A while back, I posted How to Set Your Childhood Monsters Free, a piece about how writing can be a tool for healing. I learned that writing the words down—those painful experiences—then tearing them into teeny weeny pieces and discarding them helps a person heal.
Writing can be therapeutic.
Recently, I took a course where I learned another manner of therapy: stream-of-consciousness writing. But it’s not just for therapy. It’s a way to tap into creativity as well.
I write 20-minutes a day about literally whatever comes to mind. I’m most inspired right at waking. I dart to the kitchen to make a cup of my favorite decaf coffee, then I go to my loft and immediately begin writing whatever comes to mind. I have neither a topic nor a plan, which is exactly how it’s supposed to work.
Writing with pen and paper is essential. The physical process of laying down words differs from using a computer or electronic device.
“Studies show that people dig deeper into their psyches when they journal in longhand, as writing in this way stimulates and better engages your brain. And neuroscience has proven that when you handwrite something that requires deep thought, such as your goals, you build over ten thousand new neural pathways in your brain in one sitting; whereas on a computer, you are only building six hundred new pathways.” — Diana Raab, DailyOm
When I do this every day, I can’t get the words out fast enough, even when I think I have nothing to write about. It’s invigorating, transformative, and enlightening.