BLOG POST:
DO NOT WASTE YOUR PAIN
DO NOT WASTE YOUR PAIN
“Perhaps the whole point in life is to give ourselves to ourselves.”
Do you have the desire to say something? To speak your truth and say what you need to say?
Well if so, you are in good company.
Why do most us humans long to speak our truth, to tell our story as truthfully as we are able, and to have our story “heard?”
It seems a primal human urge for us to speak our truth and be “heard.” And writing is our mechanism for finding clarity and saying what we must say.
The process of writing requires that we “work though” our muddled confusion and get clarity onto the blank page in front of us. Writing, to me, is an ancient and mystical process. It is also really tough to do, once you sit down in front the blank page or screen. It has been said that the “blank page is God’s way of showing us how hard it is to be God."
Writing with a depth of honesty to what is really going on inside us helps us become a more fully realized human being, as well as a more articulate and passionate technical writer (if that is even desired.). It also helps us realize and understand the power of our story - and that we can edit and change our personal story, which inevitably will change our world.
As we learn to write with clarity, over time and with practice we develop our own unique “voice,” and cull our deepest stirrings for our writings, which makes them inherently interesting because they are real. Did you know that writing with this kind of brutal honesty is clinically proven to heal your mind and body? (Pennebaker et al)
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And as if that weren’t enough (to feel the joy of articulating our deepest truths,) sometimes what we have written, what we have articulated onto the page, can powerfully impact another human being for the better. As they say, shame dies when stories are shared in safe places. This healing could be for the person sitting next to you in a writing class, or it could be for someone reading your published book decades in the future.
PAIN AS FODDER FOR GROWTH
Many of us spend an inordinate amount of time trying to escape life’s inevitable pain. While it is never good idea to dwell on our suffering, the paradox is that if we never address our pain, if we never attempt to uncover it’s sacred message, then we will remain numbingly stuck in our unhealthy patterns.
WRITING AS HEALING
As we write, we face the rumbling discomfort of our unhealed, unawakened, unarticulated self. Through journaling, we face ourselves each day, and the more we do it, the more interesting it gets, and from my experience the more we fall in love with the treasured gift of simply being a human. Perhaps the whole point in life is to give ourselves to ourselves. To reveal the many gems and jewels that remain hidden under hardened layers of our own traumatized psyche.
This eventual awaking to the beauty of our own humanity is absolutely the best gift we could ever give ourselves, and in healing ourselves the world is healed as well.
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, the pioneer in near-death studies, has said “beautiful people don’t just happen.” They are people who have known suffering, known loss. And due to this suffering, they develop into people who hold extraordinary compassion, sensitivity, and “a deep loving concern.”
What does therapeutic journaling (the style of writing in Writing From the Core classes) have to do with all of this? It is a daily tool that we can use which allows us to tell our story with deep honesty. Through this process of writing honestly, we navigate our way through all of the many challenges we face that feel overwhelming. We learn, in time, that we can turn our life story in any direction at any time.
SAY WHAT YOU NEED TO SAY
It feels SO DAMN GOOD to say what you need to say. To have the courage to speak out. To take a stand for who you are in this world. Heck, you can write some crazy stuff, just to get it off your chest, let your demons out of their festering lock-block of shame, then tear up/throw away/burn what you have written! Poof, you are unburdened!
WHY WRITE TOGETHER?
Writing together in a group setting allows us to speak our truth, to write from a deeper place, a more meaningful place, and in speaking those words out into the world, we are somehow forever changed, released and awakened. Therapeutic journaling can help us excavate our inherent beauty and power.
COME TO CLASS AS YOU ARE
You don’t have to be perfect, or even have to be a writer. You take baby steps, and before you know it, your personal power flows through you like a river. The more you write, the stronger you will get.
Do not waste your pain. Use it to guide you, to show you the contrast which will then allow you to focus on what you really DO want. Once you begin to write in this way, life will never be the same.
I hope to see you Wednesday! Info and registration here: https://www.williammdonnelly.com/writing/class-schedules
Will Donnelly