Writing these blog entries used to be accomplished almost entirely on my lap-top, directly into my antiquated WordPress set-up. That still happens, especially for the shorter ‘Tiny Threads‘ or ‘Dazzler of the Day‘ featurettes, but lately I’ve returned to writing these out in old-school cursive (a dying art), filling notebooks that have long been blank, gifts from dear friends, finally being utilized. In the same way that I’ve returned to writing in a nearby cafe, so too have I returned to longhand writing, in the ancient art form of cursive. (It’s like a whole secret and indecipherable language that the young people cannot even read.)
This is more than a return to physical habits and placements, it’s a return to a profound ritual that has informed my life and always worked to help me figure things out during times of doubt or uncertainty. (The more honest I am with myself, the more these moments tend to materialize.) And so I write, letting thoughts become words, and words fall onto and fill paper. There is something more meaningful about writing these words out by hand – a greater connection between mind and body that creates some sort of covenant between what my head thinks, what my heart feels, what my hand writes, and how my intentions are put forth into the universe.
More practically, this format also tends to improve my writing in a technical sense. When I enter blog posts directly into a lap-top, it instantly appears perfect and finished, giving the very misleading look of completion to it. When I write this out on paper first, it can be messy and jumbled and incomplete, with crossed-out words and phrases, arrows to re-order ideas, and all sorts of raw and unedited mistakes. When forced to type it all out again, I am able to edit and ideally improve on what I might just have otherwise go live because it looked good enough.
There is always room for improvement, and often that does with looking at the same thing in a very different way. It’s practice, and honing, and accepting the ideas that while nothing is perfect, the notions of betterment, of learning, of seeing opportunities of evolution, all exist – a helpful reminder that the work will never be done. What a happy and reassuring thought for all of us who enjoy a challenge and a purpose: the work will never be done.
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