A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. from Self Reliance, by Ralph Waldo Emerson
The tagline for my personal blog reads, "An American woman looks at life in general and her own in particular." It expresses the way I use writing to make sense of life and how what happens in the wider world comes to bear on my own small portion of it.
If you've taken up the writing challenge from last week and have been writing something each day, perhaps you've experienced the power of writing to help you discover new feelings, create new ideas, sort through problems, and inspire your actions.
If you're in the mood to add more challenge to your writing life, investigate the #Trust30 challenge, and online initiative that encourages you to "look within and trust yourself." Each day between now and the end of June, the site posts themes for writing based on quotes by inspiring thought leaders. The challenge itself was inspired by the work of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who urged people to trust their own intuition, rather than follow the world around them.
Being an independent thinker isn't always easy in the modern world where we're bombarded on all sides with media slanted thoughts and opinions. It can be difficult to discern our own individuality, much less honor it, in the midst of all the noise being propagated around us.
Writing is one way to connect with that still, small voice inside. By naming it on the page, we learn to know it, and to trust it.