write on

There’s an entry in one of my schoolgirl journals, circa 1986, that proclaims the great life decision I made after watching The World According To Garp. I wanted to be a writer, my 14-year-old self said. A real writer. I have done many things since that particular journal entry, but I have never wavered from that desire. Writing is the only thing I do without second-guessing myself, without feeling like maybe I’m in the wrong place and I should give up before somebody figures that out. I do it because I love it, because it exorcises my demons and exercises my mind, which has been known to turn upon itself if it doesn’t get its daily run around the block. This year I’ve been studying writing – my own and others – and I have been compelled to sit down and write when otherwise I might have put it off. It has been wonderful. It has reminded me of my teenage dream to be a real writer, and pushed me to submit some of my stories to places where I hope they might be appreciated. One of those places was the sublime womankind magazine, and although they will not be publishing the five-day meditation journal I wrote as part of their competition, I enjoyed the process of writing it and hope you might enjoy reading it. In the past few weeks I am becoming accustomed to things not turning out as planned. My first instinct is to blame myself for being less than an ideal person, or candidate, or writer. But first instincts aren’t always accurate, and so I have decided to try focusing on the many wonderful things I do have in my life, rather than the few things I don’t. If you are casting your eyes over these words, then thankyou. You are one of the pluses.

Monday, November 22
At a little round table with two seats, on the edge of a footpath at the edge of a busy city, my friend and I are catching up on an absence of a few months. In the fabric that is 30 years of friendship, these dropped stitches are easily caught. Our families, our newest discoveries, our latest endeavours are worked into an effortless conversation that comes from having known one another for three-quarters of our lives. We pick up our common threads and weave them into a beautiful two hours of easy and joyful companionship, a meditation on the changing nature of life and the everlasting nature of friendship that fills me with gratitude.


Tuesday, November 23
The afternoon shade has fallen on our backyard trampoline and my five-year-old daughter is trying out some tricks for me. “Watch me Mummy”, she says over and over until it finally sinks in, into my brain which is beginning to rewire itself for baths and dinner and bedtime. So I stop myself and I watch. Really watch. I see her small but strong legs send her flying into the air, see her arms hold her there for a split second before she lands again. She  asks me to count how many bounces .. 22, 23, 24 .. and there is nothing else but to watch. Watch me Mummy.

Wednesday, November 24
It is the kind of day that signals its intentions not long after dawn, when the air should be fresh and welcoming but instead is a hangover from the unbearable heat of the day before. There will be no respite today, the sluggish morning seems to say. And while I curse the broken air-conditioning in my car, as well as my pitiful reliance on it, I need only wait a few hours to receive my blessing.  As I leave an evening meeting for the short drive home under a celestial full moon and a sky full of stars, it is not artificially chilled air that sustains me but the still, cool evening air blowing in through the open windows.

Thursday, November 25
The warmth of the sun is held in the sheets as I take them down from the clothesline, folding them roughly as a matter of course even though I know they are destined to return to the beds they came from. There is merciful shade over this part of the backyard now, and having gathered my washing I join our six hens in their own afternoon gathering place, though my mood and movement are much slower than theirs. I sit on the cool grass just for a moment to watch them, their eyes intent on every patch of dirt or inch of lawn they happen to be hovering over. I envy them their focus, their innate but somehow effortless work ethic, their simple but admirable life. Watching them makes me feel peaceful, and I can’t help but smile.

Friday, November 26
The meditative act of writing has been with me since I was young, although I have only recently begun to recognise it as such. What began in me as a compulsion and was received by many as a talent has now become so much more. It is a daily practice, a revered process that may not always produce great quantities or uniform quality but is nonetheless a priceless gift to myself and my sense of connection. I am grateful for what it teaches me and expands in me every day, just as I am grateful for the inspiration that comes from reading the words of others.