‘Keep The Drama On The Page.’, says Julia Cameron in her book – The Right to Write. For those of you now familiar with Julia Cameron’s work – she is the author of the book ‘The Artist Way’, which has helped billions of people, including me unblock their creativity. When I moved to Columbus, I did her twelve-week course as outlined in the book, and it was after that I published my first book, started a dance class and, in some ways, became a lighter person. More things could flow through me.

I want to improve my art of writing and the way I approach things inside out, so I decided to start with her books. When Julia says to keep the drama on the page – she is saying that don’t let the drama keep you from writing. Your writing takes priority – and do not let drama come between you and writing.

What does she mean by drama? In the chapter, she talks about two of her close friends fighting; And how each calls her and complains about the other. And even though she plays the peacekeeper role – she is telling herself, what’s the point in all this? Just write. And that’s what she does – she puts it on paper.

I will take a slight detour in this paragraph – in Julia’s book, if you replace the word ‘write’ with Presence, Stillness, Now, Sensations or Breath etc. – it won’t make a difference. That’s why her books resonate with me so much. She talks about what matters most, and her language to express that is writing. Goenka Ji does the same thing in Vipassana, and he describes it through meditation practice. Eckhart Tolle talks about the same thing through what he calls NOW. 

Going back to drama – the chapter I read today was very apt because I have been watching the episodes from Dubai Bling. Netflix show about the uber-rich in Dubai. And there is no shortage of drama in their life – it’s like this is all the way. It took my days when drama meant a lot to me – I had so much to share with my friends about what happened. What somebody did, and you share that with others – get their response and so on—even writing that on paper tires me out. I confess that for a period in my life, that was a big part of what I did. Somewhere down the line, the desire to do that reduced. It has gone down considerably but does rear up its ugly head once in a while, which takes me to my practice, as Julia points out.

It is always easier to talk about others, find fault in others, and pass judgment on others, but it is challenging to do it to oneself. Because there is so much attachment to this wonderful Capital I. The minute I or mine is attached to anything, the rules that apply to others do not apply because you are special.

It’s time to do away with the special – everybody is special, or nobody is. What applies to others applies to you – we are all one. The distinction between the two is the source of drama.

How much drama do you have in your life? And what’s your reaction to it?