Daily Nourishment for April 15: “Rememory is both a reconciliation and a vexation, both a healing and a wounding”
Daily Nourishment Read Time: 50 seconds
Pause/Prompt/Practice Time: 15 minutes
Pause.
Take six deep breaths with a six-count inhale and a six-count exhale. Then give your attention to your body. Where do you notice imbalance, pain, tension, energy? Can you breathe into those places and try to release anything you’re holding onto?
Prompt.
Read this quote about Beloved by Stephen Metcalf:
“In Beloved, Morrison perfected a mode of narration, entirely her own but with roots in everything from the African griot to As I Lay Dying, built out of compulsive repetition, in which the onion, as it were, is constantly being both peeled and reconstituted; in which memories are constantly being both exhumed and buried; and in which the mind of the storyteller is both imprisoned and set free in the act of retelling. And so, like the return of Beloved, and the enduring curse of slavery itself, rememory is both a reconciliation and a vexation, both a healing and a wounding.”
Practice.
Set a timer for 10 minutes and complete as much of this exercise as possible.
First, write one paragraph about a memory from the past couple of weeks. Write it in the present tense using first person perspective. Capture a few specific sensory details.
Take six deep breaths with a six-count inhale and a six-count exhale. Then write another paragraph describing the same memory from a different angle, from a different perspective. Try writing it in the present tense using second person perspective.
Take six deep breaths with a six-count inhale and a six-count exhale. Then write one more paragraph describing the same memory in past tense using third person perspective.
If you don’t finish the steps above in the 10 minutes allocated to this writing exercise, feel free to return to it in the coming hours and days.
Want More?
Read Why Is Beloved Beloved by Stephen Metcalf?
*
SDW Four-Hour Retreats Are Back: Saturday, May 2, Zoom, Pay what you can.
Become an SDW Insider and reserve your copy of Spiritual Direction for Writers: Everyday Rituals for Your Writing Life AND receive access to the All of Life Is the Writing Life Deep Dive online course—a preorder perk that explores how the mantra “All of life is the writing life” shows up in the Spiritual Direction for Writers book.
NEW: SDW Book Notes—A place for book preorder links, updates, resources, notes, and musings
Group Spiritual Direction for Creative Souls
Flourish Anyway with Rhythms, Rituals, & Retreats
Today’s Daily Nourishment was provided by Charlotte Donlon.
*Please help us protect our intellectual property, our creative process, and the integrity of our work. Spiritual Direction for Writers® Daily Nourishment is covered under the Spiritual Direction for Writers® trademark. You are welcome to share this link with others, but any other use (written or spoken) is prohibited without written permission from Charlotte Donlon.