I love coaching. I coach via telephone and sometimes I think I should videotape myself on a call just for my own entertainment. When I get excited, my free hand starts flailing, I’m perched on the edge of my seat, I’m nodding like crazy. Yesterday I even gave a little jump in my chair at an a-ha moment. I’m not normally so animated when I talk about other things; when the topic is channeling inner wisdom through journalling, however, I couldn’t hold myself back if I tried. And why try? It’s too fun!
I’d like to continue that fun today by asking you to do something. Grab a piece of paper or your journal (are you still keeping a task binder?). At the same time, grab 15 minutes of uninterrupted time and a quiet, comfortable spot to plant yourself. Sit down with an intention to ask a question and receive an answer. In 15 minutes, you ask? It’s a start.
I might say the following in my head, or I might write it down: “Ok, I really want some help with this question.” Try that. It’s an important first step to doing anything, really – set the intention. Then, write your question down. Which question? The first one that pops into your head or the one that kept you up last night. After you write your question, don’t stop. Keep writing. Explain the situation as you would to a friend. Go in to as much detail as you can and keep writing. Write fast. Don’t think about grammar, punctuation, spelling or word choice. Dump your brain on to the paper. If you can write beyond the 15 minutes, go ahead. If you have to stop, then do so.
When you are done writing, leave it alone for a couple days. Pay attention to your thoughts in the interim. You know when you are most likely going to receive some insight to your question? While you’re driving, cooking, in the shower or otherwise physically busy. That’s because your left brain is occupied in the logical sequence of events allowing your right brain (the creative, intuitive brain) to let loose and do its thing.
By the end of the week, go back to your written question and thoughts. Re-read it. Does anything jump out at you? You’ll know what I mean when you re-read it. If not, sit down again, turn the page over and write. You can re-write the question and continue on or you can write about how you feel about what you wrote last time or even your response to this whole exercise. Just write.
You know how I said your creative, intuitive right brain is able to flex its muscles when your left brain is busy doing something physical? So it is with writing, especially writing fast when you’re not analyzing or planning what you’re writing.
Have you tried this before? Do you have any tricks or tips you’d like to share with the rest of us? If so, please leave a comment. If you’re trying this for the first time, really enjoy it. For some of us, it’s rare to be this loose and spontaneous in any activity and there is definitely something to be said for it.
I enjoy this process of clearing and journalling my early morning thoughts, sometimes when I wake up I will “just write” my first thoughts and I am always amazed at what comes through. Other times after meditating, my mind is clearer and I find it much easier to just write and often in that space I write the content for blog or get ideas for future project ideas.
Thanks for sharing, Ntathu! It’s a great idea to access your creativity at different times of the day – you never know what you’re going to get! I haven’t written my first morning thoughts in awhile; I’d like to get back in to that.
One of the quirks of my writing is that I don’t seem able to just sit down and “write something” but when something comes to me that I feel must be written down, I can’t get the thoughts out fast enough.
When ideas come to me there is a short pause for identification, I guess, then a burst followed by little trailing thoughts, kind of like watching fireworks. You hear the mortar and see little flickers of sparks dripping off as the shell rises in the darkness, then BANG! There’s the flash, and immediately down come all of those streamers sparking, flashing then fading on their way back the earth.
But first thing in the morning? I don’t think so. Not for me, anyhow. I sure respect those of you who can, even if I can’t really relate.
I loved the line, “Dump your brain on to the paper”. It sparked another poem for me.