This is one of those times for me. When I get into a good groove, where I feel comfortable (and I am a creature who loves comfort) I tend to stop taking risks. And risk is part of what creativity is all about.
When I get to this point, I start seeking out Helpers. For me, Helpers are people who will give me a good kick in the ass. People who inspire me, who challenge me, who make me see something differently. When I’m all out of motivating myself, my Helpers come in and create the community support I need to keep going. Bindu Wiles suddenly became one of my Helpers last week, with a big ole kick in the ass to offer.
I stumbled across Bindu’s project on Friday afternoon and signed up instantly. I mean, instantly. I didn’t even have time to go over the rant in my head that would usually ensue:
This is nuts! Who has time for this? I am terrible at commitments, I would drop this thing in three days… Why would I even try to do it? I like yoga but I suck at it, I’m not very prolific these days and 800 words is a lot. Every day! I mean, seriously?!
Nope. Blame it on the Morning Pages I’ve been doing lately (which is typically done automatic-writing style) but my hands completely bypassed that part of my brain and signed the rest of me up without asking permission. That internal monologue up there? It happened right after I signed up, but by then it was useless. My name was on the list and I had committed myself to… well, I’ll let Bindu tell you:
On June 8th, (this coming Tuesday) I’d like you to join me for a community project online I’ve created called 21.5.800.
For 21 days, we’ll be doing 5 days of yoga a week and 800 words of writing per day. WAIT!
Don’t stop reading! Hear me out.
Here’s the deal;
THE WRITING: The writing can be ANYTHING. Memoir, blogs, business plans, essays, fiction, free-writing, letters,……..ANYTHING. The point is to get writing again daily and to have the boundaries and challenge of a daily word count to reach.
THE YOGA: There are several options for you to do the yoga portion of 21.5.800 5 times in 7 days. Here are the options: 1. Go to a yoga class in your ‘hood. 2. Do a yoga dvd at home. 3. Take a 20-40 minute savasana* (see below) at home on the floor.
(You can read the rest of the post here: my new project: 21.5.800)
So, does this sound like the kind of extra motivation you could use right now? Do you like the idea of doing it with a big group of people instead of having to stay motivated all by yourself? There’s still time to sign up!
Let me know if you decide to do it, and we’ll check in with each other here. I’ll be posting entries about how the project is going for me starting tomorrow.
