5 Simple Steps For a Positive Therapeutic Writing Experience
Having a positive therapeutic writing experience is best to do with a guide so that you don’t have to do anything but write. But, you can also try it on your own and see how it goes. If you try this, I strongly encourage you to follow the five steps below to help create a positive therapeutic writing experience.
Step 1: Set up your environment
It is essential that you are in a quiet and comfortable writing space. You don’t want to be around distractions or be interrupted mid-session. Also, ensure you have your writing tools near you. That means a writing book, pen/pencil, and highlighter or another coloured pen.
Step 2: Bring awareness through breathing
To help settle into your writing space and divert from anything else that has happened (or is going to happen) in your day, I suggest you start with two rounds of deep breathing. That would be like this. Close your eyes and take a deep breath (count to 4) and let it out (over 4 counts). Then repeat until you start to feel your body relaxing.
After your deep breathing, slowly open your eyes and find a comforting object to focus on in your space. It could be a plant on your desk/table, a bird outside your window, or (if you’re doing a workshop with me) the picture on your screen. Look at the object for 15 seconds and notice colour, shape, and size of any aspect of that object. E.g. the wings on a bird, or the veins on the plant leaves.
Step 3: Prepare a prompt and set your timer
Of course, it is much easier to do therapeutic writing when a guide provides you with a prompt, but if you are doing this on your own you can start with something simple like, “I feel…”, Write this at the top of a fresh page and then set your timer.
In my workshops, we generally work on a 5-minute writing time but feel free to vary this based on how much time you have. At a minimum, give yourself 2 minutes to write.
Step 4: Freewrite and let your thoughts flow
Once you’ve set your timer, start writing, and don’t stop until the time is up. This is a key part of deep-mind digging. When you’re writing, you cannot read, cross out, correct, or change words. Don’t worry about grammar, spelling, or sentence structure. You can repeat as much as you need. If you don’t know how to start, write: “I don’t know how to start.” After that, if you don’t know what to write, write: “I don’t know what to write.” Just don’t stop writing.
Step 5: Explore your thoughts.
After your timer sounds, read what you wrote and highlight or underline one word, phrase, or sentence that grabs your attention. Don’t think about why it grabs your attention, just notice that it does. Then, write that word, phrase or sentence at the top of a new page. Beside it write the word, “means”. You now have a new prompt. So, set your timer and go!
Note: You can repeat these steps as many times as you want. The more you do it, the deeper you’ll reach into your thoughts.
Those are your five simple steps!
Exploring your deep thoughts can be confusing when you do it on your own; that is why I invite you to explore my guided therapeutic writing workshops, where you just need to sit back, follow my guidance, and write.
In trees we trust,