Observation: Create a Sacred Space

I am a cheater.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about writing games and exercises. One of the things I talked about is The Observation Deck by Naomi Epel. When I bought this game recently, I got hit with a bout of nostalgia because my high school creative writing teacher had this in her class. I remembered how useful it was then, and I thought it could be just as useful now. I was right. Anyway, I finally started using it. There are a few different ways to use The Observation Deck. What I did was to shuffle the cards and choose one at random. The card I got read "create a sacred space." My wife had chosen this one recently, so I already knew what it meant. But I already had a sacred space. I had a desk in my room that was just for my writing and homework. That wouldn't do. It was then that I did something I am not proud of. I cheated.

I put the card back, reshuffled, and chose a new one. Now, I'm sure most people are expecting read that I reshuffled, but amazingly I got the same card, and that I discovered the deck was trying to tell me something. I am sorry to disappoint you, but the next card I got read "follow the scent." When I read the chapter, it talked about how smells can take us back to previous times in our lives, and Ms. Epel suggested we use that as a way to remember a time when we were doing some great writing. She had other suggestions, but that's the one I went with. I felt satisfied with that card, so I kept it out. Only, I didn't write.

This was a problem. I already knew which smell to seek out. It is the smell of spiced chai tea, something I frequently drank while in my creative writing class. I did not have easy access to it, though. Then I thought I would come on here and write about the smell of chai and what it means to me as a writer, but I kept finding reasons not to. Then I started thinking about the chapter, and I came to a revelation. It was a chapter of going back in time in my mind. I remembered that the "create a sacred space" chapter had the same suggestion. I was supposed to create a space that would remind me of times when I was at the top of my writing game.

That is what I am doing now. My desk is (finally) getting cleared of clutter and my room is (finally) getting organized. And it helped. Now, instead of doing other things to distract myself from writing, I am writing and distracting myself from organizing. It's a vicious circle, but it helps. (sigh) Now I must return to cleaning. I must finish my sacred space and move on to the next card.