Definition: (noun) ~ the capacity for enchanting thought.
A good friend recommended I write more of a story in this blog post. "Something enchanting", were her exact words.
I always take notice when she offers guidance. Especially when it comes to creativity.
As the consummate creative (she's a successful photographer), her artistic instinct is always a great sounding board.
My last few blog posts have definitely leaned somewhat on the philosophical side.
Go Deep or Go Home was surely the motto on some distant (and pensive) ancestor's coat-of-arms.
As a business owner I tend to take the art of writing very seriously - probably too seriously. (Things in general can get pretty heavy inside this head of mine.)
Funny how when it comes to business we can often allow playfulness to fall by the wayside. Well, I know I do. Taking writing so seriously is obviously super beneficial to my clients, but it puts a lot of pressure on me, personally - sometimes stifling my passion.
As a creative, I allow myself much more freedom. To explore. To make mistakes.
And to be vulnerable.
The best writing advice I ever got was from an author I happened to be seated next to on a flight to London probably twenty years ago.
"Write like no one's looking over your shoulder. Like no one's watching."
Until that point, driven by perfectionism, if every sentence penned wasn't Pulitzer prize-worthy in the first go, I'd be in the jaws of anxiety and self-doubt.
Just getting words on paper is half the battle. Letting them spill and tumble in whatever direction, whichever way, is the first stage of creative release.
Even in its imperfection, that first rough draft has its own virginal beauty. The block before the David.
So now, when I sit down to write, I remind myself: No Miranda Priestly-style editor looming over my shoulder!
We should live life this way, really. Free of that inner/outer critic.
I think the last time I really lived like like no one was watching was as a kid. Now those were really enchanting times.
I remember discovering books. Way, way back the "See Jane, see Jane run" stories in all their uncomplicated simplicity.
How those tales have matured and evolved!
Like 2020's debut thriller: "See Corona, see Corona blaze".
I grew up with the Famous Five, the Magic Faraway Tree, Toad of Toad Hall, then later, Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. Escapism and enchantment at its finest.
When I discovered the art of writing the real enchantment really set in.
I would spend hours copying out my storybooks word for word, enthralled by the way words formed on paper. There was something about seeing letters take shape, then form sentences which when beautifully strung together would tell a story - that was magical.
To me a pen wasn't just a writing instrument - it was a wand.
Writing felt like freedom. Like I was part of the adventure, no, creating the adventure.
If the definition of enchantment is a feeling of great pleasure or delight, then enchantmentality is our capacity to self-generate pleasure and delight.
So many people have been in pain during these gruelling past few months. A sense of being robbed prevails. That perspective alone of course creates intense discomfort.
I believe a great gift of 2020 has been the creativity forced out of us by believing we're cornered.
When we meet the deeper hidden parts of ourselves it can be scary. Meeting ourselves fully calls for changes - and to implement these changes takes unprecedented creativity.
But beyond fear, beyond change, always lies enchantment.
We just need to learn to use our minds as wands to tap into that magic.
Reading this all back so far, there's definitely still a philosophical nuance to what I've written. But, so be it.
I can't seem to fully escape that bygone motto (albeit imagined). Guess I'm a sucker for depth and how life is shaped by our adversities.
What can you change in that head of yours today, to introduce some enchantmentality? To find some great pleasure or delight?
"Keep my dolls inside diamond boxes
Save them till I know I'm gon' drop this
Front I've built around me, oasis
Paradise is in my hand" ~ Lady Gaga
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