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Too stressed to write?
Are you too stressed to write? You want to, but you just can’t clear your mind. Maybe you’re drifting in The Fog of Overwhelm.The following is paraphrased from Ted A. Moreno’s Blog Post, Avoiding the Fog of Overwhelm Part I and Part II, where Ted discusses “the state of overwhelm, what it is, how it happens and how it affects us.”
State of Overwhelm
Overwhelm happens when there is too much information coming into our conscious awareness. Our minds only have a certain capacity, like a cup that can hold a limited amount of liquid. When our minds are filled to capacity, and stuff keeps pouring in, we lose the ability to cope.
At this point, our ancient survival mechanism, that good old fight or flight, gets triggered. When that happens we become what is known as “hypersuggestible” which means that we are susceptible to whatever is coming into our minds. We are actually in a state of hypnosis, but the suggestions we are giving ourselves are not positive, unlike the positive suggestions you get in a hypnotherapy session.
Unintentional programming
Often, when we are overwhelmed, there is an accompanying state of stress; the conversations we are having in our heads are usually negative monologues. When we are overwhelmed, we sometimes program ourselves for negativity and fear. We end up (unintentionally) with a reinforcing cycle of overwhelm.
The Fog of Overwhelm
Responses to the state of overwhelm vary from a complete shutdown, to irritability or anxiety, or to a feeling of being disoriented or “spaced out,” which Ted calls “The Fog of Overwhelm.”
The end result is the same: We become ineffective in dealing with the challenges of life. We may lose the ability to focus and stay on task. We may turn to avoidance or procrastination. We will probably feel anxious or depressed.
How to manage The Fog of Overwhelm
Get adequate sleep and take naps when needed. Remember how your mind is like a cup? Every day it gets filled with tension, pressure and the stress of living. Sleep is the time for your mind to empty the cup.
Don’t skip meals. Some people are prone to anxiety and overwhelm due to low blood sugar. Blood sugar, or blood glucose, is the main fuel for your body. Your brain uses more glucose than any other organ in your body. Do you ever get that feeling of lethargy or lack of focus in the late afternoon? Take a break and eat something with protein.
Take breaks. Taking regular breaks throughout the day allows your mind to process incoming information more effectively. Breaks are scientifically proven to boost productivity and focus. Consider working in one-hour or 90 minute spurts, then take a five or ten minute break. Be sure to take regular vacations and days off.
Exercise allows our bodies and minds to release tension and stress. At a minimum, get up and walk around.
Meditation, yoga, and other mindful practices are powerful tools to achieve a state of calm and the ability to focus.
Focus on one thing at a time. Multitasking can create overwhelm. Focus is sharpest when it’s narrow and concentrated.
Please click on The Fog of Overwhelm to read Ted’s blog posts on how to have a calm and productive writing life.
Ted A. Moreno is a hypnotherapist, who helps clients become free from fear and anxiety, procrastination and bad habits. He is excellent with phone consultations and phone hypnotherapy sessions.
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Why should you use strong verbs?
Action words“A French research team found that action words (kicked, stomped, raced) fire up the motor cortex, which governs how the body moves. Even more specific, describing body parts, such as an arm or a leg, activates the part of the brain that controls arm and leg movement. Using evocative language also wakes up a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which activates long-term memories and plays a significant role in how a reader’s mind turns language into a meaningful experience.” Writer’s Digest, Sept. 2016
And that’s why it’s important to use strong verbs.
Make a list of strong verbs and action words.
Keep your list handy. Use it like a thesaurus when you are stumbling for that strong verb that’s on the tip of your tongue, within your grasp, but not quite accessible.
Or, use a thesaurus.
To learn more about using strong words to convey emotion, action and memorable characters, click on the following topics. You will end up on another page, here on The Write Spot Blog.
Use sensory detail and be specific
Just write!
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Practical jokes . . . Prompt #314
Write about a practical joke you pulled off, or a practical joke that was played on you.“A practical joke is a mischievous trick played on someone, generally causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion or discomfort.” Wikipedia
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It was fun . . . Prompt #313
Today’s writing prompt:It was fun, until it wasn’t.
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Use emotions in your writing.
“Readers covet an emotional experience above all else. When you write scenes, use all the methods you can to help your readers feel the emotions you want them to have—sadness, anger, confusion, mistrust, love, lust, envy, greed and so on. If you want readers to hate your character, show him being despicable to someone who doesn’t deserve his wrath or to someone he supposedly loves. The more you draw readers in to the emotional experience, the more they will engage, and the more likely they’ll want to read your next book.”
Excerpted from the September 2016 issue of Writer’s Digest magazine
There are over 300 prompts on The Write Spot Blog. Choose one and practice incorporating emotions in your writing. For example: Physical gestures can reveal emotions . . . Prompt # 211
Just write!
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The Writer Magazine
In April 1887, two newspaper men designed an 18 page pamphlet they called The Writer. It was designed to be “a monthly magazine to interest and help all literary workers.”Today, The Writer magazine “is dedicated to expanding and supporting the work of professional and aspiring writers with a straightforward presentation of industry information, writing instruction and professional and personal motivation.”
The Writer is looking for your story ideas:
“Our editors are interested in query letters on concrete topics written by emerging and experienced writers in all genres. We are looking for clear takeaway for our readers: What can they learn to improve their writing or advance their careers? What how-to tips and strategies will accomplish this?
Queries should briefly describe your background and provide details for your story idea. We are interested in how-to stories, reported pieces, narrative essays and profiles of writers and others in the field. . . . We do accept queries that include finished pieces for consideration. We do not accept material that has been previously published in any form in print or online.”
Email queries to tweditorial-at-madavor.com. Include your name, phone number and a short bio.
We receive hundreds of pitches every week and cannot respond to all of them. If you haven’t heard from us in two weeks, please feel free to move your submission to another publication. If you’re unfamiliar with our magazine, we recommend reading a few issues, subscribing, or at least signing up for our newsletter to get a feel for the kind of work we publish.Article lengths vary widely from 300 to 3,000 words. On occasion, longer articles and excerpts also appear in the magazine.”
Read Submission Guidelines before querying and submitting.
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Let Go And Create
Guest Blogger Suzanne Murray writes about how surrender can help creativity:We can’t force creativity. We know this intuitively. If we told a painter that we wanted a masterpiece by five o’clock tomorrow, he or she would look at us like we were crazy, that we clearly didn’t understand what being creative was all about.
An important part of being creative is learning to surrender to the flow of the universe, allowing something greater than our everyday self to move through us. It’s not something we can figure out with our linear mind.
Of course, if we want to paint we need to learn how to work with our chosen medium and studying the work of the masters can help. If we want to write it’s really valuable to read widely and deeply, to show up daily to put pen to paper and perhaps take a workshop on form we want to work with.
Yet at the heart of being creative is letting go and allowing the ideas, the inspiration to move through us. This is where practice comes in. As Flannery O’Connor said of her writing experience, “I show up at my office everyday between 8 am and noon. I’m not sure that anything is going to happen but I want to be there if it does.”
I recently sat next to a young man in Starbucks who had a set of watercolors laid out and quickly produced a couple of small paintings that were quite lovely. We spoke of creativity and how so many people think you either have it or you don’t. “Yeah,” he said, “really it’s a muscle, you’ve got to use.” He went on to say “No matter how lousy I feel, if I do even a couple of little paintings I instantly feel better
I feel the same way about writing, even if it’s just a page of free writing where I just let the words flow out of the pen. Being creative feels good and lightens our mood because we become more present to the moment, quiet our chattering minds, and allow for the awareness of our heart and knowing to do the work. In the surrender we find ourselves in an expanded state of consciousness were we can do things we didn’t think we could.
Originally posted on Suzanne Murray’s Blog, March 2017
Suzanne Murray is a gifted creativity and writing coach, soul-based life coach, writer, poet, EFT practitioner and intuitive healer committed to empowering others to find the freedom to ignite their creative fire, unleash their imagination and engage their creative expression in every area of their lives. She works with simple, powerful techniques to help clear whatever gets in the way and creates a safe and sacred space for your creative and soulful life to blossom. She provides an experience of the joy and beauty that comes from embracing your gifts and expressing them in the world. With a lifelong connection to the natural world, she enjoys sharing the grace and wonder that Nature can bring to your life and creativity.
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What is it you really want? Prompt #312
What is it that you really want?Write whatever comes up for you.
Could be serious, playful, wishful, fun.
Just write!
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Feeling broken? Trying unplugging.
Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you. —Anne Lamott, Salon, April 10, 2015
