Why I Write Blogs

“People are afraid to concentrate because they are afraid of losing themselves if they are too absorbed in another person, in an idea, in an event.  The less strong their self, the greater the fear of losing themselves in the act of concentration on the non-self.”

Erich Fromm – The Art of Being

“I must have flowers, always, and always.”

― Claude Monet

“All my loving, I will give to you.”

Lennon and McCartney – All My Love

Can I write for a half an hour or 45 minutes?  Can I lose myself in this endeavor and then find myself?  Can I stay focused?  Can I concentrate?  Can I be committed to the writing process?   Yes, I can, but not without effort.  But here I go.  Then I’m going to go to bed.

As often happens, I approach this writing not knowing what I want to say.  Mostly, I’m just trying to reach my goals.  If I get this done, then I will have completed blog #86. 

Why are these blogs so important to me?  They are important to me because:

-       I said I would do them;

-       They are a good investment of my time;

-       They are a good investment of my talents;

-       There are very few other things I would rather be doing.

Let me review each of those reasons.

First, I said I would do it.  In The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, the first agreement is “Be impeccable with your word.”  When I have not been impeccable with my word it has hurt either me or others or both.  I feel that when I don’t write, even though I say I will, I may be hurting people, even people I don’t know because I am depriving them of the wisdom that comes through my writing.  It’s not that I am so amazing, but it think my writing often is and I am the only one who can do my writing.  If I don’t do it, it doesn’t get done and people, people I know, people I don’t know and even myself, don’t get blessed.

This is also a good investment of my time.  The Latin root of the word invest is investire, which means to clothe oneself in or surround oneself with.  I am surrounding myself with this writing, with Purpose.  It keeps me warm and safe.  Stephen Pressfield says that the professional does not take himself too seriously.  I don’t, but I do take this seriously.  The more time I have invested in this, the better I feel about my life and myself.

In the converse, I am using my time well when I write.  In Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller says, “I believe the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil but rather have us wasting time.”  When I’m writing, I’m not wasting time.  And that is good, because time is a commodity that can never be replaced.

Writing is a good investment of my talent.  I don’t know why I was given this talent and not, say, juggling or being a zookeeper, or having a proclivity for mathematics.  It doesn’t matter.  This is the gift I’ve been given and I’m grateful for it, exceedingly grateful.  I can’t think of a more wonderful gift.  But then neither can the juggler, the zookeeper, or the mathematician.  The more time I put into this talent, the better it gets.  The more blogs I write, the better I get.  These blogs are an investment in my future and in eternity.

Finally, there are very few other things I would rather be doing.  I could think of a couple of things that involve spending time with people I love, but when I am alone, all I want to do is write.  I also love to study and speak and those also fit into my Purpose.  I love to do anything that fits into my Purpose.  In fact, like Monet, I must do this.  I have to do this.  If I don’t…well, I don’t want to think about the shape I’ be in if I didn’t write.  I just have to remember how I felt five months ago.

That’s it.  That’s why I write these blogs.  Oh, and I also write them because

-       they’re fun;

-       they’re hard work but they relax me;

-       I enjoy reading them.

That’s it.  It’s time to go to bed.  I did not stay completely focused but I still got it done.  And tomorrow I’m going to do another one…and then another…and another…and another.  And all I have to do is Get Started and Keep Going.