Mixed Flock of birds flying in a V Formation- Put together- ©Creative Commons

 

I love writing and blogging: watching something shapely, and sometimes beautiful, emerge from a jumble of thoughts.

But there are many times when I just don’t feel like writing. My brain and spirit and fingers feel wooden. It is what Steven Pressfield calls “The Resistance.”

What helps then? Reading, reading a lot, ideally something like what I want to write, until the rhythm of words beats in my bloodstream, and ideas explode in my brain, and I yearn to get them out on the page.

* * *

And what when it comes to prayer, and I feel numb, a lifeless thing without joy, or love, or thought?

But I have made a commitment to pray, so pray I will.

I used to read scripture and read it until my heart said “Amen.”

I now practice eucharisteo–giving thanks for all the beautiful and lovely things in the world, and in my life.

I give thanks, and give thanks while the plane of my emotions slowly slides down the runway, and inches into the blue, sunny skies of praise and joy.