Monday, April 5, 2010

Base Chakra

Ever since I know, I always wanted to be a writer. I have been writing since the time my English teacher has recognized that I had talent. She spoke to my parents and they clearly objected to it. My doting mom has always discouraged this. But the words and sentences are so explosive that I don’t get sleep until I put them on paper. So I started maintaining a journal. But sometimes mom used to read it, so I had to be discreet as possible... But Still I hated it. You would have guessed it; the career path I have chosen never had anything as remote as creative writing. At the most I was writing sales letters or project reports. But heart of hearts I want to write and the explosions are getting heavier. Let me call them Word-plosions. Now I have a strong desire than ever to be a writer. I have a nemesis that stops me from pursuing my passion. My own self doubt and fear.

Then I read about the base chakra. The base chakra is associated with Survival, self preservation and security. Self doubt, self sabotage is a major block.

The best way to rid yourself of self doubt and self sabotage is to list down your positives and negatives. Then go over the positives list and amplify your positive feelings a million times over with every item in the list. You may want to add a few more positives - please go ahead and do so.

Once you feel on top of the world, you may want to dispel the negative ones. If you still want to carry on the "feeling good" mood after going through your positive list, do take a break and get back to the negatives later. If you forget about it - then forget about it. if do you get back to the list, then you need to counter every item in that negative list.

So, here is how I did it.

My positive points.

- I am creative

- I have a fairly good command over English language.

- I have written couple of short stories and in my school I have won prizes.

- My cousins mom once chastised him - My can't you be more like him(me)

- I have written reviews and I got a lot of positive comment appreciating my style.

The set of each negative self doubts I have – I have countered them as though I am telling this to my higher self and getting back a response.

Negatives

Mom always told me that writing doesn’t always work with our family.
When has she been right about anything and what makes you sure that she is right even now? She is paranoid, that is what all moms are there for. She cannot think outside the box. Why blame her. That is how that grandfather grew her up. He raised his kids to be wimps. You are not anything like those cocksucker maternal uncles or your grandfather.

There are people who write better than me - I don’t stand a chance.
Yes, there are people who write better than you. So what are you afraid of when you don’t have anything to lose? Agreed, there are more talented people out there. But then you also have talent. It is you who won those awards for best creative fiction in your high school.

I am not cut out to be a writer.
Hey dude, wake up. What the fuck have you been doing right now? If 10% of the visitors have read this far and at least half of them even care to comment on your blog, then you are a writer, and a good one at that.

My style is a drab and lacks depth.
My plots are too shallow.

If you believe that – then you are probably right. Well, then, why the fuck don’t you improve your writing instead of feeling dejected over one small negative of yours. Write and keep writing, till you hit a perfect note. Keep rewriting till the words and sentences have a unique compilation that you will amaze yourself.
If a friend came to you with the same feeling and told you about it, you would say a lot of positive stuff to him to make him feel better. It worked because you had faith in your friend’s abilities. But you don’t have in your own?. Start believing in yourself and go write your heart out.

I don’t think I can ever produce a best-seller.

First of all, you write for yourself. Don’t worry about a best seller now. Write so, that you have amazed yourself to the extent that you would buy your own book. Write to the point of such exhaustion that you feel that you have given everything. To the point you feel you have given your best. The Bestselling factor is sure to follow. History repeats and surely it is a silent witness. There are the best writer whose works gave been rejected by many publishers. Those who rejected have lets fortunes pass them by because the ones who did publish the book, published a best seller.

After doing this I felt so much better, I started working on my first book and I am somewhere half way. My “word-plosions” are so strong that I had to write this down and post this in this blog. If this worked for me, I am sure this works for you. This doesn’t necessarily have to do with writing; it could be for anything else. Self doubts are like slow poison. It starts small but then disables you into oblivion. So if you have a negative thought counter it right then and there. So your subconscious knows that you are in tune with the positive energy.