The decision to turn toward your writing, and to keep going—again and again —to finish what you start —to honor the writing you do —to listen to what’s really asking to be said is an act of tremendous courage. Writing takes heart and it takes guts. It asks you to show up—over and over—when you feel like doing anything but that. The rewards, though, when you do show up, are beyond measure. Writing is not stingy. When you honor writing, writing honors you. Your whole sense of who you are expands. You become bigger than you thought you were. You remember who you really are, who you’ve always been. You come home. But that doesn’t mean the fears ever go away. In fact, the more you keep writing, keep taking the risk to show up and do your work, the more you start to learn that fear is going to be your companion. Steven Pressfield writes,      “Are you paralyzed with fear?  That’s a good sign.  Fear is good.  Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator.  Fear tells us what we have to do.  Remember one rule of thumb:  the more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.” So if fear doesn’t go away, and if it’s a good sign, how do you not become so paralyzed by it that you stop altogether? You learn to have an adult relationship with that fear. You recognize that you are no longer that child who felt so unsafe the only way she could survive was to go silent. You open your arms and your heart to that child you once were, who is still afraid to have a voice.  You tell her you want to hear what she needs to say. You restore the holy ground of your creative self, and when you do that, all the broken, cut off, lost and forsaken parts of yourself start to calm down.  And you get to have a relationship with them that you’ve never had before. It all starts with you recognizing that You Are Holy Ground. All of you.  The part that wants to write and the part that’s terrified and only wants to do whatever it takes to be safe. All of you gets to be heard. That's what my journey has been.  I've had to learn to love the part of me that was so scared she never believed it would be safe to write, even though writing was all she wanted to do. And that's the reason I teach the way I do. Over several decades, I've seen the most gifted, intelligent women I've ever encountered profoundly doubt the value of their work. In the course of our work together, they were able to learn that their self-doubt was a call to heal.  As they healed, they freed up energy for writing. My Soul Writing Journeys are an opportunity to dive deep into the source of creativity, and find where it lives within you.  The women who take that dive transform their writing and they also transform their lives. Like Yeugenia, who worked closely with me for an extended period of time, and then found: “I finally felt the courage to share what I feel needs to be shared:  My story, my life, my experience, my thoughts….I have more confidence in my ability to write.” Or Lisa, who dreamed of writing a novel for teenage girls: “What I’ve received from this experience is so much, it’s hard to put into words.  I’ve received practical advice on writing, including everything from how to format documents to how to tell a story….      I’ve received love and support…and most importantly, I’ve received trust with myself in my own voice, my own power of the written words, my own vision of my story, that it is important to tell, and tell in this way, at this time.” She's on the verge of completing her manuscript for Book One of what she now knows is a trilogy, and has a plan for the next two books. She's also been reading excerpts along the way to a group of teenage girls who love what she's writing!  She's already growing her fan base!! Is it time for you to build a new relationship with your writing so you can finally do the writing you came here to do? Time for you to finish your book?  Or start it again, this time for real?  Time for you to slow down enough to write the poems you hear in your head? Starting next week I'll be announcing new group programs to jump start your writing. Right now,  I still have one space available in my  private mentorship program.  Because sometimes you need someone right there with you, holding your hand, while you take the steps you need to take to transform your life at the deepest level. These three months will be dedicated to helping you Restore the Holy Ground of Your Creative Self so you Finally Do the Writing You Came Here To Do.  You’ll dive deep into the foundation of your writing life, so that you truly know that your desire to write is a sacred calling from your soul. You’ll develop your own powerful program of Radical Self Care so you have the resources and energy you need to get your writing done.  And you’ll get laser focused on the work you need to do now.   Adrienne Rich wrote, in her poem  Transcendental Etude,   But there come times—perhaps this is one of them—      when we have to take ourselves more seriously or die,   If it’s your time to take your writing more seriously, and you feel you need a level of support you’ve perhaps never had, in order to get it done, let’s have a conversation.   None of us can do it alone. If you’ve been silenced, but know it’s time to free your voice,  it just might be time to Restore the Holy Ground of Your Creative Self, so you can Finally Do the Writing You Came To Do.       Please reply to this email to let me know you’re ready, and we’ll schedule a conversation to see how I can best support you to take your writing where you want it to go.      I look forward to hearing from you! … [Read more...]

What would your life look like if you could Restore the Holy Ground of Your Creative Self and Finally Do the Writing You Came Here to Do? How would it feel to complete that memoir?   To be polishing your poems?  Shining your light through the blogs that you write, and offering them to the world as your prayer? It’s possible.  It really is. Even for you. Even now. It’s not too late and the fact that you may be a little stuck right now doesn’t mean that you’re a failure. It only means there’s a level of support you haven’t yet accessed. When you find the right support, you’re on your way to freedom. None of us can make our dreams come real on our own. The writing dreams that call to us come from the deepest part of ourselves.  And that part is often the most vulnerable. Did you ever feel you didn’t have the right to tell the truth the way you saw it? Did you ever feel it was safer to be silent than to let your voice be heard? Those early wounds, if they’re part of your history, may be affecting your writing life now. Sometimes we’re not stuck for the reasons we think we’re stuck.  Yes, I know, you’re already way beyond too busy and it can be hard to make the time to write. However, what I’ve seen over and over again, in my own life and in the lives of my students, is that when you start to create a relationship with your writing as if it’s the beloved of your soul  (which it truly is, on the deepest level) you want to make time to write, and you find time opening up in magical ways. And, when you invite the love of your soul to shine its light on your most scared parts, those parts start to feel safe enough to stop holding you back. They’ve never learned how to not be afraid, so of course they’re going to do all they can to stop you from writing. But not because they’re working against you.   They’re just asking you—in the only way they know—for the healing they have not yet received. The voice of the one who became silenced has been waiting a long time for you to turn toward her, and when you do, and truly listen to what she has to say, she begins to become your ally in going for your deepest writing dreams. When her energy is with you, and not holding you back, you become unstoppable. This is what’s possible for you, when you take the time to deeply explore your relationship with your writing, including the forces that have held you back in the past. It’s possible to create a new foundation for writing, when you Restore the Holy Ground of Your Creative Self. You are holy ground.  And your desire to write is a sacred calling from your soul. If it’s time for you to move toward your deepest writing dreams while exploring and transforming what’s held you back in the past, I invite you to have a conversation with me about my new three month private mentorship program: Restore the Holy Ground of Your Creative Self So You Can Finally Do the Writing You Came Here To Do.  The three months include my most powerful Soul Writing Journey processes including; Rest Until You Remember What You Love Walking Barefoot on the Earth You are Holy Ground. While engaging in those practices you’ll also be getting very clear and laser focused on the writing project you’re called to do now. You will make progress on your project while restoring a foundation for your writing life that’s based on true self-love. You’ll come to know the truth of who you are as a creator and find the freedom to make your creative self a central part of your life. I have three spaces available to begin this program in February.  If you’re ready to get serious and explore what’s possible for you with the support of a private mentorship program with me, please reply to this email, or write to me at Debora@deboraseidman.com,  and let me know why this calls to you now.  We’ll set up a time to talk. I look forward to hearing from you! … [Read more...]

Mary Oliver’s poem The Summer Day ends with this couplet:  Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? I love this question, and I love the whole poem. (It’s printed in full below). As I read it, I feel like Mary Oliver is asking us to step into the possibility of being fully alive.  Alive to the wonder and mystery of creation itself.  She asks, “Who made the world?... Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean— the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out of my hand…   Poetry asks us, and helps us, to pay attention to that wonder and mystery. As a writer, you, too, have been given a special capacity to help others wake up to what matters most about being alive. Your task is not to write the poems that Mary Oliver has already written, but to write what’s been given you to write.  And share it with those who need what you are here to say. To do any kind of writing, and do it well, is an act of sustained attention that’s possible when you come to it with love.  The kind of love Mary Oliver demonstrates, over and over, in the poems she’s left for us. Yet this poem also reminds me of another quote I love—a quote that speaks to how difficult it can be to actually trust and choose what you really want “to do/ with your one wild and precious life.” This quote comes from a letter written by choreographer Martha Graham to the dancer/choreographer Agnes de Mille. Agnes de Mille found herself in a place of doubt about her work and reached out to her friend Martha Graham for counsel.  A portion of Graham’s response has become an oft-quoted paragraph that many writers and artists need to hear:   “There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost.  The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.”                                    ---Martha Graham to Agnes de Mille   Martha Graham emphasizes that the work of the artist is to create.  To keep the channel open.  Not to judge and compare what comes through you. And yet…for most of us, that’s exactly what stops us.  We judge and compare ourselves mercilessly.  And in so doing, we block the channel through which the writing comes. Our own fears and doubts become so powerful that they stop the creative process inside us. That’s the reason I’ve created the kinds of programs I’ve been teaching for decades.  Programs that combine deep healing with solid creative writing instruction, so you’re finally able to move forward on your creative dreams. Is it time for writing to take center stage in your life? Time for you to heal your relationship with your writing, so you can finally do the writing you came here to do? What if what’s been holding you back is actually an invitation to transform at the deepest level? Who would you be, if you stepped toward that invitation? I’m offering a new private mentorship program for writers who are ready to know and trust their voice in writing, and realize their dreams. If this sounds like you, I invite you to have a conversation with me to learn about this opportunity to “Restore the Holy Ground of Your Creative Self So You Can Finally Do the Writing You Came Here to Do.” This three month program is an opportunity to dive deeply into my most powerful Soul Writing Journey processes, including Rest Until You Remember What You Love Walking Barefoot on the Earth and You Are Holy Ground While getting very clear and laser focused on the writing project that you’re called to do now. You will make progress on your project while restoring a foundation for your writing life that is truly based on self-love and self-acceptance. Interested?  Curious?  I’m finalizing the details for this program right now. As of next week, I’ll be opening up spaces for people who are ready to have a serious conversation about this mentorship opportunity.  If you’d like to secure one of those spots, email me now and we’ll set up a time to talk. For this week, I invite you to carve out some time to spend with Mary Oliver’s poem  “The Summer Day” and let it guide and inspire your writing practice. Your Writing Practice: Here’s my suggestion:  set aside 15-20 minutes when you won’t be disturbed. Read “The Summer Day,” out loud if possible. Then choose ten words from the poem that you like, and write them down. Take the last lines of the poem as your first line, and write it down on your page: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Write for 5- 15 minutes  (it always helps to set a timer for your writing practice.) Simply let your hand move along the page, letting the words come as you respond to the poem, and those lines.  Try to use at least five of the words you chose in your own writing. Enjoy your writing practice! And…if it’s time for you to get serious about your writing dreams, please contact me to learn more about my three month private mentorship program  “Restore the Holy Ground of Your Creative Self So You Can Finally Do the Writing You Came Here To Do.” The Summer Day by Mary Oliver   Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean- the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down- who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes. Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face. Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away. I don't know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?             … [Read more...]

I have long been fascinated by the connection between silence and language. When I say silence in this context, I’m referring to the experience of being silenced, or feeling silenced—of having something to say and being unable to say it.  I call that an “unchosen silence.” Yes, I’m well aware of another kind of silence: the awe inspiring peace filled silence that comes when we open to the mystical. In a certain way these silences are connected. And I may speak of that another time. But for today, I’m writing to you if you’ve ever had something to say, and been too afraid to say it. And then, at some other point in your life, you’re called to write, and, as much as you want to write, something stops you. What I believe today, after decades of exploring my own silences and supporting other women to become free from their silences as writers, is that the early silence—the first time you wanted to say something and stopped yourself—left an imprint. An imprint which says:  “I can’t say what I feel is true.  I can’t say what I know is true.” That imprint is connected to your current obstacles as a writer.  But those obstacles are not here to keep you trapped in frustration.  They’re the doorway to your ultimate liberation. If you return to those early imprints as a sacred pilgrimage, as part of a soul-writing-journey to recover a part of you that lost her voice years ago, you will make a connection with a source of luminous energy and power that can transform your writing, and your life, forever. When you start to give voice to what made you silent, you start to heal.  When you know that your silence is also a holy place, you know you were never broken, at all. This journey of reconnection is the heart of the two programs I’ll be offering over the coming year.  My two Soul-Writing-Journeys:  Come Back Home Through Writing and Trust Your Voice are available as private and semi-private programs, because this is a journey of intimacy. To really make a lasting change in relation to your writing, you need to slow down, take the time to look within, and explore your “unchosen silences” and make them holy, again. This is the way to liberate the creative energy still held within. If you’d like to learn more about these programs as they become available, let me know.  If you suspect that your writing today is held back because of early silences, and you’d like to have a conversation about how you can start the journey toward freedom, let me know. When you free the true power of your voice, your free your writing and you free your life. Your voice is such an essential part of yourself.  Whether you consider yourself a "writer" or know that writing is part of your pathway to stay connected to yourself, having access to your own true voice is essential. Noticing your silences: the places you hesitate, hold yourself back, don't say what you feel or know to be true, can be a key to unblocking your energy to fully express your creativity! … [Read more...]