Monday motivation and writing prompt 2/20/23
Monday motivation and writing prompt 2/20/23
Good morning, writers! I’m house-sitting for some friends this week, so I’m sitting in a different room, in a different house, in a different town this morning, and thinking about the art of noticing. I was a big Sherlock Holmes fan when I was a kid — my family used to watch the Masterpiece Theater production with Jeremy Brett — and Holmes was always critiquing his sidekick, Watson, for not noticing what was going on around him, the simple things as well as criminal activity.
I vividly remember one time when Holmes asked Watson if he knew how many stairs led to their apartment, stairs Watson had ascended and descended countless times in the years they’d lived there, and Watson didn’t know. Twelve-year old Jessica was convicted as if by the Holy Spirit — how many stairs up to our front porch? To the basement? I didn’t know either, and felt as stunned as Watson by my ignorance. How many other things was I missing in my own life, my own surroundings? I made it a point for a while to count the stairs wherever I went, just in case Holmes showed up and quizzed me.
If I were called upon to state in a few words the essence of everything I was trying to say both as a novelist and as a preacher, it would be something like this: Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.
~Frederick Buechner
As I grew up and continued to read and try to pay attention, I noticed that other writers seemed to value this practice of noticing. Whether it was the description of the various flowers suddenly blooming in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as the Witch’s power waned, or Madeleine L’Engle describing in her memoirs the powerful connection of brushing hands with her husband, writing seemed to be about noticing as much as creating, and describing as much as pontificating. And as an adult, when I began doing things like yoga, meditation, and biofeedback, I recognized the same kind of noticing practice, but directed at ourselves and our bodies. So much of life and writing came down to paying attention.
Writing prompt
Today’s prompt can actually be done either as a writing prompt, or as a meditation, without writing it down. Take a moment to notice your breathing — you don’t have to take deep breaths or anything unless you want to, but just pay attention to the breath coming into your body and leaving it. After a few breaths, turn your attention to your body. Notice how you feel this morning. Do you have tension or pain anywhere? Are you tensing your shoulders or your jaw? Are you ignoring discomfort that you could ease by shifting positions, or taking a break to go to the bathroom or get a drink? (You could do those things now, but you don’t have to.)
Then turn your attention to the surface of your body. What color clothes are you wearing? Are they soft or itchy? Comfortable or constricting? Touch your face and hair and notice how they feel. Are there any smells on you — your soap or shampoo, coffee breath, sweat from a morning workout? Is your hair neat or disheveled? Are you frowning as you concentrate? Humming a tune? Sighing?
If you are doing this as a writing exercise, you could imagine that there is someone standing in the doorway, and describe yourself from their perspective. Imagine that they have never seen you before. How would a neutral observer describe you? Or, imagine that they are in love with you, but haven’t told you. How would a secret admirer describe you? What details would a lover notice that a passerby would not?
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