This newsletter is focused around a writing prompt. The prompt comes from a poem written by one of my readers in response to a post I sent out.
I wanted to keep the circle going, by giving her poem to you, along with an invitation to write.
Here’s the prompt, if that’s all you have time for and want to get started right away.
“Is love ever enough?”
Here’s the whole poem:
Is love ever enough?
Love is always enough.
Love is more than enough.
Love is strong love is kind love is power
Love is action love is a verb
Love is anger working to make good
Love is open love is wide
Love takes all in
Love sees a way when there is no way
Love warms us and does not fear
Though hate and evil surround it.
Love is stronger when we are together
We are love we are made to share love.
—Cynthia Fields
She ends with the reminder that “Love is stronger when we are together. We are love and we are made to share love.”
Writing in community is one of the ways we come together and share love.
You can let these newsletters connect you to a community of people who care about creating more love in the world through writing.
Cynthia wrote her poem in response to a poem I’d written, asking my own questions about love. If you missed it you can read it here:
How To Write Poetry as Alchemy To Heal Yourself and Our World
There’s something wonderful about having conversations through writing. You read something and it opens a response in you. You write in response. Someone else reads what you wrote and they have their own response…on and on it goes.
If more people in the world took the time to respond to life by writing, we’d have a saner world!
You don’t have to wait though, you can be part of the solution now.
You have the power to bring more sanity to your own world, by taking time in your day to write.
In this way, bit by bit, we create the kind of world we want to live in.
Here’s a few reminders about how to write in response to prompts, as well as specific suggestions for working with this prompt.
The prompt, if you’re ready, is “Is love ever enough?”
How and why to work with writing prompts:
Whether you write for five minutes or fifty, something magical happens when you let your words be guided by someone else’s.
Here are four simple steps that work with any prompt:
- Make a decision about how much time you want to write, and, if possible, set a timer for your writing.
- Write the prompt down on your own page (or screen.)
- Then take three deep breaths all the way down to your toes. Feel yourself in your body.
- Pick up your pen again (or go to the keyboard) and let your response flow from the first words that come to mind. Try not to judge your response, but let it come.
The prompt today is “Is love ever enough?”
With this prompt, I suggest two ways to approach it. The first is a good practice if you’re facing a challenge in your life, or feeling challenged by a situation in the world.
Focus on what that challenge is and write it down. Pay attention to how it makes you feel in your body.
Then, let this prompt be a question about this situation, and see what you write in response. Don’t look for any particular answer, and give yourself permission to be angry and messy. Push against the prompt if that feels right.
Keep your writing specific, and let it take you where it wants to. Let go of control as you write.
One of the gifts of free writing in response to prompts is letting the writing take you somewhere unexpected.
The other way to use this prompt is in a general way. Without thinking of anything in particular, you simply write it down and let the writing take you somewhere. As suggested above, try to not judge your response, but let it flow.
I’d love to read your writing, and you can be part of a larger dialogue, by sharing any writing you do on the blog.
Thanks for being part of this community! And thanks for caring about writing.
