What do you need to rest from?
In these times when so much is intensifying in our world—violence, cataclysmic effects of climate change, to name a few—it’s more important than ever that you stay consistent with the practices that soothe, stabilize, and nourish your sensitive, creative self.
At times you need to do more than stay consistent; you need to intensify your own practices, to meet the demands of the times.
In the past few weeks, I’ve shared poems with you. Poems I wrote to keep my heart open and strong in the face of world events that were heartbreaking.
I wrote “A Poem For Scared Children Who Have No Voice” in response to the separation of immigrant families.
And I wrote “Poetry as Alchemy To Heal Your Self and Our World.”
The world has not stopped breaking my heart, but last week I was so weary from my own responses to the news that I needed to pull back for rest.
The poems were healing for me as I wrote them. Many of you wrote to share they’d been a gift for you to read. Still, my heart was weary and I couldn’t quite figure out what I needed to do.
I turned toward one of my favorite questions for navigating times of overwhelm and exhaustion—whether physical, emotional or spiritual—
What do I need to rest from?
For several days, I asked that question in writing, and let myself write my response.
The responses came. I listened.
I kept asking, “What do I need to rest from?”
I began to hear a need to turn inward. I had written the poems from a certain urgency. The poems came through quickly. Almost immediately I shared them in the form of this newsletter.
I have no regrets or sense that I did anything wrong in this process. However, I came to see that I needed to turn back inside, to receive the poems, and to allow their very real alchemy to do its work on my energy system.
I needed time to integrate the poems I’d written.
Whenever I teach, and I hear a student write something that’s particularly important, I suggest that she read what she wrote to herself, once or twice a day, for at least a week.
This is an important practice because when you go to a very deep level to write, the writing is a form of medicine. Writing it the first time is one way you receive the medicine your own soul wants to offer you.
Reading the writing again, over and over, and receiving it on a cellular level, will actually restructure you from within.
This is one of the ways the writing becomes such a potent practice of self healing.
There’s a rhythm to the writing process.
You turn inward to write, and then you turn outward to share the writing. Often the inward turn is a response to something in the outer world.
You live, and are affected by life. You have a soul that needs to express how life affected you. You write. Perhaps you share the writing. Or perhaps you share yourself in a different way, because of what you have written.
Either way, it’s important to honor the process and listen to your own inner self along the way.
After a few days of turning inward, reading the poems to myself, and receiving nourishment in my own heart, I began to feel restored and balanced in a new way.
I love the question, “What do I need to rest from?”
When I offer it as an exercise in programs I teach, the responses are almost always surprising. Sometimes, they’re life changing.
I offer it to you, today. Especially for times when you’re exhausted, on any level. Or overwhelmed. Or stuck. Or confused.
Those are good times to pause, and turn your attention inward, to return to your center and the wisdom within you.
Those are good times to ask, “What do I need to rest from?”
It’s great to ask that question in writing, because the answers come so clearly when you do.
It’s also helpful to ask that question several times, over a period of several days, or a week or more, when you’re in a deep physical or mental exhaustion.
But even once, and five minutes of writing, can change the course of your day.
Writing is such a great way to find your own answers to the conundrums of your life.
And integration time is often a necessity, especially for sensitive creatives.
Making it a practice to let both be part of your life will go a long way to making your writing life—and your life in general—a more nourishing place for you.
So this question is my gift to you this week, for you to make use of in a moment of need. What do you need to rest from?
Write it on your page, and be sure to write it in the first person: What do I need to rest from? Then let the answers come. And remember, it’s often helpful to ask it more than once.
You can start to ask, “What else do I need to rest from?”
Trust the answers you receive.
And make time to implement them.
See how your life responds when you do.
Please share your responses on this blog.
And if you know anyone else who might benefit from this post, please share it with them.
Are you ready to take your writing to the next level? Or would you like to have more support to come back home through writing? If you’d like to learn more about the ways I support writers and other creatives who need to write to stay connected to their own soul, please contact me and let’s have a conversation.
I look forward to hearing from you!
