Everyday Writing: On Perseverance

June 4, 2009 at 7:48 am | Category: blog

My writer friend Jenn and I are following a sixty day program from one of John Demartini’s books.  Today is Day 19: the Law of Perseverance.  As has been the case almost daily (I am so predictable.) when I glanced at today’s chapter heading, I thought, ‘oh, I know what perseverance is: hard work.’ 

But as I read Demartini’s upbeat account of how he regards perseverance, I realized my definition had a negative slant.  My definition of perseverance ran along the lines of ‘fighting the good fight.’  Or the bad fight.  Fight, fight, fight.  Why did I view it as a struggle?

Again – as has been the case almost daily (I hate being predictable.) when I completed the chapter’s reflection exercise I made an important distinction.  Somewhere along the way, probably while telling myself I was multi-tasking – ha ha ha – I tried to make perseverance a two-step procedure: a process and a conclusion.  No wonder it’s a struggle. 

Perseverance is not about judgment.  Perseverance is simply forward motion.  It’s action, not analysis.  Action and analysis cannot simultaneously co-exist.  They are sequential events. You act, then – later! – you assess.  And if necessary, you take modified action.  

My failure to remember this in my everyday writing trips me up.  Drafting and editing cannot co-exist.  If I form a sentence in my head and then immediately question its appropriateness, it takes for-freaking-ever to draft a paragraph.  It’s no better if I write the sentence, then stop and edit it.  Forward motion ceases when I analyze.

My big take away?  Perseverance is action.  Perseverance is flow uninterrupted.  All acts have beginnings and endings.  Creation is no exception.  Only after the act of perseverance has ended do I begin another action.  The editing/analyzing/trashing is simply another action.  Which likewise has an eventual ending.  Then it’s on to a new beginning.  A new action.  When I look at it this way, persevering is inherently more joyful.  

Your turn.  Go.  Create joyfully.