A colleague of mine passed this saying along to me some years ago. It seems his martial arts grandmaster would greet each morning by speaking those words to the universe. For some reason, this struck me as a beautiful thing to do and I’ve taken to making this my own ritual. Which is not…
Tag: Mindfulness
Celebrating the small things
The other day my daughter and I were in the car headed down the two-lane county road that leads from the big town to our small town when I noticed a new caution sign. So I slowed down. Half a mile or so later, I discovered that an intersection was being repaired, and a somewhat…
How to: Asking random strangers for information
I’ve been on the receiving end of a lot of requests for information in my time, almost always having to do with martial arts or writing, and for the most part I’m happy to help. I’d be a little disappointed if all of my efforts as a writer led to echoing silence. But sometimes I…
How to: Keeping the beginner’s mind
On the theme of Open the Office Door, an excerpt from my book Dojo Wisdom for Writers on a concept I love: Lesson #8: Keep the Beginner’s Mind Martial artists respect the beginner’s mind because it’s open to new experiences and isn’t as critical as it later becomes. Someone who is just beginning…
8 thoughts on writing about personal experience
Yesterday I wrote about how I think it’s important to be fair in writing about others when describing our personal experiences, but at the same time not letting those concerns stop us from writing about ourselves. Over the years, I’ve developed some rules of thumb for these kinds of essays: 1. Is it necessary…
On writing about personal experiences
Why did you have to write about that moment? A friend of mine wrote and published online a moving essay about her sister’s death, and this is the response she got from a family member. My friend did some soul-searching afterwards, trying to find an answer. She reported the question to me the other day…