Write here, write now

There is absolutely no doubt about it, my clients who have the most success, make the biggest strides forward, achieve (MORE THAN-achieve) their coaching goals, are those who write. They write down their thoughts and experiences, they ruminate, they ponder. Maybe they are creative writers already, maybe not, maybe they already have the habit of ‘morning pages’ as advocated by Julia Cameron, the best-selling author on creative practice, maybe it’s something they come to through coaching.

It is a phenomenon that I have observed again and again; the ones who are scribbling down thoughts as they arise during coaching sessions, those who keep a journal in between times, they will be the people who take action, action which leads to really positive change.

Are you a writer? I always have been – certainly during my late thirties onwards. I don’t mean a published writer or a poet, I just keep journals when I am going through life changing experiences, and it really helps.

It’s a bit like when I used to study for exams (as a 40+ mature student). The minute I saw the questions and decided which ones I’d tackle, I’d have a rough plan scribbled down and a list of key points. Thus I emptied my brain of all the information that was longing to burst out, allowing space for the creative process to happen. I didn’t have to worry about remembering information or arguments as I wrote my third and final essay, weary by now with 2 hours of exam behind me and 1 more to go, the facts were all there, I just had to couch them in the right language, make them into sentences.

So it is with changes in my life – thoughts and ideas are jockeying for position and I can feel overwhelmed. By writing them down, knowing they are safely in a notebook, I can create space for more thoughts and ideas.

A nice side effect of this is that, one day, my children will find all this evidence of my development as an older woman, they’ll find my journals and (if they decipher my scrawl) get a real insight into aspects of me that may not have been clear to them as they grew up.

Maybe you like the sound of this, but have never thought to write down your thoughts and experiences. A great way to start is to buy yourself a nice notebook; for me it has to be a special one, I know it when I see it in the stationer’s, just the right book, the right cover, the texture, the feel of the pages, the SIZE (I like A5 as that slips easily in my bag).

Allow yourself some time, a free hour when you will not be disturbed. If the weather’s good you could go for a walk and sit on a hillside overlooking a pleasant view, maybe a cup of tea beside a fire, maybe a corner of a coffee shop. Somewhere you feel safe, somewhere you can relax.

Then  just start to write – it really doesn’t matter what, just write anything at all, about yourself, your family, your recent challenges and successes, about what’s happening in the world, in your town, about how much you like lemon drizzle cake – it really doesn’t matter. What are you struggling with, how does it feel, what’s stopping you from moving on. How do you want your life to be, how you can move forward, what tiny changes would make your life more like you want it to be.

Don’t try to make it ‘perfect’, don’t worry about spelling, grammar, punctuation … just connect with your feelings and write; and even if you’re not connecting with those feelings, even if you are writing about the shopping you have to do, you are still clearing space for more thoughts. I guarantee you will have moved on by the time you’ve written those pages; you will have had the chance to think more deeply, to articulate your excitement at change, your anxieties too.

Julia Cameron asks, ‘why should we write?’ and goes on to say, ‘We should write because writing brings clarity and passion to the act of living. Writing is sensual, experiential, grounding. We should write because writing is good for the soul.’ She also says, ‘we should write because humans are spiritual beings and writing is a powerful form of prayer and meditation, connecting us both to our own insights and to a higher and deeper level of inner guidance as well.’

Writing can be motivating, healing, invigorating and emotional. It can be the catalyst for small changes and for great big life-altering seismic shifts. All write?

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Tagged as: change, journalling, writing