Pleasure verses meaning

Philosophers may take me to task on several of my armature assertions here, but allow me to be inexact for the sake of a blog post. This blog is to help scholars write and thrive, not to debate the intricacies (however important) of key concepts to philosophical thought.

So, with that caveat....

Throughout the ages, philosophers and others have debated about what makes a life worth living: meaning or pleasure.

If if we are speaking of pleasure, do we speak of hedonistic pleasures, such as eating or sex, or pleasures of a different sort.

Writing is not very satisfying, from a sensory or sensual perspective. We take in nothing and experience very little physically, other than perhaps tightness and discomfort.

Yet, the potential deep joy that we can feel, or meaning can be profound.

Consider how to make writing a source of meaning in your life, even when it cannot be a source of pleasure. It can be for many, but to believe that writing must always, or ever, be extremely pleasurable may contribute to some people's resistance to it.

Post Thanksgiving Challenge

Last year, I wrote a Post-Thanksgiving challenge that still feels right (write). Check it out. Do it!

Thank you

I have spent three or four hours writing a Thanksgiving blog post. However, there are times when a few simple words really convey what we wish to share. And this is it today....

Thanks to all those who have touched my heart this year, and even more, to those who have let me touch theirs.

Exercise: Thinking Back Upon "Amy Week"

One of the key principles of psychosocial education is that processing what we read is an essential part of learning. Over the last two weeks, I explored several topics for "Amy week". Read over the posts again, and do some reflective writing about how you can apply some of the lessons to your own work and life.

Bringing your right (write) eyes

"Nowhere is magical unless you bring the right eyes to it." Pico Iyer.

Those of you who have read my blog will no doubt not be surprised that I appreciate the above quote. This sentiment can be found within many spiritual traditions and systems of psychotherapeutic change. The universe exists as it exists, and it inherently neither good or bad, but is. We bring our own evaluations to it, or as I explore throughout this blog, or own capacity for either seeing the wonder in it or having existence clouded by our own psychosocial "gunk."

Over the last six months, I have had my willingness to practice what I preach tested. A divorce that I did not plan for, and my daughter leaving the country for a gap year have changed my world in ways I had no anticipated. The very structure of my life, heading toward my fiftieth year, was rocked.

The discourse(s) in my head reflect this change, and are characterized by an essential "awfulness" about this transition. And while my loss is real and my grief is simply grief, it has been important to place this within the context of other fundamental truths.

For example, I am now afforded the opportunity to reinvent myself in a way that I would not otherwise have. I am afforded the opportunity for sinking into myself in a new way, and have opened up a new space in which to be of service to others. I can engage the world in a new way, from a new place- a new me.

What do you need to bring your right eyes to? How do your "wrong eyes" impact your writing, your capacity to write, your scholarship? Consider what you need to do to bring your right (write) eyes to your life.

Amy "Week"-Encouraging Graduate Student Writing and Research

Amy week has gone on for a a bit longer than I thought it would. Part of that was due to the richness of Amy's questions- a couple I explored more than once. Dealing with a flood in my home, fodder for some future posts, I am sure, was also part of it. 

So, without further delay, Amy's last issue: How to work effectively with graduate students to continue writing and research.

I love this question, and really, I could approach it in a bunch of different ways. The most seemingly flip, yet most honest, is that it depends on the actual issues that are stopping the graduate student from writing. The reasons why graduate students do not write and publish are as diverse as those that inhibit faculty. If there was one reason, I would not be approaching 500 posts, and would not have a coaching practice. Really, from my experience, few graduate schools really teach method of writing and writing productivity; we erroneously assume that if you have made it this far, must have mastered such pedestrian skills.

Just like we assume all faculty have these skills, right?

Ummmm.

Now, if my premise here is true, than there is one main answer to Amy's querry: Faculty must really understand writing productivity.

Sadly, the vast majority do not. 

Some of the big issues: Evidence based approaches to writing a lot, The use of calendars; Writing rituals; The mode of academic writing (free writing, focused free writing, analytical writing, administrative writing, and editing), The magic paragraph and its relationship to the architecture of an article, and of course, the various psychosocial barriers to writing and productivity that I frequently explore in my blog. There are so many tools.

The best thing you can do for your own career as a scholar is to really master these and other methods. The best thing you can do to help others write and publish is to really understand what blocks people, and understand the tools that help people over come their barriers, and how to help them maximize their strengths. 

Of course, you can have your graduate students (or yourself), attend my Eight Week Online Workshop on writing and publishing! I promise you after that, you will have the skills you need to empower students to write, publish and thrive. (shameless plug over, sorry).

No easy platitudes are going to really do the trick here; there are so many issues.

Finally, thanks Amy for all the great topics. Feel free to keep them coming!

Some Flooding, Will Post Soon!

Groundwater saturation has been taking up some of my time (read, flooding in what was once a very dry and finished basement!), so I will be posting again soon.