M is for Mantra

My mantra is: This is the way it is. Radical acceptance. Not an easy stance. This is the way it is. This is the way it is.
The coffee table is covered in graphic novels. The dinner table is covered in crumbs. The kitchen is half-clean and the windows are dirty. This is the way it is. My exercise buddy is gone for two weeks and I am having constant conversations in my head about whether or not I’m going to class. This is the way it is. I remind myself not to have the conversation. (See “H is for Habit.”) On Friday, I go to class: this is the way it is. But my mantra asks me to accept my resistance, born of exhaustion from a non-stop month. This is the way it is. If I am going to look without averting my eyes (See “L is for Look”) I have to be willing to see. In order to record actual or imagined events and make them true, I have to accept. Likewise, in order to martial my energies for creativity, I cannot expend them all reimagining small aspects of daily life, of family members, of job. This is the way it is. Now on with what matters, what I can actually effect, which includes writing when I say I’ll write. This is the way it is.

A Practical Alphabet for Writers: Find all the letters so far at https://bookwritingworld.com/blogs/