When You Take Care Of Something - It Lives Longer

When You Take Care Of Something - It Lives Longer: Natalie Goldberg’s Zen master says when she sees him watering an orchid he got three weeks ago at a wedding.

Sometimes in life, things you do - connect the dots for what is about to happen. I was on a plane from CMH to SFO for a writing retreat and decided to re-read the Wild Mind: Living the readers’ life. The above quote caught my attention - so much that I could not read more. And this line sat with me as I went to my one-room Airbnb, a few minutes from the retreat venue.  

The last twelve months have been rough at work, and I sometimes feel like Shifu in Kung-Fu Panda, wanting inner peace. One of the key realisations of doing Vipassana is knowing that everything is changing and it will pass. The turbulent period at work has begun to change in the past few months, and will continue to do so. The trip to Sydney and the retreat are helping the muddy water settle down so I can see clearly. Before I digress more, the point about calling out the rough period at work was to say that it has been hard to work on my writing apart from the weekly blogs and the occasional writing.

In India, we have a saying that goes like - to a drowning man, even a straw is of support. And Writing Room has been that for me in terms of writing. Even if I haven’t found the creative juices to work on my book or go deep into writing, the Silent writing sessions and retreats have been my bridge to keeping the writing alive. In short, it helped me take care of writing so that it will live longer. Erin Roberts, a speaker at this retreat, said - Writing is Life, Life is Writing. So, true. This weekend, I could have been sitting in a retreat about life as well - so many quotes and stories resonated with me, even from my work life, that everything was beginning to merge, so it was hard to distinguish if the advice/action was for work or writing. For example, there is the text, context, and subtext in writing, which is also true for work.

This is my third writing retreat with the writing room - and it is the only thing I do for my writing. I remember thinking in 2023 that I needed to get serious about my writing without knowing how - and the universe, in its response, called out a writing room retreat in Julia Roberts’ newsletter, which I joined and haven’t left since. Sometimes I can participate more in the sessions/workshops, etc. Sometimes, it is just the bare minimum, but the connection to writing remains, sometimes hanging by a thread.

Most importantly, I realised I have a community of writer friends now—isn’t that nice? We might or might not have met, but we connect on Substack or chat in the writing room. That is also caring about writing. Caring has another aspect - here. It is about taking care of myself. The writing retreats are when I am a writer first - where people know me as a writer first and then maybe as my day job title. This is also one way I care for the writer within. After three years, I feel more comfortable saying I am a writer. Isn’t it funny that the confidence I exude at work does not translate to being an artist? And both sides complete me - that is caring.

Caring for something is not a once-and-done - it requires nurturing and constant attention. The intensity of attention may vary, but it is a part of who you are, just like Vipassana - now that I think about it. This will also change, and I accept that.

Here is to caring for things that care for us in return - what are some of those things for you?