More Benefits of Writing – Persistence. Patience. Perspective.

The words rattling around in my brain this week are: “Persistence” sitting alphabetically between “Patience” and “Perspective”.

Persistence, when it comes to my daily journal writing habit means I have to keep showing up at the page. Day after day.

For years, my morning ritual has been my mind-focusing meditative practice and I just keep writing – no matter what chaos is rising, no matter what silly words I put down, not matter how shaky my handwriting. Ultimately, at some point, assuming I have stayed true to some topic of concern, a glimmer of light will appear and I find some reasons to smile. Often, I end up feeling quite clever, laugh at myself and realize that fear was blocking my way. In other words – once I calmed down, the penny dropped, I knew what needed to happen next and my mental gears shifted.

Based on reader’s comments I have received, I understand (and empathize) with writers who stop writing when things get uncomfortable. I understand that fears, worries and anxieties can howl like the fantods and that writer’s block means staring angrily at a blank page. Nobody said writing every day would be easy, but with a shift in perspective, a determined effort to get to gratitude, we can find the hidden light switches waiting patiently in our minds.

“Gratitude is like fertilizer for the mind spreading connections and improving its function in nearly every realm of experience.” Dr. Robert A. Emmons writes. He goes on, “Rest your mind upon worry, sadness, annoyance, and irritability and it will begin to take the shape neurally of anxiety, depression, and anger. Ask your brain to give thanks and it will get better at finding things to be grateful for, and begin to take the shape of gratitude.”

Imagine that – our brains take the shape of our thoughts. Positive or negatively inspired, by finding something to be grateful for, new neural connections can form.

Joan Didion, author of A Year of Magical Thinking wrote: “I write entirely to find out what I am thinking, what I am looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.” Ms. Didion wrote to find her fears and her self-described world view was noted as “fundamentally pessimistic, fatalistic and depressive.”

Ms. Didion had her worst fears realized in 2005 when her husband died suddenly and her gravely ill daughter lay in hospital. Didion’s grief, her losses, her entire sense of self reeled with sadness. Her life circumstances and challenges were numerous, troubling and significant. Her impact, talents and writing skill were monumental, but I wonder if anyone ever introduced her to the idea of continuing to write through the fear, in an effort to find magic in her gratitudes.

Writing about our fears is normal. Persistently staying locked in fear without entertaining thoughts that are joyful or hopeful is limiting and hard on the brain. A daily practice of writing in a journal offers space for thoughts of every shape and size, every texture and every possibility. But, thoughts are not facts. Worries are not reality. Memories are past events, half-remembered truths and real time plays havoc with past time. Finding your reasons for gratitude is a way to consistently infuse your thoughts with reassurance. Writing with self-compassion and kindness for others can loosen the paralyzing grip of negativity.

I am beginning to realize that leaving the page while your mind drips with fear and anxiety is like getting off the bus a few stops too soon. Maybe it’s a question of energy and timing, but if you can convince yourself to keep trying, keep imagining a world view that is more positive, you can reach a new relationship with your worries, honour them adequately. Then promising yourself to keep trying and write your way to a new horizon.

With patience, persistence, a good night’s sleep, time spent in Nature, and gentle conversations with friends, a more positive mindset can grow stronger and fears can recede. It’s called turning the page.

An Ecology of Gratitude: Writing your way to what matters can help you get to the start line of your next start line. Purchase a copy in the Bow Valley (for $25.) at Café Books or The Whyte Museum or Wild Life Distillery or Ticino Swiss Italian Restaurant If you purchase via Amazon, it’s $29.99. The $25 discount in meant to support indie book-sellers.

Also available as an e-book, Kindle and Kobo. Consider inviting your favourite indie book seller or library to order it from IngramSpark. I am also happy to offer educational discounts, for bulk orders.

Want to talk more about habits, journal writing and growing gratitude? email me at: lorraine@grassrootsgratitude.ca

Visit my website www.grassrootsgratitude.ca

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