The 5 Reasons Everyone must Write, a synopsis
If you are like most people you write things down to remember them… things like shopping lists and to-do lists, planning thoughts and ideas, etc. But writing to remember something, while it is a benefit, it is not really one of the main reasons to write. That would be like saying the most important tool/s of writing is/are a pen or pencil and some paper. And that is just not true either. The main tool of writing is your brain and it’s powers of observation, ability to imagine and it’s power of choice. And so it is with remembering. While it is not one of the Main reasons you must write, it is certainly a welcome byproduct. And while we can throw away the things we have written but do not want to remember, the reasons you and everyone must write are inescapable.
Here are the 5 reasons why EVERYONE MUST WRITE
Reason 1: To get what you want.
The very first concept of getting what you want is knowing exactly what it is. Ideas are broad but Writing Makes Us Exact. Having an idea of what you want is not good enough. It must be exact so you will know it when you see it, can more fully engage with it and become inspired by it. Writing moves things from a virtual world into the real world where things are real and not just thoughts and ideas. Writing and being exact gives us something to move toward rather than escape from. If we are moving away from something without an exact idea of what we are moving toward, we are going nowhere. Writing will give you the exact thing you are wanting to move toward.
Reason 2: Inspiration by choice.
As we begin to write down and create a record of our thoughts and ideas, the events and feelings around them, we are actually creating a very unique structure for our own personal think tank, an archive of our old ideas and things that have influenced us. While there may be some inspiration in the writing, the true inspiration comes from reading in our future what we wrote in the past. And yes, the longer we write the greater and more powerful this think tank will become. It worked for Mark Twain who clearly expected to get a return on his investment from writing in a journal. And for Ralph Waldo Emerson, who called his journals his secret bank account because that is where all his lecture ideas came from. Once we have created our own personal think thank, when we go back and read it we will be inspired and entertained. And we can choose to do that whenever we want.
Reason 3: Remembering our Future
That may sound odd when you think of it… to remember our future. But how many times have you been trying to work thru a problem and wished you remembered something that could have helped you to solve it. We write not only to get clear about things or to be inspired but we also write, in the present moment, answers to questions we will ask in the future. Thomas Edison, arguably the most prolific journal writer in history, did this. He solved present problems by looking thru his past journals for the answers. One example of this was turning his failing mining company into one that made Portland Cement, the stuff the old Yankee Stadium was made from.
Reason 4: Creation and Innovation thru Serendipitous Events
When we write in a journal and then go thru it to either read it or search for something, a very unique thing happens. Past thoughts, ideas and events connect with other past thoughts, ideas and events with the ability to form new thoughts and ideas. Things in our past serendipitously connect with other things in our past to form new ideas and thoughts in our present. It is a breeding ground for creativity and Meaningful Accidental Connections. In this digital age of quick and exact electronic searching this is not possible. But to flip thru the pages of your journal looking for one thing and then bumping into something else which creates an entirely new strain of thought and idea… well, Serendipity is finding things we were never in search of and it is certainly where all great ideas have come from. Take for example Tim Berners-Lee. He was a guy who wanted to keep track of the information of all his colleagues at CERN and create a way for them to share it. What ended up happening was the WWW, the internet. Things start with one idea which then bump into other ideas and those into others as we move thru and experience our life. Before the web there was no real developed way for the hoi polloi to collect thoughts and ideas except to write them in a journal. And there is still no good way to serendipitously connect them except thru reading through your journal and finding that which you were not in search of, like Tim and the Internet.
Reason 5: Our Heirs
Consider the power of something as simple as a recipe. It has the ability to survive and connect generations for millennia. It is much more than a list of ingredients prepared in such a way that they taste good. It shapes why we do what we do. Why we cook something a certain way because mom did it that way or build something a certain way because that’s how granddad did it. We all have a deep rooted desire to connect with our heirs. Be honest… you would love to read the stories of your great great great grandparents… the ones your parents forgot. But in most cases there are either too few stories or none at all. We owe it to our heirs millennia in the future to pass on our stories and the stories of our time. It is their right and will be their deepest desire to hear them. And it is our present responsibility to tell them
Often times we do not know what to write in a journal or where to start. We think a story is just a series of chronological events in our life. Maybe we think we have nothing to say.
To get started we need to Redefine Story because a story is so much more than what happens to us in our life or what we are feeling. I’ll write about that shortly. Watch for it… Redefining Story.
Safe Travels from Alex and I!
Create and Keep your Stories
Arthur and Alex
owner, Renaissance Art
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