Learning to Let Go...

I have discovered that a lot of the passion that is found in writing emerges from the details. It's about getting to a place where you are able to stop listening to all of the peripheral noise. It's about diving into the deepness of the moment where one can produce vast and delightful descriptions. In the words of Natalie Goldberg:

"A writer must say yes to life, to all of life: the water glasses, the Kemp's half-and-half, the ketchup on the counter. It is not a writer's task to say, "It is dumb to live in a small town or to eat in a cafe when you can eat macrobiotic at home." Our task is to say a holy yes to the real things of our life as they exist—the real truth of who we are: several pounds overweight, the gray, cold street outside, the Christmas tinsel in the showcase, the Jewish writer in the orange booth across from her blond friend who has black children. We must become writers who accept things as they are, come to love the details, and step forward with a yes on our lips so there can be no more noes in the world, noes that invalidate life and stop these details from continuing."
—Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones

Here is an example of a day at the gym meshed into a detailed experience:

The hard carpet on the floor was a mass of reds, greens, and browns. All mixed into one another in some sort of randomized chaotic pattern. The feelings that are floating around in the rafters are just as chaotic as the carpet. So many different people sensing so many different things. The elderly man on the treadmill in his sky blue shirt and white tennis socks hanging onto his calves for dear life. The woman with curls of gold, a soft complexion, and a hard body. The gaggle of "regulars" walking in sync with their shoulders flung back and their chests puffed out. I wonder what they are thinking... I could guess by the language of their bodies, but then it would only be a guess... it would only contribute to the chaos.

Each day as I search for details to enhance my writing I have found a feeling of "letting go" as I see the small things that I so often miss. The tiniest and simplest details that this life offers us, that we so often neglect to acknowledge, hold mysteries and bud simple flowers into bouquets of ideas!