Mastering the Ordeal Through Writing: A Memoir Moment
Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler
“Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.” Lao Tzu
Mastering the Ordeal Through Writing : A Memoir Moment
In her latest book, Creativity Unzipped, spiritual contemplavist and author Jan Phillips and co-author Ruth Westreich explore creativity through story, science and research, reinforcing that we all have creative powers within us.
One of the main premises of the book is “when we master the ordeal, we are creating our lives.”
Who doesn’t have ordeals in their lives? We all do. How do we master them?
My healing from a fractured wrist after a fall on July 26 has been slow and while I have the sense that I am making progress, some days are more difficult than others. The limitations in my fine motor movements in my left hand is humbling and frustrating. It’s amazing what I can still do with my right hand yet here are so many activities that require the use of both hands…cutting meat, opening jars or water bottles, slicing an onion…and , oh the pain and stiffness. But I won’t go there.
I’d rather share a piece—a flight of ideas– I wrote in Jan’s workshop at the recent IWWG Writer’s Conference at Muhlenberg College in Allentown Pennsylvania. The title of her workshop was “Stop Learning. Start Knowing”
Jan encouraged us to “share the inner workings of our own conflict”, highlighting that “our power comes from the awareness of what our gifts are”.
She read a stanza from Mary Oliver’s long poem, The Leaf and the Cloud as a prompt and it lead me to these thoughts about all the ways peritoneal dialysis has impacted my life over this past year and how I have “mastered the ordeal”.
Mastering the Ordeal
Through jungles of weeds and broken branches, through rivers, raging and rolling, through mountain rugged and steep, I have traversed.
Keep moving…one step at a time…stopping to rest, rejuvenate, persisting on this trail of tears.
Seeking a clearing in the sky that signals brighter days, searching for clear paths and known destinations.
Hoping, always hoping.
Body weary, heart heavy, the burdens overwhelm.
Setting bags down…waking away…one bag at a time.
My pace quickens, the chains released. Lighter.
My feet carry me down the hill to the crystal clear pond.
I am free to bathe in the soothing, cool waters and rest in the light of the sun.
I have arrived.
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We writers have a gift.
Through the written word, we are able to clarify, label and give voice to the intense feelings that rage inside when we are confronted with life’s challenges.
I am grateful to give voice to these feelings and to share them with others. As I write, I find hope for better days. I see the circumstance for what it is. I honor the story within that shapes who I am and how I see myself. And when I share it, others have the opportunity to connect to their own stories through my story.
Our vulnerability is the source of our greatest strength.
Pity parties and meltdowns have their place but not for long. Writing will always be there to lift me into a new dimension of awareness and acceptance.
Indeed, writing helps me master the ordeal and create my life.
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How about you? How do you master the ordeal? Does writing help you tap into your creativity?
I’d love to hear from you. Please leave your comments below~
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ANNOUNCEMENT: Congratulations to Debby Gies for winning Joan Rough’s memoir, Scattering Ashes!
This week:
Monday, 9/26/16:
September 2016 Newsletter of Updates, Memoir Musings and Max Moments:
“September is for Color Walking”
Next Week:
Monday, 10/03/16:
“ Co-Authoring A Memoir with My Mother by Ivanka DiFelice”
Ivanka is the author of a series of memoirs, called The Zany Life Series. Her latest one, My Zany Life: Growing Up in a Rooming House was released in July, 2016.
