Just Do It

I am reading and writing from Natalie Goldberg’s book Wild Mind. It’s the “just do it” approach. Just jump in. Just go for it. Just Live! Just say yes. Just concede. Just embrace. Just surrender. Just accept that what comes from the inkwell of this hard plastic pen is precisely what is supposed to come. Just believe you are right and perfect. Just believe for these few minutes that your words have value and purpose. Just trust your inner knowing. Trust the mind. Trust the wild paths of words our writing can take us on, the same way our minds wander on a run. Don’t stop moving. Don’t give up. Applied to so much in life, it’s the “just experience” model that might just work. It’s how we adapt to our surroundings.

(I melt from the sofa to the floor and drape myself over the coffee table. Torso now resting on the round glass top, arms heavy and supported, head nests in a cradle of my left arm, my right hand moves nimbly now on lined paper.)

How do you tweak your form when running? How do you lift your heel? How do you time your breath? How do you say “I’ll take this as it comes?” How do you stop criticizing and let it flow in a way that is without what’s “right” but is loving, forgiving, and sweet to the core?

It’s the “just dance” philosophy, too. Just let yourself find how you want to move to the music right now. Just let go of mental constraints that define good and bad, or what is appropriate. Let go the needing to be right.

Writing practice, without judgment, without my editor, gets around the contrived. Writing practice, like meditation, will release me to a place of authenticity. It says “heya, just go with the flow. Just try.”