Yesterday was the 4th of July here, a time, once again, to celebrate our freedom as Americans. I could go on about what freedom means, but we all have our own thoughts about it.
So, instead, I’d like to invite you to play with some Free Writing.
Writing is a wonderful way to access what is in your heart. Your hands are, in fact, an extension of your heart.
Free writing means just writing…not editing, not even thinking, just following a stream of consciousness without judgment.
It doesn’t have to be grammatically correct, you don’t even have to write complete sentences. And no one is checking your spelling!
The idea is to just write and see where your words take you.
If you find yourself correcting spelling as you write, or judging what you’ve written, consider this: the writer in you uses a very different part of your brain than the editor.
I like to think of them as two beings doing two very different jobs. Both are important but they cannot work together in the same room at the same time.
When I am writing, creating, the editor is banned from the room. Later, when I’m ready to review and objectively read what I’ve written, the writer and her ego must take a break so that the editor can do her work.
Here is an exercise that I give many of my coaching clients to help them move beyond a feeling of stuckness and “I don’t know.”
Try it. See where it takes you….
Choose a writing prompt from the list below.
Set a timer for 10 minutes and begin writing whatever comes into your mind. If nothing comes into your mind, just write the word over and over, or rhyme it. You can even write “I don’t know what to write.”
Just keep coming back to the prompt and follow your pen on the paper.
If you hit on something interesting, follow it. It may not have anything to do with the actual prompt word.
If you get stuck, just come back to the prompt.
After your 10 minutes, turn to a clean page, set the timer for another 10 minutes and write some more on the same prompt. You’ll be surprised by where it will take you.
Free writing can trigger memories, reveal forgotten dreams, inspire new ideas.
Here’s an example, using the word BLUE as a prompt:
blue. blue, a primary color. blue like when you’re sad. blue suede shoes. blue bells, blue moon, blue eyes, blue skies like in summer when I used to lie in my front lawn for hours and just watch the clouds and I didn’t have to be anywhere or do anything and I was free…..blueberries, blue popsicles-they were Jeff’s favorite and they’d turn his tongue blue and……..
Here are some words you can use as prompts:
Drive Candy Maps Winter Mountains
Blue Potatoes Hair Paper Telephones
