Writing Therapy For Clarity & Calm

A lot of the benefits of friends, family and therapy comes from the freedom to express your thoughts. Unfortunately, these kinds of interactions are not always available, and given the (at times) sensitive nature of our inner worlds, not always ideal.

So take 5 minutes to express yourself. The page listens, the page doesn’t judge, the page can be discarded. It is the act of writing that heals.

Transcript

Writing Therapy by Zachary Phillips Writing therapy just words on a page or something more The page listens the page absorbs the page doesn't judge The page can be discarded the page can be shared The page can be reread Writing therapy just words on a page or something more The page listens the page absorbs the page doesn't judge The page can be discarded the page can be shared the page can be reread The act of writing heals The act of writing heals it pulls the demons out it exposes them to the light it reveals them for what they are Fabrication,

Rumination,

Improbability,

Regret The act of writing instructs informs our current state shows our inner workings forces us to be precise After writing comes the review By looking back we see the truth By looking back we see the truth of how far we've come of our varied and ever-changing moods of different aspects of ourselves We see that we are more complex than our current mental state can possibly comprehend So write,

Write without judgment without pause for grammar or spelling without thoughts of what's appropriate or right without care for its readability without concern for the judgment of others Is the act of writing that counts not the quality you produce No one has to see it So just write So write,

Write without judgment without pause for grammar or spelling without thoughts of what's appropriate or right without care for its readability without concern for the judgments of others Is the act of writing that counts not the quality that you produce Is the act of writing that counts not the quality that you produce No one has to see it So just write It is possible to make writing a form of inner contemplation a meditation a form of therapy The process is simple You get a pen get a page or boot up a writing document on your laptop or phone and simply write You just sit and free flow whatever comes to your mind Now at first particularly the first time you try this this process can seem contrived can seem challenging or silly It can seem impossible to start because you were starting at a blank page But just start Start with anything You could even start with I'm writing because that Zachary Phillips guy on the Insight Timer app told me to start writing You could start with I'm going to do some writing therapy now and I'm feeling this way right now You could start with whatever random thoughts pop into your mind no matter how obscure because it's not what comes out that matters It's the act of writing itself that heals Think about the role of counsellors and psychologists and confessional priests of every religious denomination and of friends and parents All these different people Obviously the methods vary depending on disciplines or religions and relationships and practices But the core component of the practices that they give you is basically just letting the person open up letting them talk and vent and to let go What we're doing here is using the page as the therapist because the page listens the page absorbs and the page doesn't judge It acts as ears It acts as a soundboard But it's also important to realise that unlike all of the other methods that involve other people the page itself can be discarded You could,

For example,

Ritualistically burn it or flush it down the toilet or you could keep it,

Right?

It's unique as a form of expression And once again,

I must emphasise it's not the words themselves It's the act of writing those words and it really doesn't have to be writing You could choose to record your voice You could choose to do a creative painting You could choose to do an expressive dance But I prefer writing because by putting the words onto the page it pulls the inner demons out it exposes them for what they are and it forces you to get specific to highlight that this is exactly what I am thinking right now And when you get specific you really start to see the fabrications of the mind the ruminations,

The improbabilities,

The regrets It lets you see the inner workings of your mental state You know,

Who you are right now You are the contents of your mind so explore it,

Discover it,

Write it,

See it Now,

Beyond just writing it there's a second component to this practice that comes from the review So you do your writing therapy and put it aside and a week later,

When you're in a different mindset you review it you look back over what you've written and correct it for truth What do I mean by truth here?

You may find when you review your writing therapy particularly if you wrote it in a compromised or depressive or down mental state you might find that it's filled with statements that are general in nature For example,

I always do this or I'm constantly like that or I'm totally terrible in this capacity,

Right?

With those generalisations or those sweeping statements the truth of the matter is that you change you vary,

You're not always one thing So you could change those statements to something along the lines of I sometimes do this or I was like that or I occasionally feel like this These are all more true to the reality of the situation So take your writing and make those tweaks make those changes What you are doing here is seeing how far you've come You're seeing the difference between yourself now and then You are seeing the transience of your moods and you are also reprogramming yourself You are changing the inner voice from one that may be terrible to one more grounded in reality more grounded in moderation You are not the moods that you were feeling before and you are not the moods that you're feeling now You are the change You are more complex than your current mental state can comprehend So what I want you to do right now is pause this audio and grab yourself a pen and a paper or open up the notes section on your phone and what I'm going to do is reread the poem to you one more time and then the audio will go silent for five minutes All I want you to do for that five minutes is write free write Actually give this practice a go Just remember that there are no judgments Don't worry about spelling or grammar Don't worry about what's appropriate or right because no one is going to read this other than you and you don't even have to You get to choose what happens to this writing This practice is just about getting the words onto the page It is the act of writing that counts not the quality of the writing that you produce So pause the audio,

Get yourself ready and I'll read out the poem to you and then we'll sit in silence and after five minutes we'll tie it up Okay,

I'm going to assume that you're ready Writing therapy Just words on a page or something more The page listens,

The page absorbs The page doesn't judge The page can be discarded,

The page can be shared The page can be reread The act of writing heals The act of writing heals,

It pulls the inner demons out It exposes them to light It reveals them for what they are Fabrication,

Rumination,

Improbability,

Regret The act of writing instructs It informs our current state Shows our inner workings Forces us to be precise After writing comes the review By looking back we see the truth of how far we've come,

Of our varied and ever-changing moods of different aspects of ourselves We see that we are more complex than our current mental state can possibly comprehend So write,

Write without judgment without pause for grammar or spelling without thoughts of what's appropriate or right without care for its readability without concern for the judgments of others It is the act of writing that counts not just the quality that you produce No one has to see it,

So just write It is the act of writing that counts It is the act of writing that counts It is the act of writing that counts It is the act of writing that counts It is the act of writing that counts It is the act of writing that counts It is the act of writing that counts It is the act of writing that counts It is the act of writing that counts Okay,

So that's been five minutes Feel free to continue the session if you like or end it now I just want to say congratulations with this You've done a brave and courageous thing Something that will truly benefit your mental state Now,

What to do with the writing?

You can choose to delete it or delete it You can choose to delete it or delete it You can choose to delete it or delete it You can choose to delete it You can choose to delete it to destroy it to ritualistically burn it But you can also choose to keep it So if you're brave enough to go down this path In a week's time,

Return back to this practice And read over it and review it And make tweaks to it to see where you are compared to where you were at the time of writing Make the statements a little more true to who you are as a process and not as a thing And just remember you can return to this practice as a daily journaling activity or whenever the mood or need strikes Happy writing!

Reviews

Hi Zachary,
what an excellent lecture on active writing and how it may support personal growth!
Listening to you clearly showed me that I am practicing it way too seldom ... But this was a very good motivator to do more.
And as a famous proverb states: “How should I know what I think before I read what I have written ...”
The page is always there - let it write through you!

Thank you. I just wrote what came to mind. It felt good to put it on paper.

Thank you needed today thank you for the permission too.

This was cathartic, healing, and centering, thank you!! 🙏🏻😊