After yesterday I am reminding myself to spend more time sitting in silence. I’ve lost much of that inner voice, and that is intrinsically connected to my ability to generate new ideas (as opposed to regurgitating old stuff in a slightly altered form). Sitting in silence, be it on the beach where I was extremely successful, listening to the hum of the AC in my over-hot office is a necessary practice I need to make as much a part of my routine as exercising and, of course, writing. It is a type of rehabilitation and dehabilitation at once. If I spend too much time and energy searching the internet (AI responses always come up first for google nowadays) or accessing chatGPT as a form to bounce ideas off of, I’m going to lose myself even further. I’m going to lose the access to that real and soulful place from which my stories come.
I don’t want to get kicked out of Boo’ya Moon again. I’ve learned that I have something fundamentally in common with the King character associated with that purgatory of stories. He accesses the place through running water. I too am triggered (awakened?) by the flow of water. That is why the beach enlivens me. That is why I often turn to youtube rain tracks to build my focus and calm. There is something to the sound and energy of water that helps me slide into the place where I can connect with myself. It isn’t silence, but it is triggering. Perhaps I can make that part of the schedule as well. Hot-cold therapy for the soul, if you will.