Change is the Imminent Event!

Lock ‘n load. The times they are a changin’. Summer turns to fall. Silence turns to voice. Pounding turns to stillness. Always, we are changing. Today, I’m trying a new writing technique. I’ve set my timer, put on my sassy cowboy hat and loaded a little Don Henley on the iPod shuffle. Hmmm. Who knows what will transpire... and does it really matter?

Bottom line. I love to write. I jot down words in journals. Tap notes into my word processor. Peck texts to my friends and have endless streams of verbiage running through my head nonstop. Today I am writing (via the computer) without stopping. I’m in training. Training for maybe the biggest writing adventure to date. I have decided to enter the National Novel Writing Month contest. The goal? To write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. The prize? Well... I guess that’s up to me. The official site for NaNoWriMo says you are a “winner” when you cross the 50K mark with a completed work within the 30 designated days—the month of November. Woohoo and Yeehaw!!!

Writing is such a fascinating medium. For example, I was planning to sit down and write a post about my upcoming 10-day silent meditation retreat. Instead, my fingers rolled into gun metaphors and old song lyrics. What the heck?

In some crazy whacked out way all of these things are probably related. {Sidenote – this cowboy hat is too hot to write in. Off it comes! Okay, that’s better.} So... back to things being related. For the last several weeks (which may actually be months) I have been called to a place of deep stillness. In fact, my word for the year—the one that chose me—is BE. So in essence, ‘being’ began at the beginning of the year. However, January saw the publication of my beloved book, As I Lay Pondering, which was followed by book tours and signings in February and on. March brought a trip to Phoenix with 300+ extroverted, high-charged life coaches and April had me leading retreats and doing more book signings. May began with a road trip to Oregon where things started to slow down and ended with a relaxing trip to Hawaii. Oh, life is good!

While I am typically a master at finding moments of rest and restoration “in the midst,” sometimes it’s just not enough. Summer began to drift along with those lazy, hazy, crazy days as my rhythm started to slow. Somewhere in there I saw a lottery entry for the meditation retreat and on impulse entered on the final day of applications. A couple of weeks later I learned I was on the waiting list and put the notion of attending out of my mind. Late August, however, I received the word that I was in! Like I said, the times they are always changin’.

As I reflect over this past year, I see extreme times of output and energy. (Did I forget to mention that I completed a 200-hour yoga apprenticeship certification this fall?) When I went to get my hair cut a couple of weeks ago, my hairdresser asked how I was. “Tired!” was my answer. She laughed and said, “No kidding! I’m glad to know you’re not always super woman.” Ha ha! I love being called out.

So it seems only appropriate after all of this that I’m heading off for a week of silent meditation. My body and soul knew I’d need it even before my brain did. That’s the beauty of paying close attention and following “impulses.”

But wait, what about NaNoWriMo? How am I now thrilled about undertaking a ridiculous feat of writing a novel in a month? It might sound exhausting to you, but it feels like rest to me. The notion of curling up with no official destination other than 50,000 words. No editing. No rewrites. No sharing of work (even with myself). It all sounds like heaven to me. The thing I’m most curious about right now is whether all of that silence will wipe the slate clean in my brain? Hmmm. Methinks not.

Are you wondering yet what happened to my timer? It went off about 2 ½ minutes ago. The result... approximately 700 words in 20 minutes. Not bad! I guess I’ll stroll back through the output and see what I’ve come up with.  Like I said, Lock ‘n load!* The times they are a changin’.

Thanks for hanging in here with me during my freeform exploration. I’ll have a special treat for you while I’m off being silent. I’ve invited one of my favorite extraverts, Deb Smouse, to guest post. My hunch is you’re going to love what she has to say!!

What’s tugging at your heart today? Care to join me for NaNoWriMo? Perhaps your own silent retreat or meditation practice is calling you? (I’ve been studying with Susan Piver this year. Her Open Heart Project is fabulous!) And there’s always my online class Live it to Give it beginning November 5. It’s a finely crafted combination of life coaching, spiritual direction, and more to help you define and refine your own ways of “being” and finding rest and restoration “in the midst.” I’d love to have you come play with me!

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*I couldn’t resist exploring why this theme showed up in my brain today... After delving through several military references and more than a few graphic songs, I found this definition:

lock n load (slang) “To prepare for an imminent event”.

How perfect is that?

How do you prepare for the imminent events of your life?