Why I write

"I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all." Laura Ingalls Wilder

I've always been attracted to the idea that we can find the greatest pleasure from simple things. The taste of freshly baked bread spread with thick yellow butter. Sunlight shining through a blade of grass. Jasmine aromatherapy oil dropped into the bath and filling the room with flowers. A child singing their own made-up song to themselves as their mother drags them along the pavement. These are the kinds of things that make me happy.

My life is a continual process of 'weeding out' the things that give me an empty, hollow kind of pleasure - a pleasure that fades too fast and leaves me craving more. Empty pleasures are gulping down too many pieces of chocolate cake, or spending money I don't really have on something I don't really need. It's not that I'm anti-cake or anti-spending - if I'm in the right state of mind then savouring every mouthful of a slice of lemon cake or carefully choosing a pair of sparkly earrings can be intensely nourishing.

The difference between empty and nourishing pleasure seems to be the quality of attention that I pay to myself and to the world. If I pay proper attention to my craving for cake, I might work out that I actually need a hug, or to be angry at someone. Or I might discover that I just really want some cake. This 'tuning in' (or 'being curious') is, for me, a necessary precursor to enjoying the sweet, simple things in life.

Whilst writing this piece, I rediscovered this quote by Natalie Goldberg.

"That is what Zen is about. To have an intimate connection with the world and on top of it to know about its passing. Of course there is sadness. But how sweet. And at the heart of it, what bravery. We know about impermanence, but it does not drive us into a hole. We dare in the face of it to stand up and become intimate and not just with human beings, which is hard enough, but also with the sky, water, chairs, cows and sidewalks.

Is this not the way of the writer?

The sad thing I that the knowledge of impermanence is often not enough for human beings. We have to hit ourselves over the head."

Writing is my way of hitting myself over the head. In order to write, I need to stop and look around and let the world seep into me. Writing my daily blog at www.asmallstone.com is especially helpful to me. At least once a day I'm asking myself to really taste the world - not by opening my mouth so wide that forests and cities fall in, but by placing a tiny wild strawberry on the tip of my tongue and shutting my eyes.

Tiny wild strawberry. Say it out loud. I love words. This is my second reason for writing.

I hope these words might be helpful to you. I suppose we're all on our own when it comes to finding our way in the world, but other people's words can help to nudge us back onto our path. This is my third reason for being a writer.