When I first started writing, I purposefully didn’t read other blogs or websites with inspirational goodies. I wanted my message to be pure – to come solely from me. I didn’t want the words from these sites to seep out and permeate my own. I wanted my words and thoughts to be able to stand alone – strong and proud. I was afraid that I would read something that I was about to say and then feel that I could no longer say it.
Before writing songs, some singers will isolate themselves from all other music to try not to let it influence them at all – this is what I was trying to do with my writing. Boy, was I missing out and missing the big picture of it all. (Isn’t it great that there are lessons to be learned and growth to be had lurking around every corner?)
It’s impossible to write alone.
Yes, I am sitting here alone in my office – in that sense I am alone. But in the greater sense, I am never alone. My soul, heart, and mind have taken in every single word someone else has said to me. Every word that I have ever read is stored within me – every emotion that I have felt or that someone else has felt is stored in the collective unconscious, which we all have continuous access to. So when I write, I can’t help but take bits of each of these influences and run them through my own soul – my own thoughts – my own emotions and then create something that is repackaged as my own.
Whether we are consciously creating together or not, we are all here together.
We are all messengers sharing the same messages. We are each sharing it in our own way. Some of us will relate to certain blogs, people, emotions – and some to others. And that’s okay. It’s all coming from the same place: love.
After months of hiding from other blogs – fearing that they would rub off onto me, I now embrace them and am honored when they do show through. I am so grateful to be able to take in these wise words from each of you, and I am humbled that you will in turn do the same with my own words.
My husband, Dan, shared a thought with me the other day, and we weren’t sure if it was his own thought or a quote that he heard from someone else. And you know what we realized? It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that he shared and that we grew from his sharing.
I have met so many amazing writers since I began this blogging journey. I find such comfort in knowing that we are all in this together. We are each taking what fits from each other and making it our own. We are filtering it through our souls – keeping what feels right and leaving behind what doesn’t. And then paying it forward in our own writing. How beautiful is that? I find it absolutely amazing.
We truly are never alone.
Our thoughts and emotions have all been felt before. Our words have all been said before. And yet, we are still able to make them our own and learn from each other. And I am learning every single day from so many of you.
I am proud to have opened myself up to so many beautiful sites and heartfelt bits of writing. And I know that I am expanding because of it.
And that is always a good thing.
If you have a blog of your own, please share it below. You now know that I will read it. ♥
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Hiding from blogs too? I can relate. You’re absolutely right: WE ARE NOT ALONE. Thanks for sharing this 🙂
Thanks so much for stopping by! We’re all in it together! 🙂
Excellent post! I stumbled it. You’re SO right! We’re not alone, and we can learn from each other in so many wonderful ways. =)
~Kim
from Blogging Buddies team
Hi Kim – yay! I’m still figuring out SU and how it works – it’s definitely a powerful, fun tool!
Jodi your post puts me in the mind of a qoute by C.S. Lewis who wrote
““We read to know we are not alone.” As a fellow writer I to have gone on literary fasts to keep my vision pure. In the end, I discovered that as long as I am honest with myself, I will never lose my voice. Glad to hear you choose connectedness. Keen obeservations about the benefits of collective influnces.
Hi Chris – so glad you’re here! 🙂 I love that quote, and I love your comment. You’re so right in that by staying true to our own inner voice, we can also stay connected to all of the beautiful words and love that surround us.
Very good post Jodi! Visiting other blogs has helped me so much. Every day I see a variety of posts which help to brighten my day. I love your Blog as it is so inspirational. Take care and have a wonderful Tuesday.
Thank you, Judy! Your blog is an inspiration to me – truly. Thank you for being willing to open your heart up to each of us and take us on your journey. Hugs to you.
Jodi…
I am one of the ones who came by way of Katie Tallo and Momentum Gathering. I was actually fascinated because I have been writing and sharing Gratitude nearly every day for 5 years. Mine goes out by email to a growing ever smaller group, and yet it is that thing that I cannot NOT DO, despite often feeling like, well, what’s the point?!
This post, the first I’ve actually received and read, speaks as though I were saying aloud thoughts that run round and round in me day in and day out. I am daily inspired, moved toward DOing something, intuitively fiddling with something thinking it’s for Reason A when I suddenly discover it’s all about something on BEyond even Reasons B,C, and D. Perhaps off the alphabet chart altogether.
I’ve started several blogs. I was delighted to see that you, too, seem to write daily. I always stopped the blogging because I thought, who’s reading? Who even knows I’m writing? Isn’t it asking too much of people to go read me on my blog? And, of course, speaking to your topic yesterday, what is it that I am saying that would inspire anyone to read me anyway?!
This batch of questions is more an indictment and deterrent than encouragement. So perhaps I shall let the question BE there. Let it inspire me to find possibility more than AN ANSWER.
I’m glad to have found you, curious to read more of what you’ve written, delighted to realise that reading thoughts that have run round the wires in me only affirms that there is nourishment in those thoughts. Nourishment that isn’t selective or exclusive but connective and inclusive.
Thanks so much for your voice and your heart.
I’m so glad you’re here, Currie! Thank you for such a thoughtful comment – it means so much to me.
It’s so great that you’ve been sharing gratitude for 5 years – amazing! It’s such a great space to be in, isn’t it? Everything just feels better in our souls and also in our bodies when we focus on all that there is to be grateful for.
Yes – I love that you are going to allow the many questions that you have inspire you to be open to the possibility rather than having them be a crutch to keep you from writing. Our words have power – they have meaning. And when we put them out there, we allow magic to happen.
I am so glad you’re here and extra thankful that we are connected in this way.
I’m always amazed when I visit a blog that is talking about the same topic I just wrote about or am planning to write about. I think the collective mind in the writing community is tuned in to the same things. We aren’t alone. Yet we are each unique.
So true, Kelly. We are all tuned in and yet able to say the same things in different ways. Amazing.
Jodi,
I’m grateful for Katie leading me here. While writing is a personal journey, sharing the experience can give us the encouragement to keep walking on the days we are weary.
Alex
Alex,
I’m so grateful that you’re here, too! I came across your blog last week and fell in love with it – so great that you showed up here (thanks to the amazing Katie). I look forward to encouraging each other as we work toward passing the finish line with our books. Amazing how the universe works… I’m continually in awe of it.
Wow! I’ve lived this adventure. I got all set to blog, did one post and then froze… What if I copy someone else? What if my idea isn’t original? I just stopped and ‘feared.’ At some point the need to just communicate became so strong I sat down and started to type. No, I’m not saving the world with my blogging, I’m just observing my corner of our world. Maybe blogging takes humans to another level of being connected?
Love the use of fear as a verb – I do that so often. I can truly relate to your “what if” questions, too. And I’m SO glad that you pushed them aside and wrote anyway. And you never know who you may be helping with your words – definitely yourself to start with, but I have a feeling it’s many more. ♥
Thanks for the reminder! So many times it does feel lonely, especially for writers. We tend to be solitary types, but we need that validation that we’re not the only ones out here in this beautiful land of written words.
Beautifully said, Diane, and so true! I so love that we can all come together and support each other. And we do! ♥
It is truly a comfort to know that we are side by side…thank you for this post, Jodi. You have one beautiful heart.
With love,
Julia
We are definitely side by side, Julia! Your beautiful words wrap around me like a soft blanket each time I read them. ♥ ♥ ♥
Love the quote by C.S. Lewis that Chris mentioned, “We read to know we are not alone.” I think many of us write to know we are not alone as well. Great post, Jodi. Thanks for everything.
I love that quote, too! You’re so right that we write to know we are not alone. Knowing that I don’t have to go it alone is such a great comfort for me. Thank you for everything, Katie. ♥ to you.
Yes, I found you through Katie…how did you know? 😉 Relaxing site. I look forward to perusing more. Grace and peace to you!
I’m so glad you’re here, Krista! Welcome! And thank you to Katie for introducing us! 🙂