Straight from My Heart by Jacqui DeLorenzo is an evocative compendium of poetry and prose, sharing the author's journey of connecting with the people around her and ultimately finding herself.
Playwright and screenwriter Arthur M. Jolly once said, "Writing is nothing less than thought transference, the ability to send one's ideas out into the world, beyond time and distance, taken at the value of the words, unbound from the speaker."
Though dry and overtly technical, his words are valid. Nothing can be further from falsehood than his words. Man's advantage over his fellow beasts is language, specifically, the written word. It is how knowledge can be brought over vast distances of time, like a well-crafted vessel as it sails beyond raucous waves and towards the horizon, ever forward.
In Straight from My Heart by Jacqui DeLorenzo, the author paints a vivid journey of spirituality, rumination, and community.
Setting Aside Time to Think
One aspect displayed in Straight from My Heart is the idea of the importance of solitary time: being alone with yourself. While engaging with people is fulfilling, there are definite upsides to being by yourself, cognitively and emotionally.
In this busy world, where it feels like almost interaction is a transaction, where time is a commodity that's so hard to keep: the opportunity to sit down, maybe with a favorite beverage in hand, looking at the wall or the ceiling, is a precious moment.
Being by yourself in the truest sense, disconnected from the world, alone in a physical space, without the worry of interruption, gives you a chance to explore your mind, recall memories, and examine ideas and emotions.
Being alone helps you think about the larger picture: is there existence beyond death? What makes a just society? Love, justice, identity, etc. These moments of introspection about abstract, "worldly" ideas are needed to better engage with the outside world.
Being alone allows you to distance yourself, scrutinize your relationships and current life stage, and plan a course of action. It is a time to investigate, reinforce or reinvent perspectives and truly understand who you are as a person and what you want in life.
Being alone is the best time to relax and view the world and everything in it, including yourself, with a more dissecting eye.
Seeing People for Who They Are
Community is the most poignant thematic quality of Straight from My Heart. Increasingly, in this world where, despite material advancements, the likes of which history has never seen, there is a widening, a cleaving of social bonds and relationships that have left millions alienated from family, friends, and society. That's not even taking into account the various socio-economic issues plaguing everyone.
The proverb, "No man is an island," is deeply resonant not because it is true but because of the implications. Sometimes it's parroted to convey half-hearted support of this nebulous idea of society, but the proverb is an indictment of ultra-individualist thought.
No man is an island, yes, because no man is by himself--someone surrounds everyone. People must help each other out and connect with their neighbors.
But also, no man is an island, yes, because no man can survive by themselves. No man is self-made, despite assertions on the matter. Individuals are not like islands because they can't persist by themselves. People need community, others to keep themselves in check, and others to support them.
A community is a reciprocal relationship where everyone inside it supports each other. Everyone influences one another, shares ideas, tools, time, and labor, and encourages everyone else to be better people. A community connects, learns, and endures together through hardship and disaster.
A community is not just a population of people, but a community can be of friends, family, coworkers, or anything else; only that there is a shared sense of purpose and belonging.
Everyone deserves a community to lift them and return the favor.
The world is vast, with many problems; an individual cannot fight them all alone.
Solitude and Sodality, Growing Spiritually
The human spirit exists within every individual worldwide; whether it exists conceptually or literally, it is in the psyche.
And the human spirit is the primary driver of an individual's path in life; it is the sum of a person's experiences, which are gained from interacting with the world and the people in it, and outlook, which results from deep thought and reflection. Both influence one another: a memory will change your perspective, a viewpoint can lead you to new opportunities, etc.
Without these two, a person is just a blank slate.
And there must be a balance before someone can discover who they are.