Many contemplative writers advise creatives to never check email first thing in the morning. Despite knowing this, I always turn on my phone and open my inbox before breakfast. This is a habit pattern that I enacted early Monday morning and as usual, this rebellious behavior brought me feelings of satisfaction. But later in the morning while pulling on my socks, I noticed a bad taste in my mouth. My mood had changed.
With a bit of detective work, I discerned the culprit – a poem in a favorite newsletter that I didn’t “get.” As a recent graduate of Laurie Wagner’s Wild Writing Teacher Training, where we learned how vital poems can be, I expected more of myself.
Lying on a black plastic True Back, part of my daily effort to thwart dowager’s hump, I had an epiphany! Was this how my lawyer friend Ann felt when she was editing my first memoir about psychoanalysis? She would point out a psychoanalytic phrase that I believed was perfectly clear and ask, “what does that even mean?”
That’s what I wanted to ask the poet: what does this mean?
It then occurred to me that we all think in different ways, a bit of wisdom I often neglect to remember.
I thought suddenly of the power of the Wild Writing technique where we discover our own words. How the more we practice writing as fast as we can, saying yes to the words as they come to our mind, that we get better at expressing and knowing ourselves. As we write and then read aloud what we’ve written, then listen to others share what they wrote (all of this without comment from the teacher or the students), we gain confidence and courage.
If you would like to experience this safe and fun technique, I am offering a six-week Wild Writing group on Wednesdays from 1:30 to 3:00 PM starting December 7. Give yourself (& me) a Holiday gift of transformation, satisfaction, and community. Simply send me an email to reserve your spot. Group limited to six men and or women. Introductory price $25.00 (PayPal or Venmo) for the series with fees donated to the Food Bank of Iowa.
IMAGE: A peaceful morning at my meditation altar.
