On Writing the Difficult Things
"If Buddhists believe life is suffering, then writers must be Buddhists." ~ Spotted on a magazine.
I spent my Sunday writing a difficult piece. It was quite emotional and I had to step away several times to rehydrate. I have not published it as of yet. It is not finished. No matter how much time passes, certain things can keep hold of you.
During one break, I talked with a friend who I haven't spoken with in almost a year. She has been through an awful lot of hardships, from escaping a cult to the suicide of her ex husband and father of her children after she and the kids escaped his abuse.
She has a lot of stories, and can help many people with them. She has this thing, however, where she freezes when she writes. She get a sentence down then the numbness washes over her and completely removes all emotion from the piece. She realizes it's something she needs to break through, but therein lies the difficulty.
When you have something that is difficult to write, that is the story that needs to be written. It needs to come out of you, you are blocking it and suppressing it deep within. You do not want to have to fully face it, which is what you're doing when you have the words on the paper before you, ready to be sent out into the world. Writing is a form of healing. It can be better than therapy in many ways.
The story that is most difficult to write is also the story that will help someone else.
To break through this emotional block, start by being true and honest with yourself, and fully realizing what this story means to you. Remind yourself that emotion suppression is bad for your health. It's breeds toxicity that become a cancer that will grow and eventually consume.
Writing is healing. Writing through turbulent emotions helps you sort the experiences so that you may find hidden meanings in what you had to go through. Writing is an arena which allows you to process failed relationships and recover from loss and grief in a non judgmental haven. Writing allows you to dump unnecessary emotions you no longer need to carry around, and shine a bright light of compassion and understanding into your past pain.
You won't know where you're going until you know where you are. Writing helps clarify issues and bring perspective to your life.
Start by "automatic writing." Take pen to paper and just write about where you are in life right now for ten to fifteen minutes. Don't think or edit spelling and grammar- just write. Never censor your thoughts.
This is only for you. Do this daily to help you overcome emotional blocks to writing. Using this exercise will help you overcome the darkness, and shine inner light into the soul of your words and emotions.
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Very true. I like to think of these as "releases" that your mind needs. Alot of bad thoughts, feelings, emotions can just stay stuck in your head and just wreak havoc. By doing something just as simple as writing I think it can help alleviate a bit of that pent up frustration.
Yes, writing allows you to release everything that you cannot voice to others. Because it is just you and just for you, there is no judgement or reaction.
There may not be a judgement or reaction from others, however there can always be one from your own self. Writing is also like creating a painting and years later both can have you reflect/react/judge your writings/paintings and so on.
I find them to be a release in those moments, but sometimes looking back at some of the things I've written it can make me happy and sad, even sometimes reading it as I'm sure it was created by someone else.
Either way, good or bad, I think people should do things like you say about writing, it's a little piece of history of yourself and I always find that as a cool concept.
Agreed :)
Well said. Writing is bleeding. It is my absolute salvation. It is my only legacy as a childless 40-something navigating a mid-life crisis. If no one ever read another word, I would still write. <3
You, my dear, are a true writer <3
If you're stuck, write one word down. Then write one more. Eventually you'll have a sentance and you'll know what you want to say. -similar to something Rick Rubin the famous music producer said.
I like this! Kinda like baby steps, but for writing!
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Thanks for sharing
Thank you for reading <3
I think the block that writers experience is often due to fear of what others will think, about their work and about them personally. This line is key -- you have to write for yourself first. But like many things, that's easier said than done.
Precisely. But also just like many things, it gets easier each time.
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Writing absolute IS healing, and I love your directive toward automatic writing, which is exactly what I assign for my beginning writing and trauma writing students. Sometimes out of 1,000 words, you might write 5-6 that really break open something inside of you, push open the door of some memory you thought you'd forgotten, or tried to forget... Thanks for another good post.
Those 5 or 6 words can be the difference, that is absolutely true. The other 995 are supportive ;)
what has surprised me here on steemit is the ease with which the words have been coming to me.
But I have been wanting for years to develop a daily writing practise, just for me.
But it is always just in my head.
I write the most amazing things in my head as I walk the houndbeasts through the night, but later I don't usually write that stuff down.
I seriously need to start, but don't.
I was just reading your other post about the ego.
Have you heard of the work by Byron Katie?
I am not familiar with that, can you give me a summary?
I am out of time right now, but probably the best thing is to try and see a few videos of her facilitating the work by others.
Try this one for example
I was looking for a couple of specific ones, and can't quickly find them, but I have confidence just recommending a random video.
Ok, cool, and thank you! I can find more based on this one.
Appreciated :)
that one turned out to be pretty cool too