Want to write? Then you need to be present. Here, now, experiencing with all your senses the world around you. A sense of disconnection, of not being in your body in this world, will stifle your writing process.
“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is mere tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life, and the procedure, the process is its own reward,” said Amelia Earhart.
How do we use healing practices to support our sense of being grounded and present, for memoir writing?
FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
As the saying goes, different strokes for different folks. Below are a few options that has helped me enormously in the past. If you feel stuck and your words unable to present themselves to you, feel free to experiment with some of these options.
DAILY MORNING WRITING
Julia Cameron explored the benefits of daily morning pages in her books The Sound of Paper and The Artist’s Way. She offers a simple solution to disconnectedness: upon waking each morning, you start writing three pages, literally to empty your mind.
PRACTICING JOGA
Practicing joga has many benefits. But what I found interesting is that a year of practicing joga, four times weekly, fundamentally changed the way I perceive myself in the world. To me, the great benefit is the feeling of who you are in your own skin, and the sense of empathy with yourself, and the world around you, that develops over time. It provides a sense of interconnectedness and creates space for meaningful writing.
Explore the research of Bessel van der Kolk as well as Andrew Huberman for more information about healthy living, to support productive writing.
USING A TABLE FILLED WITH OBJECTS TO JOG YOUR MEMORY
A mood board, outlining your process, can be helpful. You can focus your attention on the characters you are developing – in the case of memoir, you as the main character, as well as the other people figuring in your story. Although you are writing creative nonfiction, you will treat your “characters” as you would do in fiction.
Another technique is to place objects that remind you of specific times and places on a table, close to your writing station. The objects must be reachable, touchable, to evoke the suppressed memories.
Write true, write as honestly as you can, because the first draft is for your eyes only. It must contain everything you remember. Editing comes later.
TALKING ABOUT WOUNDS AND TRAUMA IN A SAFE SPACE
Perhaps the words are not coming to you easily. Are they stuck somewhere in your body/mind, and you cannot access them yet? Talking with others, in a group where you feel safe, is beneficial to help the words surface. Van der Kolk stresses in his lectures that we need to take care of the wounds in ourselves. Verbally uttering your trauma can translate to the creation of sentences onto paper.
MOVING YOUR BODY
A wise friend once told me that time and distance give perspective. I have known it to be true in my life.
The big topics: death, divorce, being unemployed, poverty, racism – these are heavyweights and may take many years and mind shifts to get perspective on why something has happened to you.
More manageable and within your control, is to literally move your body, get it out of your house and busy with physical exercise. Small steps to create time and distance in your everyday life, will also lead to perspective gradually arriving.
Repetitive actions like walking, cycling, or knitting creates rhythm and space for thought.
Movement is your key to freedom.
HEALING PRACTICES TO SUPPORT MEMOIR WRITING
“I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine,” said Bruce Lee.
When we write, we need a sense of being grounded and present Discover what works for you, then distil your story to the essence of what matters. Peel back your memories. Create your awareness. Whether you are writing creative nonfiction, making wine, or painting a house, the secret lies in the meticulous attention to detail.
As an author coach, I can assist you in this journey.
2 Responses
Dear Anemari, thank you again for your post. It is worthwhile to read and I am going to read it again. Coincidentally, I do morning papers. I’ve started in December 2023 and am still going every morning. It is a wonderful experience. I recommend it. You will be able to see and feel the growth in your life.
Kind regards.
Philip
Good morning Philip. Thank you for your comments, as always extremely valuable! This year I have started journaling again, using a template of five prompts – it is also a good practice to use. Take care and looking forward to work with your manuscript.