Saturday, February 6, 2010

What I wore

Last week I started my second session of a writing class with my friend and writing teacher, Barbara O'Neil. The practice she teaches is based on the book " Writing Down the Bones " by Natalie Goldberg. There are six rules to Natalie's practice.
1) Keep your hand moving across the page.
2) Don't cross out.
3) Don't worry about spelling, punctuation, grammar etc.
4) Lose control.
5) Don't think. Don't get logical.
6) Go for the jugular.
This is an unedited version of a 10 minute writing I did on the prompt "What I wore"
Up until that point I wore my everyday clothes to work but as things got more and more unbearable I got this idea that I should wear an armored vest over my clothes so I could deflect the toxic vibes that came at me relentlessly and out of nowhere. The place I worked was so dysfunctional, competitive and insane that I was feeling my spirit assaulted and diminished. I'm not sure where I came up with the idea but I decided I would wear this armor every day and I would also chant in my head " It's not about me, it's not about me. " The phrase " loving kindness " was part of the whole practice as well. I can't say these conjured up solutions worked every day but they did work a lot of the time. The best part was no one knew what I was up to much less what I was wearing and I loved that secret. Sometimes I would just chuckle as I went down the hallway or even chant out loud " It's not about me, it's not about me. " The notion that the kids might think I was a bit mad did not worry me in the least. I was smiling as I chanted and that sent out positive energy. Out to them and back to me. Sometimes the kids would say " You have mad energy Mrs. Litwin " and I would think, " If only you knew how mad."

1 comment:

  1. armor! this is great. amazing to see where ten minutes of writing can take you!

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