‘Natural genius’

Day 16

On the Friday Writers Oasis call, Jennifer Louden described “natural genius” as akin to “puppy-like optimism,” what you are doing when “life flows most easily through you.” That is your natural genius.

It was the perfect question, because I knew the answer immediately. Rather, I felt it in my body. It’s when I am in the midst of writers writing – or writers exchanging ideas about writing – and even more specifically, prison writers writing and learning and sharing around writing. There’s joy as I am privileged to witness the aha moments, when writers discover (or rediscover) their “enoughness,” as Jen calls it, which builds their confidence as writers.

Writing has always been for me a tool for self-discovery as well as a means to connect others and connect with others. Providing radical hospitality and holding a space for that to happen – where people are welcome, just as they are – is when I feel the most delight, the most “at home” in myself.

“In what ways do you mess with that flow?” Jen asked as one of her writing prompts on the call. I knew the answer to this one immediately, too. It’s by questioning, by doubting.

“Is this really it?” I think to myself. “Is it enough?”

This is it, and it is enough. I know it intuitively; I even know it physically. But still I question, not trusting this simple truth. As though something simple cannot possibly be enough.

But this time, in the stillness of listening to Jen’s voice, I felt my truth in a way I never have before: in my gut, my heart, my bones; in my soul.

The question is: Will this inner knowing make a difference in how I now move forward as a human being and a “human doing” in the world? How can I hone this natural genius – believe it, trust it, prioritize it?

This is what’s on my mind today.