This is my milestone blog, number 100, and I wanted to write about writing because it’s such a powerful tool for self discovery. Writing is an act of creation. When we write we are actively engaged in the process of transformation because we are bringing to life something that didn’t exist before. It’s mystical because it takes patience and getting quiet enough to hear the words that want to be said, words that come from a place we can never know completely. This is where we make connections, gain deeper understanding, and wrestle with all that’s unknown. Sometimes it can feel more like transcribing because the words take on their own life and begin to flow from this mysterious source that defies intellectual understanding. Every writer talks about the muse, but no matter how concrete we might like to think that muse is, it’s really not a person, place, or thing, but the well of creative energy that flows within waiting to be summoned. Tapping into this energy has the power to get us thinking in new ways.

Jung has an often-quoted saying, “Whether bidden or unbidden God is present.” Writing from our soul is the same, it’s a message without a messenger that can’t be manipulated, but its magic is there for all of us at any time. The answers are always there, it’s just a question of reorienting ourselves in order to receive them. When we write what has meaning for us we speak ourselves out loud, writing becomes the conduit to birth another piece of our soul into being. It reminds us our voice exists, we have a unique point of view, the only question is will we let ourselves speak. At its best writing allows us to risk our current self in order for our authentic voice to bloom into the written word. The words we shape out of thin air connect our daily living to the deep underground reservoir that connects us all.

I’ve always thought of writing as a waking meditation. It brings together our inner and outer experiences, and lets us mull over the things we are usually distracted from, giving them a chance to be heard. If we can get comfortable hanging out in this intermediary place our connection to it becomes stronger. Then we can create our truth. This is the ground where we unravel the mystery of our innermost self that wants to be expressed. It doesn’t matter whether what we write stays private or goes public. It’s the act of writing that creates the magic of meaning in our lives, it creates content and deeper connection. When we coax our thought, beliefs, and ideas out of the faint stirrings within we give them a form which in turn forms us.

There are many paths to get to greater understanding, but writing offers a special gift, it lets us straddle the two worlds while we are awake. Through this we build connections where there were none, we listen more intently to mysterious hunches that lead us down unknown paths. We change our lives by manifesting the unknown through our thoughtfully chosen words and delicate weaving together of new ideas. Bringing up the treasure from the depths of the interior is what the act of writing does, and that mystical act has the power to heal us.

Here’s to opening to the deeper dimensions of the unknown and giving them a voice in our lives.

kb