The advice to do whatever comes next sounds easy, but it may be more difficult than you imagined. Life is complex and fluid not static and simple That complexity creates beauty, and unique individuals. So, how do you determine your course of action? You can apply logic, plot a path, construct a timeline, and develop detailed plans. Your map shows you exactly how to proceed. Still, you hesitate, claiming your heart isn’t in it. You might be correct.

Having doubts may signal a misalignment between your head and your heart. These are the moments to return to the drawing board and reexamine your motives. Why are you rushing? Do you need to heal? Do you lack information? Or are you afraid of taking the first steps and committing to your project? The way forward calls for clarity of your intentions and motivations. Consult with others, a mentor, a parent, a therapist or a trusted friend, knowing they can’t answer your questions. Rather use them as sounding boards to help you sort your emotions. Write, journal and make your thoughts visible, then contemplate the validity of your words and seek your truth.

Be kind to yourself and drop self-judgment. Making great wine requires grapes, a recipe, and with the work completed, what remains demands patience and waiting. It takes as long as it takes. While you wait, distract yourself with other activities, clean the house, go to the gym, create space for the answers to unfold.

What is next on your list?

_________________________________________

Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Stacked in the corner, tattered notebooks, torn paper scraps, and stuffed file folders threaten to topple and fade into forgetfulness. Browser windows with countless open tabs, mock me. Word docs hold accumulated I’s and O’s waiting for their sunny day.

Each holds a mishmash of ideas, epic tales, half-baked notions, diamonds in the rough and unique connections. They linger, hoping for development, nurturing, processing and completion. There are also duds, fragments of a hollow framework, derailed trains, forgotten whispers declared dead. they lie dry as dust.

They are far from silent. I am continuously interrupted by guilt and subtle reminders of my dereliction. The price I pay is self-sabotaging my productivity. I struggle to remember the exact story, justifying the story’s delayed conclusion, I force my mind to concentrate on my current darling.

Distracted by today’s bright shiny object, I realized I have started too many things, bitten off more than I can chew. I should turn over a new leaf and focus on the process of finishing what I have begun. Concentrating on the highest priority stories, I work on moving through to ‘Done’ before considering another project. I must go on to the end.

The time has come for the Harrowing of Hell.

How do you manage your work in process?

_________________________________________

Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

We face hundreds of choices daily. We make mundane decisions without a thought. What to eat for lunch the route we take to work may be inconsequential. But we often opt to pursue a new career or move halfway around the globe, life-altering moves, taken with little regard to consequences. Large or trivial, each decision has the potential to impact the quality of our world. Conscious reflection leads to a developed philosophy as opposed to relying on emotions and gut instinct. Writing, reasoning, and contemplation allow us to lead an examined existence, one worth living, they say.

The process boosts my rational mind. It composes my thoughts. Through my work, I discover clarity and direction. It helps me develop a phenomenal vision of the future. Cultivating extraordinary farsightedness grants me the ability to imagine a destiny built on intention. Living in a manner aligned with my core values crystalizes as I compose. The more I write the more self-fulfilled I feel, which feeds my reasons for continuing my ritual. Now there is a nice Catch 22.

Why do you write?

_________________________________________

Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer