Hope - Writing Things Down

Continuing my “journeying alongside” OnBeing’s Hope Portal, we come to a week centered on the wisdom of the poet, Naomi Shihab Nye. The episode centers simply on the power of writing things down and how hope emerges from when we write. I encourge you to take a listen to the conversation between Krista Tippett and Naomi Shihab Nye and the wisdom of what happens when we write something down.

Write Things Down - Hope Portal Week 3

In her introduction, Krista shares from her conversation with Naomi when she said, “writing things down, whoever you are, whatever you’re writing down, even if you’re writing about something sad or hard, you almost always feel better after you do it.” In my notes as I listened to their conversation, I responded to this that the power of writing for me is that it releases something and let’s something out that might have otherwise stayed within.

Going back several decades, I remember a relationship that had turned very negative and there was a final piece of it that was especially hurtful and angering. I so wanted to lash out at this person with everything I had and so I did. I typed out a multi-page letter that was dripping with the hurt and anger I felt. It didn’t hold anything back. I typed it all out, printed it, signed it, and…burned it. I never sent it to the person. But it was so needed to just get it all “out there.” All of what was swirling around inside needed a way to be released. I actually still have that file but when I went to re-read it now, I found that it is password protected and I cannot remember the password. Probably a good thing.

In the OnBeing conversation, Naomi says when writing that:

somehow, you’re given a sense of, ‘OK, this mood, this sorrow I’m feeling, this trouble I’m in, [by writing it down] I’ve given it a shape. It’s got a shape on the page … So I can stand back, I can look at it, I can [even] think about it a little differently. [I can wonder,] What do I do now?¹

Over the last decade or so, I have started to grow more and more into finding writing to be a necessary part of my emotional and spiritual health. It has helped me to (again quoting Nye here) to “exchange words with myself about what I’m doing here.” While a lot of it has been shared here on this site (as well as previous incarnations of it), a lot more has been shared in my journal. Over ten years ago, I started using a app on my devices and it is probably my most important app on my phone. It has 10+ years worth of reflections and has given me so much space to “exchange words with myself.”

One of the greatest gifts of this particular app that I use is that it has an “On This Day” feature that shows what I wrote on that day in previous years. It is such a gift to not only be reminded of things that I might have forgotten but more importantly, I can see the ways that I have grown and changed over the years. I can see through-lines of seasons that seemed like they would never end. I can see when hope emerged out of seemingly-hopeless periods. I have seen answered prayers and so much more.

While I do write longer-form entries, I every day write my “Awes and Aches” (thank you

Carrie Newcomer

for that language). I write down at least three “awes” each day - gratitudes, moments of beauty, ways I laughed, hope that I saw, and so much else. Sometimes it is just a few words or a sentence and sometimes a bit longer. I do this every night before going to bed. I also share the “aches” of the day - the struggles that were part of that day, the prayer needs that are on my heart, my worries for the world, and so forth. And then I usually add at least one photo from that day that reflects something of these - a noticing. Each of these entries is a conversation wtih myself of the day and also a conversation that continues a year later when I return to those things.

It was within these reflections that a year or so ago, I started working on what turned out to be my book I published earlier this year, Ordinary Benchmarks. It was in these journal reflections that I started to see the day-to-day of my photographs of the bench and saw that there might be something in there speaking not only to me but to others. For more about the book, click here or click here to purchase on Amazon.

Krista ends the podcast by noting how “Naomi is very clear...that you write three lines. You can write three lines a day. You can write three lines right now.” We don’t have to write lengthy reflections each day - it can be just a word or two, a sentence or three, a few bullet points. But something to speak out into the world (even if it is just for you and no one else) to celebrate, to grieve, to question, to wonder, to...hope.

So in the spirit of small things like those three lines, here is a photo from the flowers at the base of our back steps. My wife potted these a few weeks back and they are in beautiful vibrant bloom right now. A few days ago I was walking into the house after we had some rain earlier but then sun had begun shining brightly. There was a brilliant glistening from the tiny droplets that were still settled on the petals. I went inside, got my camera and my macro lens and got in close. I love how this photo has only one tiny area in focus. It is a small area but it is there. A small thing. A small bit of beauty. Of life. Of hope.

Grace, Peace, Love, Hope, and Joy,
Ed

PS - Nothing fancy of Scout - just a happy looking pup!

1. https://onbeing.org/programs/naomi-shihab-nye-hope-portal-episode-3/#transcript