I’ve discovered audiobooks. Well, I’ve known about audiobooks for quite some time but it’s only recently that I’ve taken to listening to audiobooks.
Audiobooks
Luckily, I have a job now that I can listen to podcasts, music, and audiobooks while I work. I am so grateful. Beyond grateful.
The other day I finished Big Magic – Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert. I LOVE ELIZABETH GILBERT and her writing.
Sidenote – I refused to read Eat, Pray, Love when it first came out and when it was all the rage. That is, until I saw a preview of the movie and that’s when I thought, “OH, I didn’t know THAT’s what the book was supposed to be about!” So of course I ran off immediately to buy the book and could not put it down.
I listened to Big Magic on audio in just one day! In it, Elizabeth tells us she believes that there is another, separate, world or realm where inspiration lives and from where it constantly tries to communicate with all of us. I had never thought about it that way before but she convinced me to believe the same thing.
And it is amazing what has happened just a little more than 24-hours ago; finishing the book, taking a walk, and during that walk made a nod to the universe and stated out loud, “I am listening.”
Until now, it has been a long time when I thought about writing anything – other than the occasional blog post, once in a great while, and the blog posts usually being silly at that.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE BLOGGING. Or I love the thought of blogging or the practice of blogging or I love that fact that I COULD write something quickly and hit publish and it go swooshing off into the interwebs quickly, without needing approval from an editor or whatever else.
BUT, I don’t think I’ve ever taken it very seriously. I have not even tried in the slightest to put anything out there with substance. I have either been too scared or I tried to force something out of nothing. So I turned away from anything creative. For a long time. It wasn’t on purpose, I don’t think, it just happened.
After taking that walk last night, after quietly releasing the words, “I am listening” out into the cosmos, I woke up this morning with inspiration.
Weird, right? Well I am not taking any chances. I’m going with it, the idea, the inspiration. It may be small but it feels right. And here it is,
What Brings Me Joy?
I have so much going through my head right now that I don’t even know what to type next.
Perhaps I should start with politics. Or what I mean is how I finally turned it all off. Gah, is anyone else sick of it all? And I do mean ALL OF IT? I am. I can’t listen or watch any of it, anymore. The last thing I listened to was the second debate.
And the times that I have turned on the media during the day, on television, I have to turn it off or changed the channel within minutes. It is also why I have turned to listening to podcasts and audiobooks.
But when I am not at work and I do have access to the television, I will now watch HGTV or Food Network or some sitcom series from the 70s/80s. Or better yet, a MOVIE!
Having turned off the news finally, or at least limiting myself to the news extremely, I have discovered how I used to be happy and experienced joy.
Man, I feel I have been a bitter angry person for a long time. Or I’ve taken things way too seriously for way too long.
And maybe it’s simply just me aging, getting older and mellower. I don’t know but I like this discovery and so I want to pursue it more and share on my blog what brings me joy – and especially as I discover what that may be as we go along.
I know I said I wasn’t going to have plan going into #BlogLikeCrazy but when inspiration strikes these days I am not going to ignore it anymore. The inspiration is find something every day that brings me joy and sharing it with you for #BlogLikeCrazy in November.
Now, I already have two blog posts already scheduled for the first two days in November and I am going to leave them as scheduled, for sake of transparency. I wrote those two blog posts before listening to Big Magic.
I am now listening to She Made Me Laugh – My Friend Nora Ephron by Richard Cohen. And it is quite revealing. For instance, he talks about Nora as he knew her as a friend and human being – like how she could get mad and yell at people.
What?
I found the tarnish on one of my writing and creative icons. Which made her even more endearing I suppose. It made her human, with faults. It just made me feel okay about everything for some reason.
Listening to the book also has made me want to get back to creating for myself. Writing, blogging, podcasting, whatever. It made me feel okay about all of it, and feeling okay is good. Feeling okay is one of the things that bring me joy nowadays.
I am okay. I am finding the joy.
Find out more about Carol Marks, the blogger.
