neuroscience — blog — Anne Benvenuti

My Writing Life

I read Annie Dillard's The Writing Life many years ago and was so impressed with how she nailed it, "A writer is someone who writes." So simple, so elemental. Tap the keyboard, or put pen to paper, and—voila!—you are a writer. It's truly the definitive thing. But did she mention what it takes to get to your desk? Or mention that, after you have written, and you’ve read, and you’ve written again, you have to read and write some more. It’s such a. . . process.

First, you need time and space for writing, however you make it or find it.

critical thinking, human-animal relationsAnne BenvenutiJune 17, 2012process of writing, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, dissertation, The Writing LifeComment

John Muir Trail Talk. . . Feeling the Body

One thing that had the capacity to consistently pierce the veil of rumination was my body, and my body’s constant voice in the production of emotion. The evidence, especially the neuroscientific evidence, is that emotion is primary and body-based, and mostly unconscious by nature. Of course as we develop, our emotions, like almost everything else about us, are formed into habits and associated with stories; unfortunately they tend to remain unconscious, wreaking havoc with our intentions for our lives. My body spoke out there in the wilds, and so did my emotions.

Anne BenvenutiDecember 3, 2010John Muir Trail, neuroscience, ecospirituality, body awareness, Big Agnes, Grandma GwenComment