Your Ignited Life

I was recently asked, as an exercise in practicing my own mission statement: why do people need to write?

First of all, people don't need to write the same way they need to eat, sleep or breathe. But we also don't NEED exercise, sex, or a dirty martini either to sustain life, do we? Nope.

Writing is like that. It's something that benefits your life in a way that is so valuable it's invaluable. Here is why:

Whether you are journaling, diving into a new screenplay, blog post or novel, or simply writing your goals down on paper, writing is the FASTEST way for you to connect to yourself, know yourself, and empower yourself.

Let's break that down and examine it bit by bit. What does it mean to connect with yourself?

Well, most of us go through our day and never really connect with ourselves. We live on auto-pilot. We wake up with a list of stuff to do and a bunch of people who want and expect shit from us: our boss, our boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives, children, parents, siblings. We carry the weight of responsibilities that are bigger than we are. No one stops and asks us "hey, how are you feeling about this?" or "what's on your mind today?" so we rarely stop and ask ourselves. 

In order to be a writer and be writing, you HAVE to stop and ask yourself:

- What the fuck is on your mind? What are you thinking?

- How do you feel right now?

- What do you want?

And if you don't, whatever is in that beautiful big head of yours is going to come out anyway when the pen hits the paper or your fingers tap the keyboard. Writing allows you to have a direct line to your inner truth and what's alive in your heart and mind, which leads me to my next reason to write: knowing yourself. 

Well, that sounds really intimidating and weird. I've been living with myself my whole life, obviously I know myself. But, do you really? Try answering the following question:

- If you were going to write a movie about your life, what would it be about?  

Can you sum it up easily? Can you pick one story? And what would you want the audience to take away from this story? 

Chew on those questions for a little while. Many of us want to write because we're really funny or really tragic or really deep. We have something to give our audience: a joke, an insight, a significant truth or lesson. We have some seriously important shit to say! Or we just like the idea of being a writer (I really do too, no judgment there!). In our haste to blast through what we're putting on the table, we often overlook the very nature of the process itself which is taking the time to know yourself, your voice and your message. I personally walk into every script thinking that I know who I am and what I'm writing. Yes, with a confident sashay and a hair flip too. By the end of my first writing session, I am humbled, hair-flip-be-damned, having learned more about myself and the process and my relationship to the process. The same is true for journaling, free writing, or pretty much anything that makes you dump your brain onto paper. It gives you a new kind of mirror to gaze into. And who doesn't like mirrors?

So, how do we go from gazing at our pretty words to being empowered? Simple. Connection and knowledge give us a foundation of awareness and clarity around not just who we are, but what we truly value and want. I'm going to call this the Vision. We become visionaries for our projects and lives by being in the process. Owning that vision of what you want from your inner truth is how you empower yourself. 

Okay, that sounds like a lot of mumbo jumbo. Here's is how it breaks down: By just making a list of what you want, once you are aware of what that is (be that in your writing project or in your life), you are taking ownership over your future. You are taking responsibility for your actions around what you want and therefore, you are operating from an empowered place.

The first step to being an artist is admitting you’re an artist. No, but for realsies.

Hi, I’m Jamie and I’m an artist.

Phew. Now why was that so hard? So scary? So new?

What do you immediately think of when you hear the word “artist”? Let’s free flow for a minute. Bob Ross. Jackson Pollack. That guy on the corner selling watercolor paintings of the Empire State Building for $45. An entitled snotbag who grew up with so much money they could afford to hang around and paint all day. They’re not like the rest of us. They’re not hard working, serious individuals with something to contribute.

This is just a peek inside my brain. I know, I know… I sound like a judgmental prick, because I am sometimes. But so are all of you, sometimes. And the worst times are when you’re talking about yourself like that. I’ve heard SO many artists, writers, actors, dancers say the same about their crafts. They don’t lead with it, they don’t OWN it.

SO now let’s get to the dirty little secret that crawls around your soul like bed bugs in a Lower East Side tenement: Shame. Thanks to Brene Brown, we can all admit how we’re really feeling. (Cue horror movie soundtrack.) That jerkface Shame creates a voice in your head that kinda sounds like this:

“Who am I to be an artist?”

“An artist isn’t a real job.”

“I’ll make my art, after (insert a list of tedious life activities and work here).”

“Art is a luxury to be earned.”

Well, fuck that.

I believe ART is a NECESSITY. And I’m getting kinda tired of the stigma attached to creating art.

It’s kinda like sex in this way. It’s one of those activities people rarely talk about it, even if they’re doing it. It’s sort of secret, private, shameful. People only like to talk about it if they can brag. (i.e. “You should have seen this guy I took home last night.”) No one ever talks about the guy who passed out drunk before he even had his pants off. Or the script pages that ended up deleted or crumpled up in the garbage or burned. Or the canvases that took a beating before they made it to the light of day. Because no one wants to admit their perceived failures or what the fuck went wrong in their life. No one wants to display their vulnerabilities for the world to see. People only broadcast the good shit. That’s why everyone’s Facebook profiles are like an advertisement for what they wish their life could be. And in an internet world with no privacy, where every time you sneeze it’s like everyone and their mother got the memo, every move you make can feel THAT much more terrifying in a Shame-fueled landscape. Well what if you operated under a “everyone has shame and is afraid of looking bad”-fueled landscape? How would that look? What could you accomplish?

I’m saying let’s blow the door open and flash the world your stark naked creativity. Because if you are here, reading this, and experiencing a lack of inspiration in your life, well, I KNOW SOMETHING YOU DON’T. (Na na na na poo poo!) Here’s what I know: Your creativity is worth more than words can express.