~ Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom. ~Buddha

People are never more insecure than when they become obsessed with their fears at the expense of their dreams. ~Norman Cousins

Nothing happens unless first we dream. ~Carl Sandburg

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Happy New Year!!

After hours turned into two weeks of pain, a friend who was studying acupuncture offered me help. While big and tiny needles stuck into your ear lobes, ankles, and other tender parts sounds torturous, I’ve learned that with a good practitioner you hardly feel a pinch. During my very first acupuncture session, I in fact felt no pain. I can honestly say that with needles stuck all along my back as I sat hunched over a chair swaddled in a sheet, I experienced such a delicious feeling of relief that I wept big splashy, but silent tears. Good health is a thing to savor.

But what does any of this have to do with writing, or dreaming, or sparking inspiration? Everything. My back injury led me to Chinese healing, which put me on the path to a better understanding of how to heal and restore energy to areas of need. Acupuncture manipulates a person’s internal energy through the use of pressure points. Pressure points within the body lie along meridians – the channels in which our energy connects and flows. The Chinese believe that blockages in these meridians can cause energy to stop flowing creating physical, mental, emotional and/or spiritual illness or pain. The practice of Acupuncture is to remove the blockage in order to permit and balance the flow of energy. Learning more and more about Acupuncture, got me wondering whether it could help me with something as intangible as writer’s block.

Well, while Writer’s Block is an abstract concept, like lots of aches and pains, it is a symptom of a larger issue. Your block could be caused by dissatisfaction in your home or work life, fear of failure, confusion, or insecurity. Whatever the concern or situation is on the surface, internally it manifests as an energy block causing you to pay more attention to the block than your writing. To re-channel that energy back to where you want it most, into inspired creative expression, acupuncture could be worthwhile.

Let me say though that the very act of committing to help yourself whether it be through acupuncture, meditation, journaling, or writing workshops means that you’ve already removed a huge chunk of your block. If you keep chipping away at it with focused attention and dedicated time for taking care of yourself, your mind will be buzzing and your fingers whizzing along your keyboard again soon. Remember: Be patient, everything has its time.

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Three powerful Acupuncture points for energizing your spirit, “voice” and outlook:

Purple Palace – It is the storehouse of Yi, emotions or thoughts that we have not, or could not express.

Spirit Storehouse – is used when the person is spiritually depleted, who use their stores up as soon as they get them.

Amidst Elegance – is used to restore a sense of beauty or grace, self respect to one’s life when one is lacking.

References:

Purple Palace definition: http://revjaganath.net/files/Seven_Zone_Hatha_Yoga_-_web.pdf

Spirit Storehouse definition: http://www.yinyanghouse.com/theory/chinese/p4_classical_acupuncture_treatment

Amidst Elegance definition: http://www.yinyanghouse.com/theory/chinese/p4_classical_acupuncture_treatment

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Today I came across a little tidbit that I believe is a great thought to start the month on, especially the month of my birth. For me, mid-September always invokes a fuzzy parade of memories followed by a lucid recommitment to myself and my dreams. I guess you could say that, in at least this case, coming across this journal now is serendipitous.

 ”The wonderful thing about life is that nothing is static. If we feel stuck today there will be a tomorrow where we feel full of life and fearless. It’s called balance and it happens whether we see it or not.”

It’s a wondrous and life-affirming thing to realize that even your lows have purpose. So don’t be so hard on yourself. Being human is a simple thing that we all too often complicate.  Feel whole this month being everything that you are, and maybe pick up your journal and write down what this thought inspires in you. You never know, you might just find your musings just when you need to reflect on them the most! 

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This weekend I joined the millions of people who donated to the Christopher Nolan fund. I saw Inception. And it is literally the stuff dreams are made of, both for him and moviegoers. Clearly, he doesn’t have to worry about funding for his next great idea. Inception in three weeks has grossed $227 million domestically and $250 million abroad. If he hasn’t already, Chris can now buy a house high in the Hollywood Hills. And we can continue to marvel at his ability to make us question our own reality.

With Inception, writer/director, Christopher Nolan, offered the world something new, which is something we often think and are told, is impossible. How many times have you heard that every story has already been written?  What do you think? Truth or dare? I think Chris definitely took it as a dare, which is what every aspiring writer MUST do.

Yes, the framing of the story, espionage, is as old as sin, but overlay it with the philosophical conception of dreams and consciousness sprinkled with a touch of high technology and you have a movie capable of shaking even the strongest of foundations.  Inception is for 2010 what the Matrix was for 1999, a douse of cold water and somebody saying, “Are you awake?” Followed by, “How do you know?”

Both Inception and the Matrix prove that epistemological arguments in film can succeed with the masses; they are not confined  to the Indie film crowd.  Chris, however, concedes that “whenever you deal in the world of esoteric or overly complex science fiction, or heist movies, or film noir, you’re working for a smaller audience. If you’re going to do a massive movie, though, you’ve got to be able to unlock that more universal experience…[to make it] relatable.” He said that once he came up with the idea to explain his dream concept through the relationship between Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Mal (Marion Cotillard) he found the common, relatable story he needed.

I appreciate that piece of wisdom, since I have been working on a very psychological script involving the interaction between the conscious and subconscious realities of a young woman.  When you are dealing with technical theory and personal philosophy on a metaphysical and psychologically abstract level, getting your story to mean something to anybody but you is daunting.  Needless to say I’ve been fiddling with the exposition for “Fly, Yellow Bird” for what feels like far too long. Let it be known, however, that Chris fiddled with the script for Inception for a solid ten years before he ended up with this ingenious, blockbuster movie. I don’t know about you, but that makes me feel like I’m in pretty good company.

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Find out more about Inception and Christopher Nolan in the book Inception: The Shooting Script due out September 1, 2010.

And if you believe in making dreams reality, then wear it with pride! Pick up your dream shirt at www.makelovetruth.spreadshirt.com.

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It’s amazing how if you focus on seeing the positive, that’s exactly what you discover. One of my goals with this site is to find and present real life, regular folks who are all about making dreams (theirs or others) come true despite the odds. Now I see these people – action-oriented dreamers – everywhere.  

I think it’s safe to say we are ALL dreamers, people who fantasize about what life could be if only… (you fill in the blank).   However, action-oriented dreamers, a much smaller percentage of folks, leave me speechless, inspired and a wee bit jealous. They make the seemingly impossible so very possible – and I’m not just talking about the ultimate outcome, but the very path to get to that outcome. As any dreamer knows, turning your passion into reality is nothing like a light-hearted stroll for ice cream, but more like an Olympic-level swim meet with sharks thrown in.

I don’t believe that 28 year-old screenwriter Will Fetters has ever swum with sharks, but he definitely has been the recent victim of a feeding frenzy. Will just had the very first film he ever wrote, Remember Me, cast and produced with top notch Hollywood talent. And it only took five years, which in non-Hollywood time probably equates to a college freshman landing a Senior VP position a month out of school. Mind boggling, right? Well, don’t get too jealous before you read what happened next.   This glowing beacon of accomplishment in Will’s life was recently ripped so badly by critics that the script (mixed with pieces of his soul no less) is little more than confetti. Remember Me was accused by critics of being an unmemorable, overly dramatized film with a manipulative ending that scored a paltry 28% reviewer rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Yup, that’s right. Nothing is sacred. Not even our dreams. But that’s not the point I’m making. Did you read the first part of the above paragraph? This guy got his first screenplay produced in Hollywood in no time flat. Yes, having Robert Pattison, star of the Twilight series (who I think might just be a good friend of Will’s) and the star of this ill received movie, on board was, of course, a huge reason Remember Me got made and got spotlight. But even with that ace, this film wasn’t guaranteed. This guy still had to sit down for however long it took to write his script, revise and rewrite it any number of times, and sell it as a profitable story to executives. How many people you know never made it past writing the script?

This guy took his chance and ran with it all the way to score that game changing goal (a reference in honor of the World Cup 2010!). And even though I can only imagine how heartrending it must be to have your script torn to bits in public, I don’t think he’s throwing a pity party with all that confetti. Instead he’s doing what action-oriented dreamers do. Keeping it moving. Will Fetters is working on the films A Star is Born and The Lucky One as I write this blog post.

All the best, Will.

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Remember Me is now available on DVD. For a cheap treat, check it out at Redbox or Net Flicks.

 My favorite quote from the movie:

 “Our fingerprints don’t fade from the lives we touch.”

My suggestions:

1. Don’t be deterred by the slow start. After warming up, Remember Me offers a multi-faceted and poignant portrayal of the effect of human loss on those left living.
2. Don’t read anything else about this movie before you watch it. Absolutely wait until after. The full authentic experience is lost otherwise.

 Movie Spoiler:

I tend to be a mushy romantic…. Hey, didn’t I tell you to stop reading!!

Each Real Life with Married People webisode on average presents around two minutes of everyday moments in married life made unexpectedly funny through irony and sometimes gross exaggeration. It’s Mad About You meets Beavis and Butthead. It’s silly man vs. self-important woman. And it’s absolutely worth watching. In fact, you can’t seem to keep yourself from watching one episode after another once you get started. I think that’s what you call hooked. They should tag their shows with this variation of the Lay’s potato chips slogan: You can’t watch just one. Except I kinda think that might be called copyright infringement.

While I love the concept, what I’m impressed with the most is that they found a way to make something short and simple memorable. And they’re really committed to it – they’re now in their 2nd season.

So if you can’t write a lot, write a little. A little bit goes a long way. Look at what it’s done for Twitter.

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Click here to find out more about Real Life with Married People.

While I may manage to sit down and write more than twice a year, I still wouldn’t say that I am Pulitzer ready.  There are too many long stretches where I don’t write daily, much less weekly. Too much daydreaming about the writing life, but dreading the process. It’s like envisioning your wedding, but feeling anxious about dating.

So, why don’t I feel like coming home to my writing everyday? Yes, this is a ridiculous sounding question – that, funny enough, deserves pondering.

While my topic may seem very self-indulgent (as most blogs are), truth is I’m describing a fundamental dilemma – the life path. We all have to find a way to do what we love and love what we do – this is key to personal fulfillment. So stop being afraid to pursue purpose – and I say this for you and me  both. We are ALL here for a reason. Let people know.

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Click here to find out more about: Writing Begins with the Breath by Larraine Herring