There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.–
Howard Thurman, African American mystic
So much of what we do as writers extends from, if not flows out of the voice of our genuine and authentic self.
The genuine of which Thurman speaks holds both the key to what we write, and our ability and commitment to writing the words of our hearts as delivered to us through the various dimensions of life that channel into and through us.
At a time when so much about and within our society seeks to silence the genuine, what is honest, unfettered and pure, writers of today stand upon the threshold of a new day.
It is a dawning, not unlike times and past eras where old paradigms shifted and some fell in the wake of new ones arising.
Patterns and ways of relating to self and others adjust to the most present and pressing needs of humans.
These modifications and alterations rise from the simplest of hungers, both physical, and internal.
We don’t often think of honesty as a need when considering the requirements for survival.
And yet validation by those whom we value, and even those whose view we question, comprises one of the greatest essentials to human existence and thriving.
As a psychotherapist I have found that much of what clients need and appreciated was my willing and eagerness to not simply empathize with their struggles, but that I could affirm what they said as holding truth.
The difference between having someone to express having observed events that occurred in front of the two of you versus that person stating they saw nothing take place establishes the demarcation between peace of mind and insanity.
Children look to parents and adults in charge of their care to witness and state along with the child that they too see the birds flying overhead, people running down the street and sunshine above that the child beside them sees.
A tree falls in the woods and heard by one person can be questioned. A tree felled and witnessed by two people carries the weight of truth.
A tree tumbling upon the path where two people stood and just missed hitting them by seconds presents a harrowing experience shared by those two individuals.
They will remain bound in ways that only they can describe.
That two and not one underwent the sequence of events, rush of emotions, though unique to each individual grounds the occurrence in a way that very few, if any can deny.
There is something about sharing, giving of our genuine selves that enriches life and endows us with more than what we can simply give ourselves when alone.
These shared moments of truth and giving, when authenticity and honesty reign make those times alone not only bearable, but comfortable and warm.
The words we pen or type as writers provide a shared experience, one of writer and reader coming together through discussion of a subject of topic mutually valued.
When we as writers give from our hearts, we write from the scroll of our souls, and not only share the wisdom of the ages as handed down from others and that will pass from us to those who read our words.
We also tell of ourselves, our needs, hopes, dreams, and wishes.
We render ourselves transparent as humans struggling against and with the tide of doubts, emotions, concerns and worries that every living human has before us.
We share our experience of being alive.
And in so doing that piece of the genuine that lives within us becomes a guide that leads us and our readers from all that would seek to bind and shackle us to the wishes of another and not those emanating from our own pulses.