MindWind

I started writing this without a title because I didn’t want it to have a specific form. I believe that when you give a title to something before you begin, you add constraints to it. When you add constraints to something it limits the free-flow of creativity. This may be a good thing when it comes to academic articles, but for a blog such as mine, it is just a hindrance.

When I don’t have a title I am free to talk about whatever that comes to my mind without focusing on a specific thing. If you’ve read my other articles you know how my mind is, it is always full of the most random of thoughts. It would appear that I have nothing specific to talk about today, but I thought I should write something because I haven’t written much in a very long time.

I came across a “HI!” magazine a month or so ago, which had an article about a Sri Lankan artist, Rudrani Devi Das, who was interviewed at length with her paintings in display. Normally I skim over these sort of articles but something made me look a little deeper into this one. I was happy to see that the interview revolved around her art and the creative process she follows. As a writer who was once passionate about his writing and now going through a serious phase of writing block (it’s been over eight months since I wrote something), I was grateful to see her address this issue.

Her method was to “work through the darkness” of the block until she emerged on the other side, using the darkness itself to learn and become inspired for her work. This is something I had not thought of before. Whenever I hit a block, I tend to hibernate until it passes away or until something hugely inspiring happened.

Funnily enough, inspiring things did happen in the past few months, but I was not motivated to write about it. I think this was because I was quite busy working on the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which made me clock a lot of hours working and next to nothing on sleep. I was seriously mentally out of balance after this event, and very unfit in a physical sense as well. Some tragedies and difficult times in my personal life only added to the darkness.

I think things are getting better now. The fact that I am making a conscious effort to start writing again is a testament to it I believe. I think I’ve been repressing my expressive self for awhile because of ego. In this sense I meant the fear of being judged by others. The bigger ones ego the more afraid one is.

Usually this is the part in the post where I make a resolution to write more, like once a week. But this time I am not making such promises. I am merely going to let my expressive self express itself, and ignore my fearful ego as much as I can.

Looks like I decided on a title after all: “Hello 2014”.

May this new year bring peace and happiness to you all.

~ by Prageeth Thoradeniya on January 17, 2014.

Posted in Announcements, Philosophy, Ramblings, Review, Unclassified
Tags: 2014, Art, CHOGM 2013, creativity, Darkness, ego, fear, New Year, Rudrani Devi Das, Sadness, Writer's Block, writing