I grew up in an era/school system that used “sentences” as the first line of punishment in school. Little offenders were given a sentence describing what they did wrong (ex: I will not talk while my teacher is talking.) and a number of times they had to write that sentence (either as homework or when they were made to stay after school).

As an adult, looking back on that seemingly innocuous punishment (soooo much better than “the paddle”) I wish they’d assigned something more positive to run through children’s heads (ex: I will share my energy and ideas in more constructive ways). I didn’t have to write sentences more than a few times, but I can attest those words sink deep into your psyche and become your mantra.

I’m still struggling to get my creative groove back. So, while I wait to reboot, I’ve assigned myself a daily ritual of writing sentences that inspire or speak to me in some way. Like keeping fresh flowers and lit candles in my periphery, I hope penning something positive, over and over, might leave less room in my brain for the negative self-talk I have perfected into an art form.

I will write each assignment over and over until I have internalized it, committing it to memory. This writing of Rumi’s is my first assignment.

Keep walking, though there’s no place to get to.

Don’t try to see through the distances.

That’s not for human beings.

Move within, but don’t move the way fear makes you move.

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened.

Don’t open the door to the study and being reading.

Take down the musical instrument.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.

There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

– Rumi