Giving and Receiving: A Guided Contemplative Practice for Writers, Journalers, and Creative Souls
Daily Nourishment Read Time: 40 seconds
Pause/Prompt/Practice Time: 15 minutes
“The writing life, too, is marked by constant gift exchange with natural patterns of giving and receiving, each action creating conditions for the other.”
-Spiritual Direction for Writers: Everyday Rituals for Your Writing Life
Pause.
Sit in silence while looking at the art below and taking four deep breaths. Use the phrases below for a breath prayer or breath meditation on each of the inhales.
Inhale: Receive from writing.
Exhale.
Inhale: Bestow with writing.
Exhale.
Inhale: Receive from writing.
Exhale.
Inhale: Bestow with writing.
Exhale.
Repeat as many times as you like.
Portrait of James Baldwin
Beauford Delaney,1965
Prompt.
Read these words form Spiritual Direction for Writers on how belonging to the self affects your writing life:
“Bestowing—offering—is often one step in a generous and generative dance: receive and offer, receive and offer. This is true in the spiritual life (I think of the eucharistic prayer, in which we speak of “offering to you [God], from the gifts you have given us, this bread and this cup”). And it is true in the writing life. I can bestow because of how richly I have received…”
“We gather energy in solitude and share it in community. We take in feedback from trusted readers and offer responses to others’ work. We absorb experiences and transform them into stories. We collect fragments of language and craft them into poems or essays. We receive guidance from mentors and later bestow that wisdom to less experienced writers.”
-Spiritual Direction for Writers: Everyday Rituals for Your Writing Life
Practice.
Set a timer for 10 minutes and journal in response to the quotes above and/or the questions below:
How do you experience giving and receiving in your writing practice, other creative expression, in your relationships, and beyond?
How do you want to experience giving and receiving in your writing practice, other creative expression, in your relationships, and beyond?
How can you offer others some of what you wish you could receive in your writing, creative expression, relationships, and beyond?
Want More?
Read Spiritual Direction for Writers: Everyday Rituals for Your Writing Life.
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Today’s Daily Nourishment was provided by Charlotte Donlon.
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