Originality

Posted on by Wynne Leon

Last week, my dear colleague, Vicki and I were talking about how in an uncanny way a post of hers that she written, but hadn’t yet published, dovetailed with something I’d just recorded in the podcast with Deirdre. It was something that could be interpreted as a beautiful moment of synchronicity but when it happens to me, makes me question my originality.

There are moments when my practice to make sure I’m giving credit where credit is due bleeds into defensiveness – as in “I’d already written this piece before I saw someone else cover the same territory, what if it’s seen as _____________.” Fill in the blank of reductive, a cheap knock-off, copy cat.

On the other hand, I’m going out on a limb and just guessing here because I haven’t done the work to prove the point, but I bet that nothing I write about hasn’t been written about before.  Sometimes I write something and wonder if I’VE already written the same thing and I’m just repeating myself. So what does that mean for why I bother and my originality?

There is all sorts of wisdom for how many times we have to hear something or say things to be heard. One of my favorites is from Mark Nepo – we have to say things three times: once for each ear and once for the heart. The other that comes to mind is that for everything negative thing we hear about ourselves we need five positive things to counter it (I’ve heard this a lot of different ways so I had to look up the number and this Harvard Business Review article The Ideal Praise-to-Criticism Ratio gave me the number five).

If that ratio extends in any part to the news, we need thousands of articles about being present, creative, authentic, vulnerable, hopeful, and joyful to counter the real sadness of this world so that we can move forward in balance. Which comes full-circle for me in the need for this WordPress Community of Lifestyle bloggers to publish as many of the kind, fun, and inspirational posts as they can.

I happily spend a lot of time trying to find the attribution when I know someone has sparked a thought for me. Last week when after a while of looking, I couldn’t find a mantra Ally had mentioned on The Spectacled Bean (amazing blog for anyone that isn’t already a subscriber, if there is anyone), I rewrote a piece.

But for the moments when I write something and then find that is similar to what someone else writes, thinks, comments, I try to remember that we are a community that is inspiring each other and often reading some of the same sources. Unintentionally echoing a similar note to someone else just means I’m in good company.

Which I know is true.

Please visit my personal blog at https://wynneleon.wordpress.com I also post on Wednesdays at the Wise & Shine blog. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter @wynneleon

(featured photo from Pexels)

36 thoughts on “Originality”

  1. Don’t worry, Wynne. You remain worth reading, and the self-preoccupation of most of the world will quickly dispose of most of what you find troublesome in your writing, as it will for the rest of us. That is the good and bad of it.

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  2. Your post brings The Hundred Monkey effect. “The “ Hundredth Monkey ” effect postulated that, when enough monkeys – or people – catch on to a better way of doing things, then the idea suddenly spreads into the awareness of many others. The most remarkable aspect of this concept is that no physical contact or proximity is required for a new idea to travel from one group of people to another.” Your blog is a powerful reminder that every thought matters, and that each one of us has a choice about what we think—are we thinking in ways that raise the planetary frequency? Or are we dragging ourselves down with negativity and fear? What a fabulous platform Matters of the Heart offers for providing a collective effort on behalf of love vs. fear. The world is changing because so many of us monkeys are catching on to the same idea. Once enough of us “get” it, we’ll see this crumbling world in our rear view mirrors and enjoy a brand new world based that we can now only imagine. Keep spreading the good word, everyone! Thanks for another beautiful blog, Wynne.

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    1. Oh, what a beautiful vision, Julia! I love it. Thank you for sharing the Hundred Monkey effect – I’m all on board for finding new ways based on love to live life. Yay! ❤

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  3. Pingback: The Games We Play – Surprised By Joy

  4. Thanks for the shoutout. I totally understand how you feel about wondering IF you’ve already written about something. I do that, too. I also find myself writing about the same topics as other bloggers and I think that’s cool. It’s like we’re all connected via our thoughts, not that we view life the same way, but that we’re aware of the same things and willing to explore them.

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  5. What a great post, Wynne. I’m intrigued by the idea that “we have to say things three times: once for each ear and once for the heart”. I find myself writing the same things in different ways, so that concept rings true for me. As for the community inspiration, I love reading sister blog posts, where the themes from one (intentionally or inadvertently) bleed into another because it feels like an ongoing discussion, as opposed to hundreds of siloed experts. Originality is great, but taking inspiration from another is just as good, if not better.

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    1. I’m feeling all the same things, Erin. I think people who tend to be ‘like-minded’ find one another and the synergy that results? Spoken, unspoken, collective consciousness, vibes or energy? I think we gravitate to one another and the threads that result…wonderful individually and when woven together as you described…into an on-going discussion? Far more magical than “hundreds of siloed experts”. Couldn’t have said that better myself!
      xo! 🥰 And…thank you, Wynne, for bringing the topic forward. We’re all connected! 🥰

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      1. Yes! While I feel the same way about “copying” or needing to justify that a scheduled post was written *before* reading someone else’s post, when I step back I actually love seeing the overlap and ideas playing off one another. I don’t know sports, but we’re all passing the the same balls around from different angles, at different forces, sometimes tossing in some fancy footwork. Even with similar ideas, we all bring a different perspective and style based on our experiences and options. It’s really quite amazing, and I think what makes the blogging community so great. As you mention, we *somehow* magically find our like-minded friends amongst the millions of writers here. Wow, right?!? 🥰🥰🥰

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  6. You have me laughing Wynne. Are you reading my mind!!!! I worry about this a lot. Am I unconsciously stealing from someone else? I would never want to do that. I know how much effort goes into my own writing. You’ll appreciate this. I wrote something a month or so ago. When I was done, I had my wife read it. I asked her if it sounded familiar. I had a nagging feeling. She reminded me that I had written something related a few months before. I went back and looked and realized that I was picking up from a theme I had touched on previously. Of course, I had to laugh at myself. In the end, I come back to what you wrote, everything has been written one time or another. The key thing is trying to recognize others whenever we can. Definitely an interesting and a one-of-a-kind topic Wynne!!!! Ha, ha.

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      1. Sadly Wynne, after I write something, I tend to forget it. It’s always been that way. I’ve seen it so much, I’m tired of reading it! When I worked in newspapers and needed to know when I wrote something, I would call her, she knew better than me. It’s sometimes interesting to go back and read a blog I wrote two or three years ago. Sometimes I cringe … but sometimes I’m like wow, okay, I wrote that. Hmm. 😜😜😜

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      2. OMG -I hear you about going back to read what I’ve written. I totally resonate with being *done* with things once I hit publish and ready to move on!

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  7. Well you are sitting in my head this morning Wynne- first with the kids and now with this concept of originality. Posting on a schedule has been eye opening for me in many ways and this topic is exactly one of those. I’m trying to look at the fact, as many comments already state, that there are really only so many topics to be had but we all put our own spin on them so that we aren’t accused of full on plagiarism… 😉

    Things are going to overlap I suppose because like bloggers follow each other based on interests so much of the time. What if you and Vicki had started a cooking blog? How many versions of fancy or not fancy potato-leek soup would we have already encountered? I might offer this, because it is something that I ponder and relate to about blogging more than anything- connection. I hope that we all read with intent and purpose leading to the amazing connection with others. I honestly value the people here more than the content I think just because they are present and keep coming back to read similar words over and over and over… 🙂

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    1. Valuing people over content – that’s a wonderful statement, Deb. Yes, the connection is so important and then we have overlap. Your twist to use a cooking blog example is so good.

      So after almost four months of this – do you find you like posting on a schedule/topic or is it limiting?

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      1. What a great question! Topics are absolutely helpful to me. I need a specific focus or I would be pulling silly and probably the same stories into each post! My life is really rather dull, it can be a challenge to find things to pull from honestly- no kids, pets, or current weird family situations 🙂 I am also admittedly not the best at jumping to the positive viewpoint on a regular basis.

        Schedules- I think I should have opted for a broader posting schedule to test out this journey. You know how random my blog is so starting with every week often feels to be more than I want to think about or concentrate on. I love the interaction though. That by far has been the best part of this journey along with meeting new bloggers.
        Of course you know that I truly appreciate you and Vicki asking me to join in 🙂

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      2. I love this feedback. Yes, the interaction has been wonderful on this new blog. I love this community! It’s so fun to see what we all come up with on a topic. I find that so rich and fascinating. I’m so glad you said yes! But we can also adjust your schedule if you want. I’ll talk with Vicki and send you an email. We want this to be fun! 🙂

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  9. What I admire about your writing, Wynne, is your thoughtfulness and care in giving credit where it’s due and your generosity in amplifying other people’s work.

    You also make a good point that in the blogging community, we all draw inspiration from each – consciously and subconsciously – and we are also contributors to that pool of inspiration!

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    1. Contributors to the pool of inspiration – I love that phrase, Ab! Nicely said.

      And thank you for the compliment. It’s been wonderful to be part of this community with thoughtful people like you from whom I’ve learned so much!

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  10. Wynee, this is a very intriguing and thoughtful post! Since there are no unoriginal stories, we are lucky enough to be able to write from our own unexpected twists of life and put our emotional thoughts to our stories and as we do this the more organic our stories become.

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  11. You are most definitely in good company. And believe me Wynne, you are an original. I am adding to the basket of joy and positivity as best I can. But mainstream media with its anxiety and hyperbole beats us all. Still we will persevere.

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  12. My university girlfriend told me there were no new ideas out there. I tend to think each day is new to us, each day the light is different, like a river flowing past – as we stand there a different river is passing us by. When it comes to idea and emotions I think we are like that river also. We analyze and see things differently each time we look at them. When you read a book a second time don’t you appreciate the same spots but also discover new ones also? That has been my experience with my favorite authors like Tolkien and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The richness of life for humans I think is like tasting cake. Each time is similar but enjoyable – we taste the same cake as someone else for each of us it’s unique.

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    1. David!! It’s so good to see you. What a beautiful metaphor about the river. Yes, it changes everytime we look at it or if someone else tells us what they see. Right!! Thank you for this lovely comment!

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