The sunlight filtered in through the bedroom curtains and my puppy began to bark. This was my alarm clock. I clutched my pillow and buried my head, wishing I could go back to sleep. “Sleep, come free me” was the last thought I had last night. In my sleep, I’m free from worry. My chaotic life, mounting bills, struggling to find work…everything disappears in sleep.
I didn’t welcome this morning’s alarm, but surprisingly the first thought I had was a positive one; “One day at a time…you have today…don’t think about tomorrow…embrace today…maybe I should write.”
I have today...maybe I should write...
I haven’t been writing much for myself these days. I guess life gets in the way, but I decided to write today. Strangely, writing brings me joy. I’m not sure why. It’s therapeutic at times.
The Psychology of writing has been a topic that has always interested me. Some of my best writing comes when I’m dealing with raw, powerful emotion. It’s finding freedom by fearlessly standing naked, making sense out of confusion or upset.
Writing has power. It can turn a gray day into a day filled with rainbows, if I write with abandon; not worrying how it will be perceived.
Alice Weaver Flaherty wrote a great book on the topic: “The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer’s Block and the Creative Brain”. In her book, she discusses the biological and emotional influences on the writing process
In David L. Nathan’s review of Flaherty’s book, he wrote:
“She conveys a sense of fragility in the writer’s craft. She draws on her professional background and personal difficulties to explain what can make someone write at a pace so fast that it seems almost involuntary. She also examines how other factors, such as depression or brain injuries, can prevent a writer from producing at all.”
I’d have to agree with this point. Depression can definitely hinder the writing process; the act of turning away from the things that you love. At the same time, mania might power a writing surge. I think of Hemingway who suffered from Bipolar Disorder and his quote “There’s nothing to writing. You just sit at the typewriter and bleed.”
Catherine McCall, M.S., L.M.F.T., a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, wrote a great article called, Writing and Healing: Exploring the Power of the Written Word in Mental and Physical Well-being.
In her article, she cites other publications that support the notion that writing can heal the soul.
She writes:
“The more people described positive emotions in their writing, the more likely they were to be healthier afterward. But describing negative emotions either excessively or very little or not at all correlated with poorer health. Describing negative emotions in moderation correlated with improved health. Thus, we profit most from understanding positive and negative aspects.
Once organized, events become smaller and smaller and therefore easier to deal with. Writing moves us to resolution; it becomes psychologically complete and therefore there’s no need to ruminate about it, beyond the trauma. Southern author Rosemary Daniel says it best, in THE WOMAN WHO SPILLED WORDS ALL OVER HERSELF:
“…each time I wrote about my pain, I would feel the stitching and restitching inside my brain, as though festering tissue was actually being trimmed away and sealed over, to at last heal. The longer each book had taken to write, the longer had been the revision process and the stronger the fabric of that healing.”
Even Stephen King has been quoted:
“A little talent is a good thing to have if you want to be a writer. But the only real requirement is the ability to remember every scar. You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair–the sense that you can never completely put on the page what’s in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page.”
After reading Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, I learned the value of free writing. It’s a way to be present and tap into my creativity or any topic that inspires. It’s not hard to do; just dedicate a set time (every day) to write…and today, the joy came back. I greeted the day with optimism by deciding to free write.
It was like meeting an old friend for lunch. I hadn’t realized how much I had missed it until I became engaged with it again.
I believe there is a psychology to writing. The good writers know how to create novelty with value. It’s purposeful, meditative, sometimes emotional.
It’s the soup for what ails me and today it delivered a gift. The recognition that I have today…I should be grateful…tomorrow will take care of itself somehow…if I remember to write…
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