Dharma (n); Hinduism: 1. Essential quality or character; as of the cosmos or one’s own nature. 2. Conformity to religious law, custom, duty, or one’s own quality or character. 1
Happy New Year and welcome back to the Millerverse! Sincerely, I hope this year brings you more joy, and success, than you could possibly be prepared for! I hope your 2023 ended on a positive note, I hope your 2024 isn’t a fraction of the dumpster fire the last few years have been, and I hope you look forward to the coming year with positive expectation. If 2023 wasn’t kind, I’m sorry, and I want you to know that you have every reason, and right, to believe that 2024 will treat you with reverie.
I’m not going to drone on, or reach for my signature snark, but I wanted to start the year off with a positive offering. See, there are folks out there, possibly reading this right now, that have the tools, the ways, and the means, to be fantastic authors. If they were on that path, I wouldn’t need to address them, but that’s not the case. These scribes-in-potential may feel like they couldn’t possibly be a writer, they don’t know where to start, or don’t believe in themselves enough to even try. For this week’s blog, I wanted to put that permission, the confidence they need to start putting pen to paper, out into the Universe to find them.
A true story: I am not the best storyteller in my family, not yet. That distinction belongs to my father. Pops passed away when I was five, and I didn’t get to know him as a man, as an individual. Throughout my young life, I compared myself to his legacy, and reputation. Many years later, I came to find out that Papa was a very avid storyteller, and he was good at it too. The only difference between how Dad told stories, and how I tell stories, is the medium of choice. Papa told stories verbally, whereas I write them down. Two men, with an identical name, storytellers by nature. If you think about it, being a storyteller is my birthright—as pretentious and douchey as that sounds—and telling stories is my dharma. It’s what I am supposed to do.
If you’re someone with a story in your head, on your tongue, or in your heart, then your dharma is to tell stories. It doesn’t matter your medium, but it is on you to tell those stories. If you’re looking for a sign to be a writer, here it is, here’s your sign. If you’re looking for the Universe to tell you it’s what you’re supposed to do, the Universe has chosen my blog as the messenger. Write. Put your fingers to the keyboard, pen to paper, or even record your stories as you tell them verbally. Record your words. Create your body of work.
The Universe has seen fit to inform you, storyteller, that telling stories is your dharma.
Thank you for joining me on this trip across the Millerverse; I’ll see you next time!
1 Source: Dictionary.Com
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Songs Listened to While Writing This Blog:
- “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” – Green Day
- “Under the Bridge” – Red Hot Chili Peppers
- “Runaway Train” – Soul Asylum
- “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” – Crash Test Dummies
A.P. Miller 