“... It ain't alright you keep spinning out ahead
It was cold outside when I hit the ground
Said I could sleep here, forget all the fear
It will take time to grow
Maybe I don't know”
- from “And it’s still alright” by Nathaniel David Rateliff
For as long as I can remember I have been in love with words. I grew up in India, and learned three languages from first grade onward: Punjabi, Hindi, and English. Learning multiple languages makes the brain do fun things with sounds, marvel at different ways of saying the same thing, and also realizing that our choice of words can so substantially impact how effectively we can connect with another human.
It was this love of words that has kept me fascinated with song lyrics and poetry, while my brain does not process the pathos of instrumental music with the same potency. As my kids have become proficient in playing the piano I marvel at their ability to read notes, figure out the timings and the pauses, and ultimately be able to play and enjoy the pieces they practice.
I had not been writing for a long time and getting my blog back up at a regular (enough) pace brings not just satisfaction but thanks to 2020 and Covid19 I am tangibly feeling the therapeutic aspects of writing. I took two courses recently, both aimed at physicians as we have to keep up with ongoing learning (continuing medical education, or CME). One of the ideas discussed in one course was “doing a thought download”. Basically, the notion is to write down everything that comes to mind for a period of time, and then use what is on paper to sort out our mind. Another way would be to start with what is most pressing and focus there. Either way, one must write it out.
I have recently started learning about life coaching and self-coaching. It is quite similar to executive coaching, which I have been familiar with for a decade since being introduced during my MBA (there are subtle differences, something to explore in another blog). As part of learning about coaching, there is a framework one can use to access our thoughts and feelings as they pertain to a given situation. But even without getting into the depth of that framework, what is true and recommended by many professionals in the seemingly disparate realms of medicine, marketing, entrepreneurship, time management ,and cognitive therapy is the idea that putting our ideas on a piece of paper allows our brain to start dealing with the process of feeling stuck. Often the notion of writer’s block is just the writer’s inability to put down what is on their mind on paper. It may be that the writer doesn’t like the thought. Or there are competing thoughts. Writing it down will either make that thought more acceptable for being on paper or its departure will creates space for a new thought in the mind. Either way, it is a resistance one can overcome through the process of writing.
Often when I am feeling stuck in writing, it is because I don’t want to deal with the feeling of what I want to write, or the topic seems so heavy that it is easier to not start.
So what I am practicing, and what I offer to you, is the idea that whether you have some thoughts running around in your mind or you are trying to deal with a situation, try writing out what you are thinking. Do it without any filters. You don’t have to share them with anyone. And you can even toss/shred the papers after you are done. But using your hands and eyes to coordinate with what your mind is trying to process gives a very different feel to problem solving or thought explorations. You just might see things differently.