Writing about Hope

How you do anything is how you do everything – Zen proverb

Beginning to write about a difficult experience signals that we

 have chosen hope rather than despair. 

 Conversely, when we’re in despair, 

if we write we become more hopeful. – Tom O’Brien

The discipline of work provides an exercise bar, 

so that the wild, irrational motions of the soul become formal and creative – May Sarton

Writing is a way of recovering what is lost.  -  Isabel Allende

Emotional territory we live in and manage provides powerful, authentic potential for writing. Our challenge is to allow feelings to emerge as we write; to let ourselves experience them and use them to deepen our writing.

Often writing uncovers emotions that temporarily make us uncomfortable. If we can tolerate these feelings, our writing will become enriched by the self-knowledge gained.

We need to dig in and take risks to explore unresolved puzzles or ongoing concerns. We will discover greater range and depth in artistic expression.

Writing about troubling life experiences makes us healthier and able to achieve a level of understanding of our lives that only writing can provide.  In part, this is because writing distracts us from our problems. Through writing, we cultivate the quality of absorption – becoming deeply immersed in our work.  Writing regularly fosters resilience.

Writing as an observer, we regard our lives with a certain detachment and distance when we view it as a subject to describe and interpret.

1.  Choose a quote above and begin writing.  See what flows from your pen.

2.  Consider what puzzles, confuses, or troubles you. Make a list. Choose one topic from your list and then write from the perspective of the third person – “he or she.”

3. Think of  “tangled emotions” – emotions where you feel conflicted. How can you write to untangle them?

4.  Define someone else’s problem you’ve already solved. How did you solve it? How did you change your relationship to trauma? How did you transform despair into understanding?