As I sit to write this morning I’m reminded of just how difficult it can be to cultivate and follow our own creative impulse. We may feel who we are isn’t enough and it can be a daunting task to listen to that shape-shifting inner voice if we aren’t compassionate or quiet enough. I’m reminded of all this because I came across Hannelore Hahn again. She is the founder of the International Women’s Writing Guild. I’ve been a member since interviewing her for an article I wrote about the IWWG when they came to Fairfield Iowa to hold a workshop many years ago. I resonate with her mission to bring each woman’s unique voice to the surface and to create a place where everyone can have an equal say. It’s a long and complicated dance we do with our authentic voice and our success depends on how closely we listen and whether we take the time to translate these words from the depths. Not only is this my own story, it’s everyone’s story.
Hannelore’s personal and creative journey began at a time when there was no real place for women’s voices, they weren’t heard, respected, or cultivated. She started this in the 70’s right around the time of the women’s movement, a time when women were just beginning to think they had something to say that needed to be heard. The IWWG was a safe place to nurture and grow those voices. The power and beauty of Hannelore’s vision amazes me, nurturing all that’s unspoken so it can come to life. This is what we all live everyday to one degree or another, bringing to the surface what has long been buried, and giving our authentic voice the recognition it desires. This guild was her voice, her creative baby, an outward vehicle for her inner dreams.
Recently it was stolen from her. No doubt by some well-meaning, yet misdirected woman who couldn’t find her own voice and decided to steal another’s. If you know anything about mysticism or physics, karma and the first law of thermodynamics will come around to pay them back, no doubt in some ironic twist of fate. But stealing someone else’s ideas doesn’t do anything for our own authentic voice. In fact it kills it. Creativity and the creative impulse is unlimited. The truth that’s hard to see is that we already have everything we need inside of us. It’s only waiting for us to tap into it, it isn’t necessary to steal anyone else’s. We just need to dig, and have enough courage to walk into our own fire, or to plumb the darkened depths and retrieve our own words, thoughts, and ideas. Stealing from another merely keeps our own authentic voice buried deep inside still believing it’s not good enough to be heard. We have to trust our own voice, believing that the unique thread we offer to the larger tapestry is not only worthy but necessary. It absolutely is. But before we can share we have to believe.
Being a copy will always be a disappointment. There’s no true fulfillment in imitation. The only way we reclaim our authentic voice is by using it. We do the work, and that lets our illusive inner voice that wants to be heard come to the surface.
The original you is always more than enough.
kb
