Every year, my social feeds are flooded with any number of companies and candidates offering to help you fulfill your New Year’s Resolution to write that book in 30 days/90 days/ this year. Just have your credit card ready and let them guide you to your finished product. Now to be clear, there is no right or wrong approach to writing and by all means, invest in anything you feel will be helpful. If strict time management or writing prompts or whatever those systems offer work for you, then go for it.

My experience is that a struggle to write has little to do with outlines and organizational skills and literary gymnastics; it has everything to do with the space we allow ourselves, the identity we allow ourselves as creators, of a manuscript, of our own lives.

How do you hold creating from a blank page: exhilarating or terrifying? Making a mess? Spending an entire day writing a paragraph, then deleting it? Do any of those scenarios feel frustrating or overwhelming? Too much energy or a waste of time? Then creation may not be a safe and happy place. If that’s the case, no writing prompt or egg timer will change your outcome. Prompts and timers may lead to some effective strategies around the angst, but the angst won’t leave because it is a part of you … a part of you pressing for attention. Deal with that, learn from that, choose differently from that, and you’re on your way to writing more freely, and more importantly, living more aligned.

Creation of anything requires space, movement, and flow. Our inner space is way cluttered with experiences from our ancestors, patterns and habits we were taught, and beliefs we hold … so cluttered it can be hard to find let alone hear our authentic selves amongst it all. Brilliant artists, the mystics and authors and painters and sculpters and musicians and all those who share their expressions with the world who so deeply touch us, are creating from their authentic selves, owning they see the world differently and deeply and in those unique expressions invite us to see our world differently. Each creator finds, embraces, and hones a life designed for that full expression. The hard work is often not the art, but clearing the clutter that interferes with it.

A resolution can push through a certain amount of clutter, but does not resolve anything without a clear intention to focus on the root of the symptom.

Want effective change? Hold an intention, a promise to self that guides and encourages, and also embraces the flexibility needed as space opens, movement ramps up, and flow is engaged.

If a timer works for you, set it for, say, 15 minutes and simply sit in front of your computer/journal/paper and breathe. Inhale and exhale, mind on your breath, body relaxed. Envision what you want to write. Listen to the stories as they come up. Words. Memories. Scenes. Whatever presents itself. Notice everything, as you have not noticed before. Does the time pass slowly or quickly? Is your body relaxed or clenched? Pressure in your chest? Breath catching in your throat? Those are signs of stories angling to be heard, beliefs exerting themselves. Waste of time. I can’t write. I don’t know what I’m doing. I need help. This is a crazy idea. Those are what come up for me. And yes, I’ve written books, published books. Stories do not go away until the root from where they come is touched, owned, processed, and released. We are of infinite layers, which means there are always stories, patterns, and limiting beliefs. Our power of creation is in being okay with who we are, and open to who we can become. It is being okay with sitting to write and not writing a word, simply being with yourself for a dedicated period of time, with no expectation, no judgement. It is being okay with sitting to write and churning out something that will never see the light of day, but was important to release to get to the layer you’re called to share.

Writing can be transformative for both writer and reader, which is why we are drawn to write and fear it at the same time.

This start-stop creates pressure in the body and stories in the mind as it seeks to explain why we can’t possibly write here and now. Programs and systems can be of use, but will bump against the concrete of your entrenched patterns and beliefs and wither unless you choose to open to the writing process, and own the power of you as creator to bloom in the infinite space of the unknown. Breathe into that sentence, and feel the space open. Now, choose your next step, be it write a sentence, read a book, buy a program … and instead of trying to get it right, get curious instead, about what you write, how you hold writing, who you are. That is the ultimate story we all want to know more about.

In my journey as a writer, the CODE Model ™ provided an invitation and an outlet for my curiosity, to learn more of my limiting beliefs and my authentic self. With those awarenesses, choices become easier and more aligned, and my writing is beginning to shift from a job and a chore to a process of playful exploration and expression.

Want to learn more?

As a CODE Model Coach™, I engage Quantum TLC ™ for my own discoveries and can guide you in learning how to engage it for yourself.

CODE Model™ or Creation Out of Deep Energy™,  and Quantum TLC ™ are part of the WEL-Systems® body of knowledge developed by Louise LeBrun.

Visit
https://wel-systems.com/self-directed-evolution/

This new space for exploration includes articles, audio files, and referrals to CODE Model Coaches™ who can support and guide your journey.

Contact me

I can offer:

• 1 on 1 conversations/explorations/coaching to discuss your writing and the story behind the story of not writing
• Whispers from Within ™, a 10-day email exchange that delves into limiting beliefs through daily writing and written conversation
• Small group conversations, in person or virtual, among those of us called to explore what lights us up and what challenges us in living a fully authentic life.

If any of these options resonate or pique your curiosity, email me and we’ll set up a time to chat.