Lifting Off the Page

Quote of the Day: “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” -- Howard Thurman

Lifting Off!

I have been writing and journaling for years. I have notebooks and gift journals and hand-made journals and journals with special themes. I write on the page with pencil or pens in a multitude of colors. I e-journal to my friends. I write articles for magazines, and plays that kids perform. Now, it’s time to launch my writing Off the Page and join the writers on the world wide web. Writing is something that makes me come alive, and sharing that writing gives it life. As it ripples out and back, new life is breathed into me.

I love playing off the page when I write and direct dramas with children. We come together, unscripted, develop a theme, choose our characters, act out our parts, and perform. We work as a team to tell the story and to give it life.

I love playing off the page at the piano. The written music is really just lines and dots on a page, black and white marks that mean nothing if you don’t know their meaning. The musician looks at those marks, interprets their meaning, and plays or sings melodies and harmonies and chords that strike an emotional response in the performer and the listeners. I teach children how to interpret those lines and dots and help them discover the joy of the song, and their musical world comes to life.

I love playing off the page with words and ideas and journaling topics. I like making things and teaching others how to make things and discover what they’re good at. I love the sharing of ideas in mom groups and casual conversations, and deep meaningful sharing over a cup of coffee.

I have this vision of climbing into the basket attached to a hot air balloon. What fills it is the air of my life, all my experiences, my hopes, my dreams, my great expectations, my creative spirit that longs to soar to new heights. A few sandbags are still attached, but as I cut away that extra weight, I feel lighter and free to move onward and upward. What will I see when I gain this new perspective? Will I see the patterns of my life below me? And, where will this big balloon take me?

God only knows…