Thursday, June 5, 2008

A Noisy Mind

Do you get so twisted up with life's vagaries, family problems, insecurities that you have trouble writing?

Eric Maisel gives 7 principles in his book Deep Writing that we should learn in order to make our writing MORE. He is a therapist and creative coach who will be at the RWA conference in San Francisco this year.

'Human beings are psychological creatures. This may seem self-evident, yet the writer who does not write, or who writes but does not write deeply, rarely turns to herself to ask, "What's my nature, and what in my nature is the problem?

A writer is much more inclined to take a hundred workshops than to stop and say, "My parents did a terrific job of controlling me and maybe I've turned into a control freak myself. That's a real problem? If I'm spending all my energy trying to control things, there's no chance I can write deeply."

...we can get twisted up early on and never get untwisted.'

WHOA! Did that hit you like it hit me? I could quit there. He's hooked me.

The seven principles:
1. Hush the mind.
2. Holding the intention
2. Making choices
4. Honoring the process
5. Befriending the work
6. Evaluating the work
7. Doing what's required

NUMBER ONE - My mind stays noisy. I figure if he can help me 'hush' it so that I can focus on the creative process, his advice will be priceless.

The point is to write deeply - actually , I gather the point is to delve deeply (is that a sign!) into our experiences, our brain, loves, losses, trace memories, to a 'quiet state of readiness, empty your mind, activate your mind', your being and your heart empty fully into the process.

He ends the intro with this profound statement.

'Our psychological issues really do prevent us from holding ideas, starting projects, maintaining momentum, and respecting ourselves and our efforts. We need to get well, or at least better, because we deserve relief from the pain and we need emotional freedom.

That sense of (healthy) wholeness and well-being must be a wonderful place to make art from.'

I'm sure you can relate. I wish I was going to be a RWA to meet this guy!

Important stuff!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sadly sometimes life gets in the way of writing, and there's no way around it. Too much stress can cause a huge writer's block. One is too tired too write, and pushing oneself to do so can be more harmful to ones health than not doing it. It's hard to make choices, but... *sighs*

Leah Braemel said...

As long as 'Hush the mind' means 'Hush the Internal Editor' not the muse ... I enjoy those voices in my head. The IE? Nah, I want to take a baseball bat to her some days. Most days.

Since I can't get to Nationals this year, I've got to remember to order the discs. They're great to listen to when you've got a moment.