In Public; In Service

On most days I write thousands of words, yet publish precious few of them.

When it comes time to share, a familiar voice pops up in my head and reminds me of all of the reasons why “I can’t” publish.

This voice: what Buddhists might call “Monkey Mind” and Julia Cameron would call the “Inner Critic” is universal. Its projections are common to anyone who creates: regardless of discipline, skill, or practiced experience ignoring it.

The Inner Critic is a protective mechanism. It says that if we open ourselves up to external criticism, we might receive similar negativity back from others as we create in ourselves. And so we leave our wisdom in drafts: unpublished essays, unfinished paintings, unreleased music.

Here’s the rub: I orient everything I do in service of my community. By sharing my work I hope to offer lenses & tools that people can apply to their lives & work.

The common voice of “I can’t, because…” is so frustrating because it holds us back from offering that which is inside us: not for our own vanity & metrics, but for all of the people who would seek to benefit from it.

Monkey Mind is a universal experience in all who create, and yet it is a voice that we can gently tame to a quiet whisper through repeated action.

For the next 30 days, my repeated action is to publish: raw, imperfect & consistently, in the hope that it might inspire others to do the same.