Regaining my writer's centre

In the last couple of weeks I've been involved I several things that have angered or annoyed me, or have threatened to throw me off-centre.  They even stopped me writing for a day, something which I won't normally allow anything to do.

I needed to regain my centre, to renew my commitment to my writing, to strengthen my belief in my personal vision of the world and the future.  And the only way to do that was to dive right in and get writing again.

Paul Coehlo said "The world is changed by your example, not your opinion."  And I've just come across a 1950s quote from the height of the US 'red scare', which reads: "Beware of artists.  They mix with all classes of society and are therefore the most dangerous."  Putting those two thoughts together encapsulates why I write.  My writing shows what will happen if the things I'm worried about aren't taken heed of, and it demonstrates other ways of being.

I write because I want my feminist thoughts out into the world.  I want my strong feminist heroines to inspire other women, to encourage them to claim their own personal power.  This is always my way to deal with things which anger and upset me.  I write about them.  Sometimes a short story arises out of my anger, or as a challenge to something I've heard or read. 

But sometimes my writing takes a private form.  I may take out my journal and ask for the answer to a question that troubles me.  Often what emerges as answers are startling left-field insights, and connections that my logical left-brain would never have made.  Letting go of logic, relaxing, letting the pattern-seeking right-brain become dominant for a while, often brings up startling ideas.  And sometimes it brings up very uncomfortable thoughts that I've been resisting,

Through writing, whether in my 'public' work, or in the privacy of my journal, I work through the issues that trouble me.  I deal with my anger and despair, and regain my centre.

Writing was my saviour through thirty years of a working life that I hated, and it still saves me now.  Whenever I'm feeling off-centre, it's time to pick up the pen and pad and get writing.