One Thousand Mississippi's - Lynn J Simpson

I open my eyes. Darkness still envelopes my room. I close them again, in the hopes that maybe this middle of night awakening is just a moment that will pass as fast as a blink. But behind my closed lids, images and words begin flashing. Images of tasks that I have yet to accomplish, or plans that I wonder if ever shall transpire into reality. And after a thousand Mississippi counts later, I finally just open my eyes and give in to the awakening in the darkness of this mid-night.

Sometimes it is at these times that I turn my bedside light on and reach into my dresser drawer where my latest spiral notebook lay. Since I was pre-teen, I have randomly kept diaries and journals. Many I no longer have, torn in pieces before emptying into a recycle bin so no one can ever know the contents of those pages. Yet, though the words are gone, the healing of writing those words is everlasting.

I read Julia Cameron’s The Artist's Way many years ago.  Cameron taught me how to just let go, and journal through the activity she calls The Morning Pages. An activity of writing three pages every morning upon first waking that is without any worrisome thoughts of form, grammar, and spelling. Just write. It was through this letting go, this purging of old wounds, doubts, and negativity that opened me up to the artist within. And then I began the next step of Cameron’s Artist journey by taking myself on weekly Artist Dates.

In those days I would scan the pages of the local entertainment magazine to find events in my area.

I went to book readings, photography exhibitions, debates in coffee shops, independent movies, and science exhibitions. I would take drives to parks I had never been and walk the trails. I would shop in tucked away boutiques in neighbourhoods I had never ventured before.  Two hours on a weekend I let myself be awake in the new and sometimes uncomfortable.

And I slept peacefully.

An Artist Date may not only stretch me to experience something new I can write about, but also possibly eliminate a mid-night count of a 1,000 Mississippi's. Maybe it is time to for the new and uncomfortable again! What would an Artist Date, the new and uncomfortable, be for you?

 Connecting Stories Blogspot

There is Healing in the Writing by Terrie Lynne

As I quietly type out my posting in the wee hours of this morning, I find it difficult to stay focused on the task at hand. My thoughts drift to the concerns of my dear, sweet Mom who is undergoing surgery tomorrow and to the thousands of people in southern Alberta who have lost their homes, businesses and even loved ones over the last few days due to major flooding. I whisper a prayer for them and refocus, but my mind seems as blank as this page that I'm staring at. The thought comes to me, "Why write...what's the point?"

I'm reminded of the words that were spoken deep into my soul last summer, "There is healing in the writing", and I remember what I still believe to be true about writing. For me, the blank page is like a meeting place where I can "lay my cards on the table" through words on the page. I can be myself and bare my soul to the one that I am writing to, be it the Almighty Counsellor, the Author and Finisher of my faith, a family member, a friend or that someone out there in cyberspace that may just need a word of encouragement for that moment.

I'm reminded of revelations from last summer that I still believe to be true; that if I wait until I feel 100% confident in myself or that everything is perfect in my life, then I will never write because that will most likely never happen this side of heaven. Why? Because I'm human...you're human. We live in a broken and fallen world that desperately needs a Saviour and His healing and empowering grace.

It's a world that needs to see my transparency, both as a believer and a writer; to see that I need His healing and empowering grace in order to live out every moment of the day, and that I am simply nothing without Him!

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

In Him we live and move and have our being . Acts 17:28

If you are in Me and I in you, you will bare fruit; apart from me nothing. John 15:5