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Some of us have an aversion to 'naming' things because we know the weight and impact words can have on the soul when they are weaponized. Things can certainly go awry when we misname. Death and life are in the tongue... indeed, in the naming.
The art of naming offers up the truth as a holy liturgy. This is especially important to counter the culture of words that vandalize and vilify. By its very nature, naming affirms our inherent image-bearing dignity—"...and whatever the man called each living creature that was its name" - Genesis 2:19.
Have you yet to name yourself as a writer—a writing soul? If you haven't, why not? Listen to me well if you have not—there's a deepening discovery of embodying a wholeness approach to your sacred humanity in your being and in your doing as a writer, whether you’re:
blogging, book-writing, byline-aspiring, poetry writing, or free-styling in your notebook for fun.
The art of naming acknowledges how closely we pay attention to how a thing or a person connects deeply with the truest part of something or someone. An editor once said, "In literature as in life, to call someone by name is to acknowledge that they are a unique individual with a sacred history and an unfolding story." Every writing soul has an unfolding story, and it matters what stories we believe and retell ourselves and others.
The art of naming is part of honest storytelling, it is not the same as labeling. Labels are creatively and imaginatively bankrupt.
The art of naming is an act of resistance in a culture of labels and stereotypes that strip us of our belonging.
Labels are blind and are reaction-oriented, where names dare to see and are compassionate-oriented. Labels are what we do when we are lazy and comfortable with the status quo. Labels are dismissive. Labels incentivize disconnected hearts to use words that deform and distance.
The art of naming is a holy image-bearing audacity that salutes the inherent dignity and worth in our shared humanity.
So have you yet to name yourself as a writer—a writing soul? If you haven't, why not?
Sis, we talk about writing as truth-telling—are you telling the truth about yourself as a writing soul? I know from my writing journey, that it’s more than my personal recognition. Writing not only gives us the ability to name our writing realities, but it also invites us to belong to each other as writers who have named themselves as such.
The art of naming is related to belonging. When we dare to name ourselves as writers, we own what it means to be a writer...
You are a writer if you hold yourself accountable for documenting, witnessing, journaling, educating, and opening up others to their freedom, imagination, growth and healing.
Ultimately, you are a soul who writes.
Your writing is not always for the public gaze, sometimes it is the intimate, deep work and rest that you privately sort through that admits you have walked through, crawled under and seen some things that will create and embolden your movement in the world, the unique embodiment of your freedom.
So have you yet to name yourself as a writer—a writing soul? If you haven't, why not? It's time to courageously own what it means to be a writing soul. Let's daily align with Miriam's (Mary's) belief in the Incarnation in our incarnate living, naming and writing—"May it be to me as You have said."
No, an audience doesn't make you a writer, nor does a published book—writing makes you a writer (periodt!).
P.S. It is a more holistic and sustainable approach to allow your unhurried growth in the craft and soul of what you do as a writer. Thankfully, it's not about an arrival as writing souls—it's about the soul care narrative journey, SOULjourner.
On The Mohawkmomma Soul Podcast
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Scribble. Speak. From your soul.
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