HOME       ABOUT       WHAT I WORE       RECIPES       FAQ       CONTACT       SPONSOR       BLOGROLL             
- Freckled Italian has moved, find me here! -

What Bold Restless Extremes Do You Carry Inside?

Wednesday, November 13, 2013


It's been a while since I picked up my copy of Old Friend from Far Away, but I've been thinking about it a lot since I moved. I guess it just took an uninspired afternoon for me to reach for it, hoping for some kind of serendipitous writing prompt to be waiting for me on whichever page I happened to open. Of course, I never like the first one, so I tried again until I came across a passage that spoke to me.

"In order to write we must have an awareness of who we are--and who we aren't. If you don't know either, writing can help teach it.

Know that writing is born from the ache of contraries, polarities in search of peace, of unity. But not the unity of making mush. You want to live in the country. Your husband is an urban boy. You compromise and both live in the suburbs. What a squash of desire and energy.

Can you instead hold the tension until something fresh and howling results? You must find your way to this when you write.

What bold restless extremes do you carry inside?"

Here are some of mine:

Coffee. Every day.

The best meals start with garlic and butter or olive oil.

I feel that there is no room in life for guilt or regret. Where do you go with either? I try to live each day well and if I make a mistake, I can say I'm sorry--fix it in some way--but then be done with it.

People deserve to be happy. Surprisingly, happiness doesn't always have room in it for everything you thought it might.

There was a time when I was insecure and unsure of myself in too many ways. It wasn't fun, and it wasn't good for me, and I'm glad that time has passed.

I want a big life full of good food and some kids and a dog and all the people I love near me more often than they're not.

When I read, write, run, pray--do whatever it is that makes me feel connected to myself and the Universe that surrounds me--I feel better. Because I am better.

I am often hard on myself and it's usually unfair.

I'm supposed to write. I just don't always know where to begin.

So, what bold restless extremes do you carry inside?

Photo credit: Winona Grey Photography

6 comments:

  1. "The best meals start with garlic and butter or olive oil." - and truer words have never been spoken. (or written. whatever.) :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Surprisingly, happiness doesn't always have room in it for everything you thought it might." Love these words!!! And really, the whole idea behind this post too. :)

    My bold restless extremes are...

    Everything must have a use and a place. If not being used, they must be in it's place.

    Flowers are beautiful, outside.

    There may be pieces of my heart everywhere and being homesick may come wherever I am. Be glad you have so many favorite people and places rather than letting the sadness ruin the time with those you have now.

    This quote helps, "Full of all things lived, memory makes all things living."

    My dream is to marry a man who loves God and people even more than I do...To have a home quietly, peacefully bustling with people who we can help to experience that love and come to know that God.

    ...and I think I've probably got a few more, but that's enough for now.

    ReplyDelete
  3. it's like you dived into my head and heart, pulled out my inner dialogue and turned it into a piece of art. thankyou Megan for a beautiful post x

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love this excerpt. It's so perfect for so much of my life right now.

    As for not knowing where to begin, I always feel that way when I sit down to write. I don't feel strongly one way or the other about Hemingway, but recently I did read a passage in A Moveable Feast that I thought was really great: "All you have to do is write one true sentence." And then go from there. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. "Something fresh and howling" - describes this perfectly. Love it! This wrote out one of my own bold and restless extremes in that it describes a view of writing that I often have a hard time expressing. It inspired my own post today.

    http://waltzinginbeauty.blogspot.com/2013/11/bold-and-restless.html

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...