Being Present

Sometimes life is so good, I actually start looking for something to make me miserable. After all, we think that's supposed to be our normal state -- misery -- it feels comfortable. Why else would people willingly submit to corporate slavery? Why are "I hate Mondays" and "Thank god it's Friday" such common, well-known phrases?

Writing is truly about being present. If you don't believe me read Natalie Goldberg. She often compares writing to sitting meditation. The thing about writing is that, although I'm not always writing about my experience in the literal Here & Now, in order to write well, I must be fully present.

If I'm not present -- let's say I'm worrying about the past or the future, or I'm worrying about money, or what someone else thinks of me, or whether I'm being productive enough, and all the other places my mind can wander that have nothing to do with the story I want to tell -- the writing will suffer.

Now to some degree we have to let our minds wander as writers, yet paradoxically that's not the opposite of being present. Wandering while being present is like sitting on the shore and watching the boats float by. You can get on one of those boats and have an amazing time there, but you're still present.

When I am Trinity as a little girl in a frightening situation, I am fully present. I think and feel as Trinity. I see what she sees, feel what she feels, hear what she hears, taste what she tastes, smell what she smells. I am not fragmented. I am present. And it comes through in the writing.

Being present in our writing helps us to be present in every moment of life.

Everyone is telling stories all the time. When I'm eating lunch at Souper Salad, the guy in the booth behind me is telling a story about being a cop. The funny thing is he doesn't know he's telling a story. He got on one of the boats floating by, but now he can't get off it.