I open my computer today ready to start blogging and nothing comes, I am completely blank. This happens at times, even when I have the desire to write the words just don’t flow out.
I contemplate some questions ask myself, why I write, what purpose it serves and who I’m writing for?
My inner voice responds in a way that seems to unlock the block.
The purpose of blogging is simply to make some sense of your own learning, it may contribute to others and it may not, it’s ok – write for yourself.
I begin to write.
I enter the doorway of flow, feeling enjoyment, freedom and some comfort with imperfection as my fingers move across the keys. I write for pleasure, I write for peace,
I write because I’m happy, I write when I’m sad, I write when it flows well and when it seems mad.
Now my mind is busy again, I wonder why these thoughts come in a way that they cause another blockage, I’m hesitant, stumbling over words and thinking too much. I feel a tightness around my shoulders, I listen to my inner voice: “it should be logical, interesting aahh ….” I get up and move. I listen to music – I paint, I breathe, I write poetry. I’m determined to write only when I’m inspired by my heart – when it flows.
Is there an easy way to unlock blocks and free up your flow?
My memory takes me back to my final year of secondary school when during an English literature examination I became completely frozen.
I couldn’t write, I was sitting with a blank piece of paper in front of me at a desk in the long school hall, which was full of teenagers. I remember that everyone appeared to be writing avidly – except me!
I read the questions over and over and they made no sense to me at all. I guess I panicked and then through sheer effort of focus, somehow, through a clouded mind, I began to write a few paragraphs before the freeze returned again.
I couldn’t remember how to spell the simple word ‘what’. I felt anxious, hot, cold and clammy, scanning my memory frantically. I felt sick. The buzzer sounded to mark the end of our time in the examination and I handed over my paper to a teacher – I failed of course!
I’m not saying that being blocked with writing is the same as the freeze instinct being triggered, however, I’m noticing that this happened to me and I am curious about the connection and mastery of this.
The FREEZE instinct can be triggered in a moment and it can be quite debilitating. The impact of this can remain in the body for some time.
I’m becoming confident in my understanding of this primitive instinct. I’ve learnt that recognising freeze is a BIG step towards moving through it.
When I’m present unconditionally, to what is happening somatically during the experience and I breathe deeply into movement- calm restores a significant shift in ease and flow emerges!
Do you have some thoughts on the connection between freeze and writer’s block, if so I’d love to hear them?
In the meantime, I hope the tips below will support you to free up your flow in writing!
8 Tips on moving through writer’s block to flow:
- Choose to write.
- Know why you want to write, what inspires you, what spurs you on.
- Start with an idea and let the text emerge into its own shape.
- Write when your words flow.
- Stop when you’re blocked!
- Take breaks that support a connection to the natural creative flow — watch how the leaves on trees blow effortlessly in the breeze, how the clouds in the sky float by and how the birds fly.
- Embrace all thoughts that come, those that are for writing in the text and those that cause you to stumble — be kind to yourself.
- Trust that your text can take different twists and turns and eventually it will form into something that is logical and has some substance.
- Give yourself time.
I hope you find these tips useful. If you have some that you’d like to share with me, I’d love to hear them.
Ahh… my thoughts come again– “your not a writer, how can you give advice?”
“your advice is not scientific or from an experienced writers perspective”
Response to self — “you are right and I love to write, I’ve written since I was a child, I used to love writing stories and poems. I wrote sometimes every day as a young adult, my rambling thoughts in my journals, this is how I made sense of my world.”
And so I will continue to write and most importantly, I will write in a way that allows life to flow through me, trusting that when my mind works together with my heart I have something worth saying.
Reading, listening, and discussing opinions different from your own can open your mind and help you to see life from different perspectives. This can be particularly freeing if you are stuck in thinking about certain things in a particular way.
Thank you for your comment Sarah, I agree that flexibility in perspective is essential and I’m interested too when the freeze instinct blocks our ability to move and think clearly are you?