If you could change some things in your history, what would you change?
Tag: The Write Spot Blog
-
A little known fact. Prompt #322
Write about something most people don’t know about you.
-
Something lost or stolen. . . Prompt #321
Write about something that was lost or stolen from you or your fictional character.
-
Make Sense of Your World Through Writing
“Portable Corona number 3. That’s my analyst.” — Ernest HemingwayHeal Through Writing
“Several incidents contributed to social psychologist James W. Pennebaker’s interest in ‘healing writing.’ But when his parents’ visit during college launched a bout of the asthma he thought he’d left behind in the dry Texas of his childhood, he realize climate wasn’t to blame; his emotions were. Once he recognized the connection, the asthma attacks stopped.” —“Writing to heal,” by Gail Radley, May 2017 The Writer magazine.
Pennebaker has conducted multiple studies indicating that writing can lead to healing.
Dr. Edward J. Murray investigated healing through writing and concluded “’It seems that putting our thoughts and feelings into language helps confront them, organize them, and wrest the meaning from them. . .” —Gail Ridley, May 2017 The Writer magazine.
Perhaps we can make sense of our world by using freewrites as a vehicle.
Note: If you are experience troubling thoughts that are disabling or disturbing, please seek professional help.
Posts on The Write Spot Blog about healing through writing
How To Write Without Adding Trauma
-
Who will you interview? . . . Prompt #320
Today’s writing promptInterview yourself or your fictional character, by answering these questions:
How did you get started in your line of work?
How did you become interested in your hobby?
What did you desire at age 12?
What did you desire at age 18?
What did you desire at age 25?
What did you desire at age 26 or older?
What do you desire now?
More ideas on Interviewing Character . . . Prompt #6
-
Mini memoirs unfold naturally
Remember the joke: “How do you eat an elephant?”“One bite at a time.”
Same with writing memoir . . . one incident at a time.
“Whether your life story has an over-arching motif or you plan to cobble together a montage of more diverse meditations, the project can seem less overwhelming if you approach it as a series of mini memoirs—two-to three-page essays . . . pivotal points. . . in the broader portrait of your life.” Richard Campbell, January 2017 Writers Digest
“The beauty in approaching your life story in terms of mini memoirs is that when it comes to themes, you don’t have to pick just one. Write scenes or vignettes on each theme that speaks to you.
You may find that mini memoirs unfold more naturally than the more unwieldy, longer story you have to tell—and that they build momentum strong enough to carry you through the manuscript.”
More on How To Write Memoir:
How To Write A Memoir – Part One
How To Write A Memoir – Part Two
However you decide to write . . . Just Write!
-
The missing piece. . . Prompt #318
Write about . . .The missing piece.
-
Success in writing means . . .
If you have attended a Jumpstart Writing Workshop, you may have heard me say, “There are two kinds of writing I like. One is when the writing speaks to universal truths—something we can all relate to. The other is when the writing speaks to me personally.”This excerpt from “The Review Rat Race,” a “5-Minute Memoir” by Barbara Solomon Josselsohn expands upon that thought.
“To me, success meant having readers who felt that my novel articulated something important, something they had felt deeply inside but had never been able to express or fully understand before my book came along.” —Barbara Solomon Josselsohn *
That often happens in Jumpstart . . . the writing touches us deeply as the writer articulates in ways that we hadn’t been able to express or understand prior to hearing their freewrite.
* Excerpt from January 2017 issue of Writer’s Digest Magazine.
-
What comforts me . . . Prompt #317
Today’s writing prompt:What Comforts Me.
-
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
