Beautiful Mandell. I've been working on a reframe of my Write Hearted community that is oriented around being fully visible as the goal. Writing is just one competency in the expression toolbox we use to become fully visible. Speaking, hosting, leading, and then ways we become visible to OURSELVES are all implicated in the process. Contemplation, faith, personal challenges, taking inventory of our stories—they are all ways to become visible to ourselves so we can brave becoming visible to others. There! I showed you my hand. Thanks for the invitation to practice doing it!
thank you Rick. “Write Hearted” is such a witty name. It reminded me of David Whyte in his interview with David Perell when he mentioned touching the body as you write. “being fully visible as the goal” - whew. so well said. I feel like these kind of words only come from a man who has spent much time writing. Would you say the writing is the highest form we have in being fully visible to both ourselves and others?
Thank you for the excellent question. I'd put writing, conversation, and contemplation on the same level as pillars of visibility. Contemplation because it's the means by which we "touch the body" while generating language to express ourselves. Without somatic contact with the truths spoken by bodily feeling and knowing, we can paint ourselves into corners that have no life and no exit, paying lip service to opinions and ideas we've heard from others without having fully and directly lived them. Conversation because dialogue with trusted friends or peers surfaces our most inspired thinking and authentic interests. Which is where the "writing from conversation" idea put forward by Write of Passage became so useful to so many of us. Contemplation and conversation together set the stage for writing that has a strong pulse, and then community serves as a safe space where we can get feedback on our writing, turn that back toward contemplation and conversation for refinement, and then eventually take the brave step of making our words/ideas publicly visible in the publishing process. Kind of like this dialogue! Thanks for asking!
…and sometimes we don’t have to show anyone our hands…we can just let them feel them…
Beautiful Mandell. I've been working on a reframe of my Write Hearted community that is oriented around being fully visible as the goal. Writing is just one competency in the expression toolbox we use to become fully visible. Speaking, hosting, leading, and then ways we become visible to OURSELVES are all implicated in the process. Contemplation, faith, personal challenges, taking inventory of our stories—they are all ways to become visible to ourselves so we can brave becoming visible to others. There! I showed you my hand. Thanks for the invitation to practice doing it!
thank you Rick. “Write Hearted” is such a witty name. It reminded me of David Whyte in his interview with David Perell when he mentioned touching the body as you write. “being fully visible as the goal” - whew. so well said. I feel like these kind of words only come from a man who has spent much time writing. Would you say the writing is the highest form we have in being fully visible to both ourselves and others?
Thank you for the excellent question. I'd put writing, conversation, and contemplation on the same level as pillars of visibility. Contemplation because it's the means by which we "touch the body" while generating language to express ourselves. Without somatic contact with the truths spoken by bodily feeling and knowing, we can paint ourselves into corners that have no life and no exit, paying lip service to opinions and ideas we've heard from others without having fully and directly lived them. Conversation because dialogue with trusted friends or peers surfaces our most inspired thinking and authentic interests. Which is where the "writing from conversation" idea put forward by Write of Passage became so useful to so many of us. Contemplation and conversation together set the stage for writing that has a strong pulse, and then community serves as a safe space where we can get feedback on our writing, turn that back toward contemplation and conversation for refinement, and then eventually take the brave step of making our words/ideas publicly visible in the publishing process. Kind of like this dialogue! Thanks for asking!
Whew. Deep deep stuff. I love it.