Welcome To My Stream Of Thought

Do I have something to say?

I hope so.

The real test for me will be when I actually say something, will I cave in to insecurity under the pressure of pushback against my ideas that I dare make public?

Obviously, the first test will be if anyone even notices I created something. There are so many voices out there competing for attention I probably don’t even need to worry. I’m not even on tik-tok … tick-tock? tic-tac?

*one duckduckgo search later*

tiktok … yeah that.

Really, I’m doing this for me. I enjoy thinking. I enjoy writing. I keep getting nudged to put things out there too. It feels like God is trying to get me to take the hint.

I’m also doing this for my kids. I wish my biological father would have written in a journal before he passed away. I have so many questions…

I’m also doing this for, and because of, my wife. She is my constant encourager. She keeps lifting me up time and time again, and never gives up on me. She is the reason I keep trying every day. She is the beauty in my life and the constant reminder that this world is a beautiful place, and there is always a reason to hope no matter how dark it gets outside.

On the topic of writing, the creative process and what inspires me, Leif Enger gave a talk at a gathering called Hutchmoot. It was recorded for The Hutchmoot Podcast – Sailing full and by. I have listened to this talk many times because it is a source of deep inspiration for me when I think about words … and writing them down … or saying them outloud. He talks about the creative process and the importance of story and storytelling in the world.

“You should write what you want to read, you should compose what you want to listen to, you should paint what you want to see, you should film what you want to watch… Because what you’re meant to do is already in there…”

Then he told a story about sailing “full and by” … that this is the best way to approach the creative process.

“You back off [the wind]… you let the sail get full, and this miracle happens … the boat falls into a rhythm … the boat remembers an old song and starts to hum it … before you know it you’re where you want to be … for the long haul, the way to do it, I think, is to relax a little bit, let the sails fill, and then the vessel does what she was meant to do all along. I think that is the way to approach art . I think it is the way to approach whatever the creative thing is that we do. And if we’re able to do that, then it feels to me like reasonable worship. It feels like that light yoke we’ve all heard so much about.”