When I’m Writing at My Best…
I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes I find it challenging to write. I don’t always know what to write, nothing comes to mind and the page remains a blank canvas.
I’ve continued to write at least one word per day in my journal (read more HERE), and that’s gone well. I usually write about the day before or what’s coming up but if I want to tap into my inner world, explore my thoughts and feelings and use writing to connect with my creativity, I find a prompt or guide most useful.
The most recent prompt in the therapeutic and reflective writing class I’m taking invited us to use a metaphor to describe “When I am writing at my best I am like what?” I’d never stopped to consider what I’m like when I’m writing at my best, and in fact, I wasn’t even sure I had a best!
However, I wanted to explore this and see what came of it. I read the assignment and couldn’t immediately think of a metaphor so I did what I usually do, I used EFT Tapping to calm my racing mind and help me slow down so I could allow a metaphor to emerge.
Here’s what I wrote in the space of about 15 minutes:
When I’m writing at my best I’m like a free-flowing river, unencumbered, sometimes flowing smoothly and sometimes navigating rocks and broken trees that have fallen into the river.
At times I’m powerful and push my way along, gliding over or around these obstacles with determination. Sometimes I’m calm, gently flowing along without a care in the world. And then there are times when I rage, pushing everything out of my way with force, not paying attention to the destruction I leave in my path – I storm, pushing over the banks into unknown territory, not caring what’s in my way.
The world can’t do without me. They hear me in calming apps, sit on the banks, mesmerized by the sounds of gentle flowing waves. Their admiration becomes fear as they hear my roar when I break through all the barriers and drive them away from the places they thought were safe. And yet, they return when I’m calm and settled, once again lulled into a reverie only I can offer them.
Before I begin, I’m snow on the mountain, the top of which is touched by spirit. I am blessed and then released into the flow of water that has existed from ancient times before me. I blend in, the old with the new, until I reach my destination where I will become the old and get ready for rebirth as the waves wash up on the shore, melting into the sand.
And so it is with writing at my best. I’m touched by Spirit and guided along the river, sometimes calmly and sometimes not, releasing the feelings and thoughts that need releasing until I can no longer write anymore. This is now easy for me when I take a few deep breaths or tap before beginning, giving myself permission to allow thoughts and feeling to melt onto the page as the snow melts into the river.
It’s not perfect writing by any means. There’s no need for perfection here, just the opportunity to explore oneself, one’s inner world, through the lens of a metaphor. The river in all it’s forms brings life to how I feel about writing and in some aspects my life. It highlights birth, death and rebirth - of aging and melting into the sand, to be reunited with those who’ve come before me, paving the way for me to step into this life.
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Joan
