I sent this out at the end of February to my mailing list, let me know if you want to have a monthly musings drop into your inbox.

February caught me by surprise. The first half spent counting down to a half term trip to Seahouses, an exact copy of the previous February half term – the ultimate ‘no thinking required’ holiday of dog walks on the beach and a trip to Barter Books. The second half of the month inching towards March, hoping for spring. Noting the daffodils, snowdrops and lighter afternoons with the odd cold snap keeping us firmly in our big coats and hats still.

Write to reflect

I’m partially writing this during Thursday morning Writers Hour. Normally I write onto blank pages in my notebook à la Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages, but this time I turned to my favourite reflective writing prompts. My go-to when I’ve dug myself into a bit of a hole and need help getting out:

• What?
• So what?
• Now what?

Given that I’ve woken with a knotted stomach two mornings out of the past five this week with the same worries and anxieties filling my head, it’s a sign that I need to do more than just spill my head and heart onto the paper.

So I turned to these three questions, and you know what, it works. Open enough to allow me to write freely, with just enough subtle guidance to bring me at least one smiling ‘a-ha’ moment.

‘Two helpful words to keep in mind at the beginning of any writing adventure are pleasure and spaciousness. If we connect a sense of joy with our writing, we may be inclined to explore further. What’s there to find out? Perhaps too much stock has been placed in big ideas or even small ones — a myth! — but regularity seems like a key. Don’t start with a big idea. Start with a phrase, a line, a quote. Questions are very helpful. Begin with a few you’re carrying right now.’

Naomi Shihab Nye

Blank page or writing prompt?

I don’t know why, but generally I seem to steer away from writing prompts. Maybe it’s because I feel like I’m going to get it wrong, a hangover from school where I was always terrified of putting my hand up in class for fear of getting ‘it’ wrong. Those old habits and beliefs can be hard to shift.

But when I do persevere, they do elicit their own, ‘Oh, really? Ok, I did not see that coming’ moments which in turn triggers a little honest reflection. Take Tuesday’s Writing for therapy session, our warm up was to – without over thinking it – answer these prompts and write:

• A colour
• An animal
• A place
• A food
• A song
• A thing

Now I’m a green or blue kind of girl and dogs are my go-to animal, so how and why did I come up with the colour red and a hare? Interesting.

The thing is, it’s all information, whether it’s come from a prompt or empty page. Once written down I can choose to ignore it and simply enjoy the lightness that comes from having got the thoughts out.

Or it might just shine a light on something that warrants further exploration, whether that involves writing, a conversation or something else. But until it’s out of me I won’t know and it’ll all just keep swirling through my head, and that gets me nowhere but interrupted sleep and a knotted stomach.

‘Our evolutionary, ancestral wiring has rendered us highly skilled at retaining the learning lessons from bad experiences and left us rank amateurs at retaining the learning from positive experiences.’

Your brain on ink

Write to celebrate the good stuff too

I file this writing under wellness housekeeping. Simple things to help me navigate day to day life. I just have to remind myself to explore what’s gone well as well as the not so well. I guess it’s just that we tend dwell on the negative and seek lessons there rather than explore and celebrate the good stuff. 

I’m leaning into therapeutic writing as we head into spring because while March signals optimism with its spring flowers and blue sky it’s also a season of milestones and reminders. My breast cancer diagnosis, Mother’s Day as a motherless mother, my son’s birthdays just days apart, but for the past eight years with mum’s anniversary sandwiched in between.

Happy times mixed in with reminders of loss and change. We all have these periods and equally, it doesn’t need a milestone to throw us off track. There’s huge value to writing out day to day life too. 

‘You’ll likely be surprised at how much coherent writing emerges in a spare five minutes. Precede it with a minute of closed-eye deep breathing and follow with a read and reflection write, and you’ve got an oasis of clarity or relief in about eight minutes.’

Your brain on ink

Happy writing

I guess we can’t always predict how any given day is going to turn out so knowing that even a minute of tapping words onto a screen or scribbling onto piece of paper will help in that moment and possibly in the future is surely something worth leaning into. What do you think?

Thanks for reading, 
Harriet