfishness, don’t participate in it! Instead pursue self interest. I think you will be quite pleased to learn, part of real self interest is in the caring about others, and this is what the philosophers mean when they talk about humans being social creatures that are compassionate and enjoy helping others.

The next time you are asked why you write, try this. I love to feel good, smile, and interact with/support EVERYONE.

Law of Attraction – The Curve Ball

Everything is chugging along fine. I’m enjoying the Law of Attraction experiences and life is mundane, simple, and strangely fun. I am satisfied and see good stuff coming toward me. In happiness I look toward the expansion, passion and abundance I am creating with my thoughts.

So here it comes… keep your eyes open… wait for it… Bam the curve ball strikes me between the eyes this week, with news that is very big, and not hearts and flowers. Someone I respect and look up to has been hit with a life changing event. Although the internet thrives on transparency, I in respect for the individual’s privacy, will leave out the personal details of his experience, and focus on the effects it had on me.

What I can say is when I first heard the news I went to visit him and we spent time chatting. “This is a quandary,” I told him. Or so it appears on the surface, I thought privately. There is always more to these events than meets the eye and once you do a little digging the reasons usually become clearer. At least for me they did. It answered a few questions I have in regard to improving my vibration. He on the other hand doesn’t believe in this whoo whoo (LOA) stuff. I left it out of the conversation… for now.

After we finished our chat, I did the only thing that felt good at that moment. I went home and cried. I cried for a very long time. It went on threw Tuesday and with periodic outbursts of tears on Wednesday.

A war was going on inside my mind. The larger part of me remembers it all makes sense in the big picture. Expansion continues and both this person and I, along with everyone else are instrumental parts of expansion.

My old vibration also reared its head. Thoughts of poor me and you will never make it if he can’t, streaked through my brain at a rapid pace. Mewahaha fate will have the last laugh…!

Since I began studying The Law of Attraction, a large part of my work is on retraining my thoughts away from the pity party mentality and toward the appreciating it all party. Because of the training the pity party thoughts stuck out like a sore thumb. They were highly visible, very loud and extremely unwelcome guests at the appreciation party.

I countered them with thoughts of: I am a human being who is entitled to all of her feelings. Crying is just a way to help me sort through the contrast and find what is wanted in this situation.

I watched a powerful Abraham Hicks video on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clGN1RmJCrc

I thought about this person whom I admire and his new struggle. All of his life, he had the world by the balls, or so it seemed. His situation reminded me of my own mortality and fallibility as a human being. I wondered if I could allow these negative thoughts to continue, when it truly is my choice.

I was also reminded how I, in the past and out of jealousy, would have taken satisfaction from a thing like this happening to him. Now all I feel is a desire to support, and be there in any way I can. Is this real forgiveness and growth? I think so.

It also made me realize when you are plugging away successfully at something for many years, a sudden loop may be thrown into your straight, safe and comfortable path. At times we consciously bring these changes on ourselves through choices, and at other times it builds and ferments in the back of our brain as an unspoken desire until it manifests. In appearance it seems to hit us out of left field. In reality it doesn’t and there is no such thing as an outside pitcher throwing the curve ball at you. It is our thoughts building us one way or another toward new experiences.

Having gone through this thought process here is where my thinking rests currently. I stand beside this person, whom I have admired in the past and will continue to do so in future. It is my expectation that he will recover from this strange new contrast and find for himself the new challenges and interests he has been building toward.

For myself, while his curve ball did cause my steps (thinking) to falter for a day or two, I am back on track and casting both him and my own doubts in a positive light of what’s next? It will be new, different and I know exciting and interesting.

We walk this path together and can help each other along the way. Sometimes you may feel helpless when someone you love is not in a similar vibration to yours. You may know you cannot talk to the person about The Law of Attraction. That’s ok; you just hold yourself and that person in thoughts of the best possible outcome you can visualize. Forget the why, too complicated, let the universe take care of the how and carry on.

This I know will be challenging, enlightening and fun, for both of us.

Here’s to expansion!