Your life is not set in stone. It’s something that you can change. One of the tools that you can use is a pen (or pencil). You can use writing to help you create the life you want.
Processing Emotions
A simple way to understand and come to terms with your emotions is to write down whatever it is that is bothering you. This allows you to internalise and then solve the problem. You’ll increase your self-knowledge and help yourself move forward.
Clearing Your Mind
To achieve higher levels of thinking and problem solving you need to clear your mind of unimportant or irrelevant thoughts. A simple way to achieve this is to “Core dump”.
Core dumping is a technique devised by David Allen (Getting Things Done). You simply list everything you need to do that day. This helps to clear your mind to allow you to focus on the most important things.
Another method of mind clearing is to write a stream of consciousness first thing in the morning every day. The important point with this process is that you write continuously without stopping to think or edit about what you are setting onto the page.
Julia Cameron (The Artist’s Way) calls this method, “Morning Pages”. She advocates writing three pages or approximately 750 words of your stream of consciousness first thing in the morning as a way to clear your mind. This leaves only those important thoughts you need to focus on for the day.
Create a Record
Diary keeping has been undertaken for centuries. It’s a powerful tool for keeping a record of activities and actions. By being able to re-read these you get to remember the past including your thoughts and feelings. This allows you to gain understanding and insight. An additional benefit is the realization of your strengths and achievements.
Achievements
Keeping a record of your achievements can be beneficial to your self-confidence as well as self-knowledge. There are different types of writing you can complete including:
Journals
Diaries
Goal lists
To do lists
Recording your achievements allows you to recognize and celebrate your achievements big or small.
Big Thinking
Dreams and goals are important as they help us to learn, grow and achieve success. Writing down your hopes and dreams allows you to not only dream about the future you’d like but to visualize it. By visualizing your dreams, you are making them more real. Your written record of your big thoughts will help you track them giving you a greater opportunity to achieve them.
If you want your life to change, then writing is a powerful tool. By using one or more of the methods above you will be creating a commitment to change and self-improvement. You can set goals, hold yourself accountable for making the changes and monitor your progress.
