WRITE: Energy In Our Words

In The Right to Write, Julia Cameron explains, “So much of what we need, so much of what we want, is to be savored, cherished, cared for, and cared about. So much of what is missing is tenderness. When we commit our thoughts to paper, we send a strong and clear message that what we are writing about and whom we are writing to matters. As Sonia Choquette, spiritual teacher, advises us, ‘The power of the word is real whether or not you are conscious of it. Your own words are the bricks and mortar of the dreams you want to realize. Behind every word flows energy.” (p. 97)

For me, I find that I understand my message - in a way it becomes clear - when I write it down. But I agree that it also becomes real and important and worthy when I write it down. I've been talking with a friend a lot about how our childhood shaped who we are and how we and we have experiences that give us the opportunity to advocate and talk about issues of diversity but at the same time, we feel a sense of privilege that also makes us hesitate to tell our stories and to advocate. It's a weird spot to be stuck in and we've talked about how we can best raise our voices.

But this year my word is zealous and my whole reason for choosing that word was to propel myself to speak more loudly and more clearly and more passionately. So I'm taking these ideas from Julia and Sonia to heart. I'll be writing about what's in my heart and hoping it will shed the light on what my heart knows I need to do.

Let's Write! Set a timer for 5 minutes and let yourself write and write and write. Just get the thoughts that are rumbling around in your heart out. Then take markers and highlight or write over the words that stand out to you. Boil your words down to your current manifesto. Here are some sample manifestos from Lifehack you can use as mentor texts. And here's a blog post from Alexandra Franzen where she outlines important elements of a manifesto. 

I'd love to read what you come up with! 

Feel free to share in the comments or email me at jen [@] teachmentortexts [dot] com.

I'm going to work on mine and I'll share it here soon!