Reasons & Realities 18

Reasons To Be Cheerful

     This is the holiday season and we have all made it to a new year, a bit of reflection is in order of where we were, where we are, and our hopes for where we wish to be.

When these moments of nostalgia hit me in the present me, I like to look back on my days helping people shake off their present day reality and change their focus and attention. Yes, I have never kept it a secret that I had once dedicated a great amount of my youth to the fine art of a Professional DJ. I started looking through what I have (on a hard drive) and found a classic. “Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 3” by Ian Dury And The Blockheads. (Look it up on YouTube). We had, have, and should’ve reasons to be cheerful and show that in our writing. I had written in the past about writing with emotion and with the use of music. I guess I’m down to using lyrics now. Well, I decided to get out some of my writing class exercises. Of course, I try to pick out the ones that gave me the most trouble and see how far I have come. Self-examination is something I do to give myself encouragement that I’m growing as a writer and to push myself to try to do even better. Here’s one of my least appreciated exercises. Write five things you are thankful for. Write the names of five characters. And finally, write a short paragraph using the things you are thankful for, tied each one to one of your characters, and make something funny up. What they heck, might as well start the New Year’s off with some cheer.

I’m Thankful for
1. Family
2. Friends
3. Children
4. Support from others
5. The person who is looking over me.

Five Characters
1. Jane
2. Peter
3. Ann
4. Dave
5. Toni

Story:

     I have some very special family members. Jane is the head of the family and often the butt of every joke. This is never as more prevalent when one of my best friends, Peter comes over. He always brings one of his children with him and it would seem that Ann was the unlucky one today. Just seeing her sad little face at the mention of fart jokes make me wish I was like Dave and how his very existence within a room removes your need to get support from others. However, all in all I am very thankful for my hamster Toni, the person who is looking over me and is always willing to take the blame when a fart gets away from me.

     I know this isn’t my best work, but that is the reason for the exercise. It is a way to jumpstart the left side of your brain to organize and then your right side to deal with the crap the other side had come up with. Normally if you try this once a day for a week, it helps you focus to stay on track with the storyline you are working on and at the same time make creative adjustments to build a beautiful world on both sides of the road you are traveling. Give it a try. I know you’ll hate it and love it as much as I had, have, and will have reason to be cheerful as I work to become a better left side writer and right side storyteller. Happy New Year! SD

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