The Write Spot Blog by Marlene Cullen

Tag: Write From The Heart

  • Something you will never forget . . . Prompt #266

    Today’s prompt is inspired by Hal Zina Bennett, Write From The Heart

    Pink lemonadeFor some people, summer means sipping cool drinks. For others, summer might mean sitting around a campfire after a day of hiking, swimming, exploring. Summer might mean telling stories —tall tales or short ones— while lounging on a porch, a patio or a boat deck. There is a rhythm to summer, unlike any other time of year.

    Summer ’round the campfire brings out story tellers. The shaman storyteller of ancient times, embraces his own life experience, tells stories to the community that gathers in a circle around him, a fire blazing at its center. In the telling of what most deeply touched his life, the shaman helps others to see that they are not alone. And in the process both storyteller and listeners are healed.

    Imagine now, that you are sitting ’round a campfire, very comfortable with the folks you are sitting with. It’s story telling time. Each person tells a story about a time that was so meaningful, it is something they’ll never forget.

    Prompt: Write about something you will never forget.   Remember: first thoughts are where the energy is. If you can, start writing where your first thoughts take you. If that becomes difficult, write about another time, another story. And when you are finished writing, please take a few minutes to do some clearing (described below).

    Right after writing: Take a deep breath in. Hold for a moment. Let it out. Shake out your hands. Another deep breath in. Let it out.

    Again: A deep cleansing breathe in. Hold and release.

    If you wrote about something that leaves you feeling wonderful, keep it. Hold it close to your chest.

    If you wrote about something that leaves you feeling uncomfortable . . .  release it. Gather your thoughts and your words. Send them up in the campfire smoke. Send those thoughts up with the smoke.

    We’re going to replace the space that those thoughts occupied with an image that comforts you.

    Choose an image that is comforting to you. Any image you like, as long as it soothes. Give it a color.

    Fill the space in your heart with this image and the color.

    Take a deep breath in. Hold for a moment. Let it out. Stretch. Another deep breath in. Hold and release. Congratulate yourself. Even if you didn’t write, you may have thought about what you could have written. Maybe, when you have time, you will write on this topic: Something you will never forget.

  • Essential Wound Prompt #194

    Write From The Heart by Hal Zina Bennett is one of my all-time favorite books on writing.

    The following is an excerpt from Write From The Heart.

    “I am convinced that every essential wound, by its very nature, has the potential for opening each of us up to the full potential of our very soul. I do not mean to be Pollyannaish about it, either. It’s not a matter of the universe providing us with the challenges we supposedly need for our spiritual growth. I tend to believe in the universe’s ‘benign indifference,’ as Camus once put it, and that God is something like a courageous and loving parent who gives us all we can take in, then lets us go on to live our lives the best we know how. I think that must have been what Joseph Campbell was talking about, too . . . ‘the world is a match for us and we’re a match for the world. And where it seems most challenging lies the greatest invitation to find deeper and greater powers in ourselves.’

    Our own perceptions of the world, the inner vision of what we think life is about, gets challenged in every essential wound. Our true creativity comes about when we think life is about, get challenged in every essential wound. Our true creativity comes about when we start trying to sort all that out, asking what the wound mirrors back to us, what it tells us about ourselves, what we need to let go of, and what we need to learn to embrace. When we do that, we take ourselves out of the role of victim. We see that there’s an alternative to the way we ordinarily look upon our grievances — that we can literally mine even our worst errors for the treasures they contain. When we look at our wounds in this way, we invariable discover turning points, breakthroughs that carry us beyond the limits of everyday thinking. And we can go forth to tell the stories that are truly important to tell, that reveal the hidden truths of our lives and the lives of others, thus building spiritual bridges between our own consciousness and theirs.

    write from the heartThe essential wound is a particular kind of experience that happens off and on throughout our lives and goes to the very core of our being. These wounds are important to writers for the same reasons that peak experiences are — they are the resources that lend authenticity to our writing. Essential wounds have an added element in that they reveal our humanness. They reveal that we each create our own inner worlds, mental models of the way we believe things should be. The wound occurs when something happens to reveal the difference between how you see the world and the way the world really is. You may feel shattered, hurt, disappointed, or depressed, but if you keep your eyes open those moments can lead to dramatic revelations.”

    Prompt: Write about an essential wound.

  • When you set the mask aside . . . Prompt #171

    From Write From the Heart by Hal Zina Bennett, one of my all-time favorite books.

    During a trip to Disneyland, a priest became fascinated with the costumed figure of Mickey Mouse. Every time Father Sean turned around, there was Mickey Mouse shaking hands with people, talking with kids, keeping everyone’s spirits up. And Father Sean began asking himself, “I wonder who that person is under that costume? What are they like at the end of the day, when they take off their Mickey Mouse suit?”

    Instead of being who we really can be, we take on masks like the Good Little Girl, or we become the Black Sheep of the Family or the Rebel. Early on, we learn that if we are to be loved and cared for we’d better buckle under and be what is safe for us to be.

     maskPrompt: Who or what is the character deep inside you? When you set the mask aside, who are you?