Follow your
instincts we are told. But is this good advice?
Instinct
helps us to decide what's right and wrong. It can help us
plan a course of action that sits well with our
conscience or life-view. We can do great things following
our instincts.
But our
instincts can be wrong. We all know of examples when,
sometimes, our instincts encourage us to undermine or to
hurt other people out of a misguided sense of justice or
perhaps even revenge. Not good.
Intuition
is different, a more nebulous phenomenon. It is often a
less than rational feeling whereby you're convinced
something is the case, or more especially will be the
case based on nothing more than a hunch.
Recently I
experienced an odd sense of foreboding. I was getting
into my car and I just knew something bad was going to
happen. I just knew. I ignored the feeling. Twenty
minutes later I was involved in a four car crash in rush
hour traffic - thankfully no-one was hurt.
But I
remembered that my intuition was somehow 'in touch' with
a future event - and had tried to warn me.
Some time
later, I had that feeling again - again, just as I was
getting into my car. This time, because I had the kids
with me, I went back indoors. The following day there was
news on the radio of a major train wreck that had
occurred on the very stretch of road I was planning to
ride down! Now that was spooky.
Then, last
week, something really weird happened.
There was
an ad on TV featuring a guy stood in a doorway - a stone
arch with distinctive lettering above it. When I saw it I
thought to myself - I wonder where that is? Just out of
idle curiosity.
The next
day I took my sons out for the day. I was planning to
take them to the zoo but Alastair said he wanted to go on
a Treasure Hunt he'd been told about, so we did that
instead. After, we were ambling through some back streets
when Oscar, the youngest at 16 months, spotted a pile of
sand. Like kids do, he made straight for it. I could have
called him back but I thought, well, what's the harm?
As we
reached the sand I looked to my left down a side street -
and guess what I saw? Yep, the very doorway I'd seen in
the ad!
What are
the odds of that? What kind of fate, destiny,
happenstance - whatever you want to call it - led me to
that doorway? Had my idle curiosity sent out a message to
the Universe? One that was answered?
The older I
get the more I am impressed with the idea that, through
some as-yet-not-fully-understood higher mechanism, we
create the world we live in on a day to day basis.
Scott
Adams, in his book 'Dilbert Futures', talks about the
possibility that imagining future outcomes might in some
way create them. Now, even assuming you think this is a
ridiculous idea - what would you do if it were true? What
would you think about? What would you plan?
How would
you approach your writing?
In my books
and courses I talk about the need to believe that
something is possible before you can make it happen. Like
writing a novel or an ebook - you can't do it unless
you're convinced you are capable of it, before you start.
Creation begins with an act of faith - in yourself and in
what you are trying to do.
Writing is
an act of creation.
When you
plan to write a piece, a short story, a novel, an ebook,
whatever, you need to see (or predict) its affect - you
need to see how it will be received by your friends, your
family, indeed, by all people around the world.
But not in
a negative sense. Too many writers ask me about the down
side of publishing the truth as they see it. They want to
write contentious material that, sure enough, when
completed, results in bad karma. A self fulfilling
prophecy, if you like.
No, you
need to see the benefit and the joy or comfort your
writing will bring after its completion. Even if you're
just writing for entertainment or to impart information.
Listen to
your intuition. If you know something is good and right
and should be out there, keep working on it, even when
your instincts might be telling you otherwise.
I think the
trick to a healthy and productive writing life is
planning. That, and consciously visualizing the results
of your writing. And, of course, faith.
I'm often
surprised how many successful authors I meet who just
knew, deep down, they were going to make it.
And how
many unsuccessful people who just 'know' they're not
worthy.
To me,
there's something almost magical about attitude - that
somehow, given the correct motives and enthusiasm, the
Universe can reward us by actively conspiring to give us
the things we desire, imagine and deserve.
