Happy 2nd Birthday to The C.A.T. Blog and Thoughts on Writing…
Two years ago this week, The C.A.T. Blog came to life with the writing of an inaugural blog named Santa Barbara Days…. A few weeks before commencing this bi-weekly blog at that time, I had returned from a trip to California, where, among other places, I had spent time in Santa Barbara. It was a remarkable trip to say the least, with remarkable happenings, which is why it is probably one of the more memorable vacations I’ve had.
The passage of time has a way of helping the human soul put past events into perspective. What seems important at any particular time often becomes inconsequential with time’s passing. Laughable, one could even say. And so it is, that in writing this blog during the past two years, I found it to be not only an expression of thoughts on change, action and trust, but a means to mark time as it passed.
To write is to reflect, to reflect is to examine, and there can be no greater deed than to examine the thoughts, the aspirations, and the actions that compose our lives. In the daily hustle and bustle that life can be, it’s in the quiet solitude, in our nests of peace and quiet that the true essence of who we are rises above. It’s then and only then, that we can reach within, so that we may draw upon the internal force, which motivates us to do the things we do. Without meaningful introspection, there can be no meaningful achievement.
Il Dispetto Statue by French Sculptor Jean Valette (1825-1877) in the Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris…Photo by Al Bolter
And it’s writing, by its nature, which exudes this introspection in the purest form. It draws out, what otherwise lies dormant within. There’s nothing more intimidating than sitting down to a blank page not knowing what to write. But there’s nothing more gratifying than looking back at a written page and asking “Where did that come from?” Writing is thought in motion; writing is mining for the thoughts that lie below.
In a world of short attention spans, where text messaging seemingly rules the day, it may appear to some that writing is a futile exercise in self-indulgence – after all who reads anymore (see Odds Are You Won’t Read This…)? That may be, however no exercise is futile in which the mind is provoked to do that which it was intended to do, namely to think. Whether or not others read what one writes, is beside the point (of course every writer wants to be read) as writing is a solitary event. The best writer writes not for others, but writes for oneself, and it’s in doing so that perhaps others will also read what one writes, if one may be so fortunate.
So as The C.A.T. Blog enters its third year, I often remind myself of a quote by celebrated American author Joan Didion (1934-Present): “I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.”
And with that in mind, it’s time to think about what to write for the next time we meet…
For more, check out The C.A.T. Principle: Change, Action, Trust – Words to Live By, a Global Ebook Awards GOLD Winner for Best Self Help Non-Fiction Ebook of 2014, available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. See the latest Amazon reviews here. Now revised and expanded, and once again nominated for the Best Self Help Non-Fiction Ebook of the 2015 Global Ebook Awards!
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A 2014 Global Ebook Awards GOLD Winner for Best Self Help Non-Fiction Ebook.
2015 Global Ebook Awards Nominee for Best Self Help Non-Fiction Ebook