FREE FORM WRITING EXERCISE
Purpose:
To give voice to and bring greater awareness to unconscious or subconscious thoughts.
To promote the release of unconscious and subconscious material that may weigh heavily on your mind.
To allow for negative material to surface in a safe space.
To cultivate self-honoring and self-trust.
To create a sacred ceremony to honor your WHAT IS, give it space to EXPRESS and open to your TRUE DESIRE.
Instructions:
Find yourself in a quiet and uninterrupted place to conduct this process. Allow for at least an hour or more of solitude. As you conduct this process you will find the amount of time that works best for you. You don’t want to find yourself having to do anything right after this process (have a conversation, go to work or go out in public). Allow for at least 15-20 minutes to collect yourself and integrate before having to make contact with others.
Use a pen and paper. Provide yourself with extra of both as to not break your flow of writing.
Free-form writing is a stream-of-consciousness process. Write with your dominant hand continuously all thought that occurs to you, even if it jumps from one to another. Your writing may be slow or fast, it doesn’t matter – simply write. Continue to write the thought that are present even if you find yourself going into contemplation. If the thought you are writing triggers contemplation or painful emotion, simply write what’s occurring, for example “I wonder if this is useful, should I look into taking up running, I’ve always loved, athletic, I’m lazy” or “I feel awful, pain in my stomach, sickening, disgusted” or “I don’t know what to write, this is silly, when should I finish”. Your writing is not intended to make sense, nor intended to be shared. No editing is necessary and in fact can be counterproductive.
Before you begin, center yourself and set your intention. For example, your intention may be “to allow for any negativity that no longer serves me to surface and be released, for my highest good and the good of all concerned.” I do suggest including “for my highest good and the good of all concerned” in your intention.
Start slow and set a timer. You may want to write for 15 minutes to start, but find you feel complete at 8 minutes. That’s fine. Stop writing. If at the 15-minute mark you feel you have more to go, keep going and finish writing when you feel complete. Once complete, get up, walk around and drink a glass of water.
Burn what you have written. This is an important step as it aids in releasing what you no longer want.
Don’t reread what you have written. Refuse to entertain any negative material that has surfaced. You may or may not feel good after writing. That’s perfectly okay. Know that something has occurred and will release in time. As with most practices the more you continue with it, the more you will enjoy its positive effect. It is suggested to make a commitment of practice, for example 3 times a week for 21- days. It is also suggested to work up to being able to write for 1-hour.
Rewrite all insights, inspiration and positive material on a separate paper. If positive material (insight, inspiration, solutions) comes forward that you want to save – write them on a separate sheet of paper and burn all originals.
Once you feel a shift of energy has occurred, embrace it. If you feel lighter, unburdened or more optimistic about a certain issue, go in that direction. Embrace it as fully as you are able on all levels; for example
a) in the physical, move your body and allow every cell of your body to feel good,
b) in the mental, continue to cultivate the optimistic, helpful and useful thoughts that are occurring, through re- stating them or saying “thank you”,
c) in the emotional, allow yourself to cry or laugh or dance or sing, express your good feelings,
d) in the spiritual, give thanks for the feeling you are experiencing in the moment. Once you feel better, feel better and go about your day. In other words if you’ve dropped something, don’t pick it back up!
*This process has been adapted for our magic, and the original exercise is credited to The University of Santa Monica. To learn more visit www.gousm.edu.