Daily Nourishment for April 4, 2024: Sources of Delight
Daily Nourishment Read Time: 55 seconds
Pause/Prompt/Practice Time: 15 minutes
Interviewer: What are your favorite sources of inspiration?
Ross Gay: Conversations. Dreams. I like walking around. Having a little bit of time without obligations is really inspirational to me, meaning that I have time to sit down and write. That’s very inspirational!
Pause.
Take six deep breaths with a six-count inhale and a six-count exhale. Then read and meditate on these words from Ross Gay:
“Sources of delight are also sources of survival. And life is complicated. In order to accurately represent or engage with life, it means that you are going to be engaging with what is both profoundly sorrowful and also what is not. If the trees bloom this year, that is a thing to take note of, just as it's a thing to take note of if your mother or your best friend dies. Those are all things to take note of; they're not mutually exclusive.”
Prompt.
Here’s more from Ross Gay: “Writer's block, it seems to me, comes from perfectionism. Often, it comes from a kind of sense that you know what you need to write but you just don't know how to do that. If there's any way to decrease the expectations, and also to decrease one's own desire to be excellent—if you give up the idea of what it should be—that then allows things to flow.”
Practice.
Set a timer for 13 minutes and journal in response to the quotes above and/or the questions below:
What are some of your current sources of delight?
What are some of your current sources of sorrow?
What is making life complicated right now?
Do you believe in writer’s block? (I don’t, but many people do!) What are your thoughts on writer’s block and/or creative resistance?
What helps you let go of expectations with your writing?
Want More?
Listen to Ross Gay on inciting joy while dining with sorrow
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Upcoming Workshops & Gatherings
—Sunday, 4/7/2024: Thoughtful Readers Gathering with Jose Diaz Hernandez and Magic City Poetry Festival; Free, Book available for purchase
—Back by Popular Demand: Narrative Writing with Tanya Davis is back for another four weeks this spring. The Friday Cohort begins on Friday, 4/19. The Saturday BIPOC Cohort begins on 4/20. $49 for four sessions.
—AND our Four-Hour Retreats are back this month to help you write more often, improve your writing skills, and feel nourished by your writing practice. The Four-Hour group retreats will also help you have greater integration between your writing life and other areas of life so you can establish a more sustainable writing practice that works for you.
SDW Members: You are eligible for a Four-Hour Retreat discount equal to your monthly membership rate. Please email me at charlotte@charlottedonlon.com for your discount code.
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Today’s Daily Nourishment was provided by Charlotte Donlon.
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