He is really adept at moving fast. Having that
still-young, quick mind, he is able to dodge a fiery arrow, to work under time
pressures, to nimbly craft his written work.
We have practiced, ad nauseam, the keep-your-hand-moving-pen-across-the-page-unedited
free-write designed to loose the creative muse who lives in his heart. We have
practiced setting false deadlines to urge him toward the finish line a bit
sooner. We have seen that he can navigate his dreams and shadows.
But there are small sacrifices here and there. He
can quickly determine what went astray – a forgotten comma, a misplaced
consonant, a neglected source, a subject-verb mismatch. These pile up into heaps
and bury him, smother his self-esteem, decay his deep-seated knowledge that he
is destined for greater things.
So today we tried something new. We tried slowing
down.
What would it look like to take your time? How would it feel to think
twice, or thrice, about a word choice? How much would you feel you lost if you
crafted questions where you once placed convenient repetition as filler? Where
might you end up if – instead of turning to the screen with the handy online
thesaurus - you turned your focus inward to the knowledge that lives below the
surface?
I watched. In silence and in awe.
This…young…man…slowed…down. He looked like a poet or a philosopher. Or a “real
writer.” His hands sometimes paused, implement lying gently across his
knuckles. We giggled together when, mid-thought and in an effort to extract
more eraser nub, the thin leads slid from inside the pencil and splayed
themselves across his page. There were moments where he sat back and let his
arms go slack as his heart picked up the next thread.
For he was
engaged with his heart: he chose a writing topic that underlines his days
with inquiries and concerns, and laces his dreams with values-laden storylines.
He lives this issue every day of his life: the extremes so sharp it does take a
community to raise him up to manhood.
And he got to all this because he allowed himself to
slow down. To take his time. To face what he did not know, to declare
unabashedly what he does understand. To pause and bear witness to a wiser part
of himself.
All blog images created & photographed by Jennifer J. Wilhoit unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: "©2015 JenniferJWilhoit/TEALarbor stories. AllRightsReserved."
