The Write Spot Blog by Marlene Cullen

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  • Relax To Enhance Your Creativity

    The Write Spot Blog is all about writing: Writing Prompts to inspire you; Just Write tidbits to motivate you; Quotes to let you know others are in the same boat as you; Places to Submit to get your work out there; Book Reviews to share authors’ work; Guest Posts for all kinds of writing-related things.

    Today’s Guest Blog Post by Suzanne Murray talks about increasing your creativity by relaxing. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? But what about cortisol, adrenaline, and epigenetics? Factor those in, and it becomes apparent that relaxation isn’t as easy as drifting in a hammock.

    Fortunately, Suzanne Murray offers strategies to help us learn to relax. 

    HOW CREATIVITY CAN HELP US RELAX

    We all know that relaxation makes us and our bodies feel good whereas stress causes us to tense up and feel less that optimum. New scientific research shows just how important relaxing our bodies and minds is.

    The emerging science of epigenetics shows that our genetic expression is not permanently fixed at birth, but actually evolves as we grow and learn. Environmental factors including nutrition, stress and our emotional responses can affect how our genes express themselves without changing the basic blueprint of our DNA, the genetic material in our cells.

    When we are stressed our genes produce hormones associated with fight or flight like adrenalin and cortisol that are associated with aging and making us more susceptible to disease. When we are relaxed and feeling good our genes produce chemistry that boosts our immune system and helps with cellular repair and growth. 

    A study looking at mindfulness practices like meditation, yoga, breath work, and other relaxation techniques, showed that we can actually “turn on” disease-preventing genes and “turn-off” disease-causing genes through relaxing. Research on the energy psychology modality EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques), an easy to use self-help strategy that combines western psychology with Chinese acupressure, found that an hour session of EFT lowered cortisol levels by 24 percent.

    I’d like to add creativity to ways we can relax as well as develop more of our potential.

    Creativity is really a form of mindfulness since it puts us in the flow of the moment and feels good. Adult coloring books have been shown to reduce stress. I like doodling or free writing where you just let the words flow out of the pen with no thought to what you are writing.

    Bringing play to whatever process you are working with and letting go of attachment to outcome is important.

    Stress so often stems from the fact that our mind has leapt ahead with worry about the future or is chewing over something that happened in the past. When we do things that bring us into the moment we naturally relax.

    Find what works for you. Play with it and see if you feel better.

    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

     Writing and Creativity in Nature
    One Day Workshop Point Reyes CA
    April 22, 2017, 10 am to 4 pm
    Spending time in nature is good for our health, enhances our creative capacities and increases our general sense of wellbeing. It can help us enter the flow. Join me for this one day workshop where we will work with our creativity in the beauty of nature.

    EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques)

    I’ve been working with EFT in new ways that allow us to laser in on the issue and shift it at the core. We often make significant shifts in a single session. Sessions are available by phone and Skype


         Original posted on Suzanne’s April 2, 2017 Blog

     

  • No matter how hard I tried . . . Prompt #316

    The best way to respond to a writing prompt is to just write. You can set a timer for 12 or 15 minutes. Twenty minutes, if you have that much time to write. The length of time isn’t important. The important part is to let go of your inhibitions, your fears and your worries. Just write.

    Today’s writing prompt:  No matter how hard I tried . . .

  • The bigger the issue, the smaller you write.

    “The bigger the issue, the smaller you write. Remember that. You don’t write about the horrors of war. No. You write about a kid’s burnt socks lying on the road. You pick the smallest manageable part of the big thing, and you work off the resonance.” —Richard Price

  • Voices of Lincoln – Poetry Contest 2017

    POETS WANTED

     

     

    You do not have to live in Lincoln, CA to enter the Voices of Lincoln Poetry Contest.

    Five (5) categories include: Love Is All Around Us,  Dreams Do Come True,  On The Street Where I Live,  Gone But Not Forgotten,  and  A Second Chance.

    You may submit a maximum of three (3) poems: One poem for each category.

    Poems may be in rhyme, free verse, Haiku, or other accepted poetry forms and of any length, up to a maximum of 60 lines.

    Young Poets, 18-years of age or under, are encouraged to submit poems and will compete in a special “Young Poets” category.

    Entry Form and Contest Rules

    Contest Deadline: Poems must be received no later than Saturday, July 22,    2017.  Early submissions are appreciated.  Questions—contact Alan Lowe at    slolowe – at – icloud.com

  • The thing that bugged me . . . Prompt #315

    Today’s Prompt:  The thing that bugged me.

    Set your timer for 15 minutes.

    Write whatever comes up for you.

    Just write!

  • 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.

  • 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  

    How to be a better writer  

    Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch  

    Just write!

  • 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

     

  • It was fun . . . Prompt #313

    Today’s writing prompt:

    It was fun, until it wasn’t.

     

     

     

     

  • 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!