Lisa Tener

Book Writing Coach

Writing

How the Earth Breath Can Inspire and Support Your Writing

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Last week, I delivered a keynote address for The Living Now Book Awards Ceremony: You’ve Won! Now Tap Your Creative Spark for Next Steps. Near the very start of my presentation, I shared “Earth Breath,” one of my favorite practices for creative flow.

I wanted to help participants relax, focus and feel energized so they could tap into their creativity as they considered how they want to reach readers, spread the word about their award-winning books, and create new opportunities for sharing their wisdom with the world. Earth Breath seemed perfect for that task!

Using the Elemental Breaths to Enhance Writing

Lisa Tener book coachI learned the Earth Breath almost three decades ago, when I lived in Boston. I’d been diagnosed with chronic fatigue, and in my search for healing, I came upon a system called “Polarity Therapy” that led me on a path to health and vitality. I became curious about how this “energy medicine” worked to heal me, and I began studying at the Polarity Institute under Doug Janssen in Watertown, MA, to understand the seemingly miraculous way it worked.

In Polarity Therapy training, we learned five types of elemental breath: Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether. The breaths are simple:

  • Earth: Inhale through the nose; exhale through the nose.
  • Water: inhale through the nose; exhale through the mouth.
  • Fire: Inhale through the mouth; exhale through the nose (like a fire-breathing dragon!).
  • Air: Inhale through the mouth; exhale through the mouth.
  • Ether: inhale through nose and mouth; exhale through nose and mouth.

Interestingly, each breath helps you experience qualities related to the different elements. I found that they could be applied in exciting ways to experience useful attributes of a particular element when those qualities came in handy for writing and creative tasks: Air can lead to fanciful flight. Fire can help you get in touch with your passion or anger. Water breath is excellent for flow. And Earth breath grounds you.

How Earth Breath Can Support Your Writing

In today’s post, I’d like to share how Earth Breath, in particular, can support your writing and various writing tasks such as:

  • Foundational work like clarifying the scope and focus of your book or writing project.
  • Outlining.
  • Identifying examples or stories to make the material more concrete for readers.
  • Developing experiential exercises that help your reader embody and experience the teachings you share.
  • Helping you access the bodily sensations to describe a scene or anecdote.
  • Editing and excavating!

Along with the applications above, you can use the Earth Breath when you:

  • Feel too spacey to write and want to be more present in your writing.
  • Need to access sensory detail to bring it to life for your readers.
  • Are writing about earth-related topics – nature, earth, gardening, somatic practices.
  • Feel exhausted and wish to energize.
  • Are stressed and need to relax.

Award winning book breathe. write. breathe.In Breathe. Write. Breathe.: 18 Energizing Practices to Spark Your Writing and Free Your Voice, I share several elemental breaths in audio and/or video recordings that guide you through the easy and simple breathing practices.

For Earth Breath, I made a video that helps you experience the qualities of Earth through both the breathing practice and a simple qigong practice for connecting with Earth Energy or “Earth Qi.”

Try It Out Now

Try Earth Breath now by practicing along with the video and writing afterward. See how Earth Breath affects your writing. Share any observations as a comment below or in a social media post linking to this post (and thank you for sharing!). If you have a copy of Breathe. Write. Breathe. you may want to try some Earth-related writing prompts in Chapter 10! Don’t have a copy yet? Get yours here. If you buy the digital version, you can access the prompts instantaneously!


What qualities do you think of when you think of Earth? How might these qualities help your writing and when might you use them? What did you experience with practicing the Earth Breath?

 

Writing Prompts Made Her Freeze

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In a recent workshop, Pat asked me, “What if I freeze up when I’m given a writing prompt? They don’t help me at all. I just feel stuck. I prefer the blank page.”

Good news: There’s no Prompts Police.

When Writing Prompts Work

Award-winning The Joy of Writing Journal - Spark Your Creativity in 8 Minutes a Day - Expanded Version

Many people love writing prompts. In my 20s and 30s, prompts were my thing. They got me past resistance and stuckness and into flow mode. Prompts gave me an easy starting place and often led me into unexpected territory. In my early 20s, Writing Down the Bones was my bible.

I still love a good writing prompt.

These days, though, I go through stages: I mostly draw inspiration from writing in a blank journal or using a detailed book outline. Yet, when I travel or know I’ll be places where I may need to wait, I keep a prompts journal in my car or bag so I can tap into creative flow anytime, anywhere.

Other Ways to Get Moving and Unblock

If, like Pat, prompts don’t work for you, don’t use ’em!

Breathe. Write. Breathe.You may want to:

You don’t have to use prompts at all.

Ever.

Here’s a fun and easy movement practice from Qigong to stimulate creative flow:

 

Find Your Way

Lisa Tener book coachWe all have our ways of tapping into creativity.

If someone tells you their way is THE way, walk the other way. There is no “the way.”  There’s just what works for you at this moment. And in the next moment (which may be different).

So, be free. I was going to say, “I give you permission,” but that didn’t feel right. You need to permit yourself to do what makes your heart sing and feel free to ignore anyone else’s advice, including mine!

Even Before Your Book is Published, Just Writing It Has an Impact!

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It’s true: Even before you publish your book, just the work of writing it will impact you, other people, and the world.
I recently received this email from award-winning author Chris Stroble, who won the Nautilus and Pen Craft Awards for her book Helping Teen Moms Graduate:
“I want to share this feedback. I’ve been thinking about it all week.
“Last Sunday I spoke at my United Methodist Church on the topic of love to Black single moms. Afterwards one of our members, who is a Black single mom of 3 children (she’s in her early 30s), said to me, “Everything you said was exactly right. You said what we wanted to say but were too afraid.”
“YES! Mission accomplished.
“That’s part of my vision for Love For Black Single Moms. I remember from your self study class, you said write a vision of what you want your book ? to do for:
1. Your audience
2. Your community, and
3. Yourself.
“One vision for Black single moms is to make them feel seen and heard and to validate their experience.
“Mission Accomplished!  Yay! ?Yay! Yay!”

Even Before Your Book is Published, Your Book Has an Impact

Like Chris, you may find yourself sharing the message in your book with your target audience to vet and develop the ideas in your book. You might teach a workshop or two or develop an online class.
You might also ask beta readers to provide feedback on a draft version of the book or some of the chapters. Those beta readers may tell you what a difference your manuscript made for them, even before your book is published!
In addition, the act of writing your book will help you clarify your ideas about your subject. You may write articles, blog posts, and social media posts, or speak to the public and share some ideas before the book comes out. These new insights and ideas can inform your thinking and work in new ways. Well before the book is published, these articles and posts informed by your book’s new ideas can inspire and empower people in your target market.
I’ve also witnessed how working on a book increases the aspiring author’s confidence. You may well embody the role of expert with aplomb as you gain self-assurance by writing. That confidence can make you more open to new opportunities.
And here’s another potential impact: Chris sent me an email about the experience, adding inspiration to my day. Her email inspired me to write this blog post and, I hope, has impacted you as a reader and writer! Note: You can read an interview with Chris about the journey of writing and publishing her first book here.
Have you begun to experience the impact of your book? Share your story in the comments below!

18 Benefits of a Writing Retreat

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I love writing retreats for the many benefits they offer. Taking a day or more away from work and other responsibilities to focus solely on creative renewal can do wonders for your writing. Here’s a quick list of what a writing retreat can do for you:

A Writing Retreat RENEWS

  1. Lisa TenerReplenish Your Creative Energy: Everyday life takes energy. So does creativity. By setting aside a day or more for writing and renewal, you restore the essential energy needed to create new work.
  2. Nourish the Muse: Spending time in a beautiful retreat location, such as by the ocean, can also help feed your relationship to the creative muse and give energy to your writing and other creative projects.
  3. New Energy: If you’re feeling stuck or stagnant, a retreat can infuse new energy into your writing by incorporating new practices, trying new ways of engaging with your creativity or allowing the environment (nature, group energy, etc.) to nourish your creativity and your writing in novel ways.
  4. Confidence and Commitment: Investing time and resources in your writing reinforces your belief in yourself and your commitment to your creative work.

A Writing Retreat INSPIRES

  1. Openness: A retreat can open you up to new ways of seeing your writing project and your writing practice, or it can even give birth to an entirely new project.
  2. New Possibilities: Group energy, the environment, the leadership and the exercises incorporated into a retreat can all inspire new directions for your writing.
  3. Focus: The singular focus of a retreat allows you to go deep and focus thoroughly on your writing, which can lead to breakthroughs, insights and a deeper connection to the work
  4. Voice: That deeper connection and focus can, in turn, strengthen your voice as a writer.
  5. Flow: In my retreats and writing workshops, I share powerful practices that quickly induce a flow state, making it easy to write.
  6. Community: A group retreat also supports you through connecting with others on the path.

A Writing Retreat Helps You PRODUCE

  1. Lisa Tener author and book coachWrite More: Luxurious time for retreat results in greater output.
  2. Write Better: Taking the time to focus on writing away from other projects provides the space, time and focus to produce quality work.
  3. Complete Something: Retreats can help you complete something. I’ve used retreats to finish a first draft, for example.
  4. Learn Stuff! You can learn new practices, exercises and tips to improve your creative process and flow.

A Writing Retreat Sets You Up for SUCCESS

  1. Lisa Tener, Book CoachLeave with Tools: Anything you learn on retreat can be incorporated into your regular writing routines and practices.
  2. Evaluate: A retreat gives you time away to assess what’s working and what isn’t, what you need to succeed and find fulfillment.
  3. Plan: Before you leave the retreat, figure out what you need to bring back with you for the future: what gets in the way of your writing and what plans can you put into place for consistency, accountability, making time, generating a flow state, making continued progress, etc.?
  4. Commit: Commit to one new element or a whole new plan upon your return.

Join Me and Robin Kall on August 23 for the Writing Retreat of Your Dreams!

Lisa Tener Robin Kall
Join Robin Kall and me on an unforgettable day!

You may have heard: Robin Kall and I happen to be cooking up a fabulous one-day seaside writing retreat in a sacred spot that is especially conducive to creative flow. We’ll be on a promontory that juts out into the sea in two rock formations, creating private beach coves on two sides and a riverside beach along the third.

Experience the support of exquisite nature, powerful creative practices and an inspiring group of women.

In addition to writing, there will be time to walk along the shore, in the woods or climb the rocks; share your favorite summer read during a delicious lunch; tour the art studio on the premises (optional); meet and enjoy great people; laugh; get your writing and creativity questions answered; renew your commitment to self-care and writing, and revel in your imagination.

Join us and nourish your mind, body, soul and creative muse! Here are all the details and registration.

3 Easy Ways to Outsmart Your Inner Critic and Write Prolific!

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That inner critic can dampen creative enthusiasm, motivation, and productivity. When we start writing and hear that self-critical voice arise, it can put us in a tailspin.

The trick is to start from a different place that’s nourishing and joyful. Connect with your inner muse or creative source; the critic doesn’t stand a chance.

Outsmart Your Inner Critic

Lisa Tener Book Writing Coach
  1. Consult your muse: Try my meet-your-muse guided visualization and ask your muse to help you believe in yourself and your writing.
  2. Make a list: If the critic tells you no one will read the book, list all the reasons they will. If the critic says you’re a crummy writer, list all the evidence you have to the contrary. If you still feel stuck, ask a trusted friend to talk you down and help you make the list.
  3. Breathe. Or Move. Well, that’s what my upcoming book is all about: using simple, easy breathing techniques and mindful movement to tap into your creativity. Slow, deep abdominal breathing is scientifically proven to enhance creativity—a great place to start. And if you think, “I’m not a meditator. I can’t sit still,” I’ve got you covered. More to come on this topic, but try this simple breathing practice for now.

This Book Will Silence the Critic and Make Your Creative Spirit Soar

In my upcoming book, Breathe. Write. Breathe., you’ll learn 18 beautiful and easy practices from ancient wisdom traditions (yoga, qigong and others) to help you access a creative flow state, bypass the critical inner voice, and transform self-doubt into boundless inspiration.

Lisa Tener Book Coach

You’ll also read about my creative adventures, along with playful, quirky and unique writing prompts that will open the door to new words—and worlds—for you.

The book is interactive—QR codes provide access to videos and audio meditations, offering your portable writing retreat and perhaps more than one life-changing experience!

Mark your calendar for June 12 when the fun begins. We’ll have a virtual party at noon Eastern time, 9 am Pacific, with generous giveaways, bonuses and illuminating guests to celebrate. I’ll share a special practice you can use every time you sit down to write to get you into “the zone.” And we’ll do some writing. It will be the perfect day to gift yourself and your writer friends a special book I can’t wait to share!

Sign up here for instructions and a reminder to join the book launch party :

  • Celebrate with Me: Enjoy the fun energy and inspiration, and lend your support!
  • Free Drawing: A chance to win a $100 or $25 Barnes & Noble Gift Certificate.
  • Learn tips to outsmart your inner critic and build confidence.
  • Experience a fast & foolproof way to tap into creative flow.
  • Enjoy a fun writing exercise right on the call!
  • Meet special guests.

When you sign up, you will also receive a free copy of The TENER Method for Creative Flow, a five-page ebook.

7 Ways to Tap Your Subconscious for Inspiration

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Some of my most potent writing comes from my dreams and other experiences related to the subconscious. Is this true for your writing?

So, how do we tap our subconscious for creativity—innovative ideas, fresh metaphors, new ways to put words together on the page, an adventure for the writer and the reader? Here are 7 strategies that work for me, my private clients and participants in Get Your Writing Done.

Tap Your Subconscious for Inspiration and Potent Writing

Lisa Tener Book Coach and Journal author
  1. Journal: You may have heard me mention this one before (wink, wink). Journaling helps us access what’s going on below the surface. If you’re writing fiction, perhaps ask questions of one of your characters and answer as them. If you’re writing nonfiction, journal about what might make the writing more playful or adventurous or whatever qualities you are looking for. If you feel challenged about the book’s structure, play around with that in your journal.
  2. Doodle: Sometimes I doodle before or during writing. Doodling can take you out of linear thinking and open up an inner space to connect with your creative potential and subconscious.
  3. Dream Journal: Record your dreams in your journal, then play with them. Ask questions about the characters and symbols. Continue the dream. Apply the dream to a writing project in the works. Or start something new.
  4. Daydream: Allow your mind to wander. Imagine a scene. Or close your eyes and ….
  5. Music: Play something that takes you out of a linear thinking state and into a more dreamy state. Jump right into writing or pause first: close your eyes and listen before you start creating.
  6. Wander Outdoors: Walking slowly connects us to nature’s rhythm and her infinite ways of inspiring us. Allow your mind to wander as you walk. Observe with all your senses—hear the birds and the airplanes. Smell the flowers, the car exhaust, and whatever else wafts on the breeze. Sensory experiences, and smell especially, can bring back memories stored in the unconscious and seemingly forgotten.
  7. Read Poetry: Poetry speaks the language of the subconscious—symbols, rhythm, wordplay, rhyme. It liberates you from the rules of the conscious and often more controlling aspects of the mind. So, read poetry to free your mind and touch your heart, and then write your own poems.

Bonus Strategy!

[author’s goofy ramble: This often happens. I come up with a spiffy number for my post title. This time it was five. I end up with way more ideas. So then I changed it to 7. And now we’re at eight, but I’m pretty sure the blog post titling gurus say to use an odd number, so here’s a bonus:]

  • Move Slowly: Slow, mindful movement can put you in an altered state where the mind slows down, and you are open to creative inspiration and the infinite possibilities offered by the subconscious.

My New Book

Lisa Tener book coach and creativity catalyst

My upcoming book, Breathe. Write. Breathe: 18 Energizing Practices to Spark Your Writing and Free Your Voice is filled with powerful mindful movement practices from Yoga, Qigong, Sufism and other ancient wisdom paths. These practices can help you instantly tap into the deep wellspring of creative material your subconscious offers.

Mark your calendar to purchase your book on the June 12 launch to have access to bonus materials, giveaways, and more. And join us for the virtual party at 12 noon Eastern time, 9 am Pacific. Click here to sign up for notifications as we near the launch and add more goodies to our bonus.

When you sign up for notifications, you will also receive a free copy of The TENER Method for Creative Flow, a 5 page ebook.

The Link Between Writing and Health

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(Updated 9/18/24) Writing and Health: Have you experienced the health impacts of writing or journaling? I’ve journaled intermittently since second grade when my grandmother gave me a diary for my birthday. At some level, I knew that writing was like breathing for me—necessary for life.

Lisa Tener writing in journal

It wasn’t until my twenties, when I suffered from what was diagnosed as chronic fatigue and/or fibromyalgia that I discovered that writing can play a major role in healing a debilitating illness. Since then, I’ve been fascinated by the role writing can play in healing and have used it in my life many times—for physical healing, emotional healing and spiritual healing.

Another fascinating discovery is that it can go the other way, too—healing can impact our writing! As we heal emotional trauma or physical illness, I have found it to free up more and more creative energy and help me as a writer.

The Research on Writing and Healing

connect with your readers

In 1986, James Pennebaker studied the effects of certain kinds of writing on health, reporting that expressive writing can improve mental and physical health. Since then, Pennebaker and his colleagues have proven these benefits in multiple populations and with various diseases and conditions.

According to the VA Office of Patient-Centered Care and Cultural Transformation, “Expressive writing has been found to produce significant benefits for individuals with a
variety of medical conditions.” These include:

  • Asthma (lung health/function)
  • Rheumatoid arthritis (decreasing severity)
  • Cancer (both reducing pain and improving physical health)
  • HIV infection (improving immune response)
  • Cystic fibrosis (decreasing hospitalization)
  • Chronic pelvic pain (decreasing the pain intensity)
  • Sleep-onset latency in poor sleepers
  • Recovering from operations

Beyond Medicine

Dr. Patricia Muesham

You may have heard me talk before about Patricia Muehsam, MD‘s work and her book Beyond Medicine, which shares her healing journey, the process she used to heal herself, and that she teaches patients and students on a holistic path to healing their physical and emotional conditions.

Writing and journaling form a significant aspect of Dr. Patricia Muehsam’s protocol, whom I’ll refer to from now on as Dr. Trish, at her request.

As Dr. Trish is about to offer her healing course in a four-month online format, thought it a great time to interview her about the connection between writing and healing.

Absolute Health

I first asked Dr. Trish to share her take on how writing can positively impact our health.

Dr. Trish began our conversation with the concept of absolute health. “In my work, I talk about a concept called absolute health, simply peace of mind. Peace of mind is where we need to be for healing to happen. The body will not heal otherwise if the body is not calm. It also is where we need to be for clarity if we’re dealing with any challenging situations besides health issues—work, relationships, finances, life path.

“Absolute health is a place of peace of mind where clarity and solutions arise. And for inspired action, we know what to do before even trying.”

I found this interesting since in my Get Your Writing Done program we tap into a similar state of relaxation and peace of mind by beginning our writing practices with some qigong movement or breathing, a nod to the inner muse, and our one-word intentions shared in the chat box. From that place, we take inspired action and write!

Dr. Trish continues, “In my work and my book, I talk about the five absolute health tools—breathing, mindfulness/meditation, journaling or writing, mirror work and mind-body sensing. These five tools are tools for cultivating self-awareness, being here now in the moment, and being present with what is.

“All of these can bring us to that place of absolute health or inner peace quite swiftly, in minutes. They do so because they change our minds, the structure and function of our brains, and our bodies.”

Writing and Health

Patricia Muesham, MD did not have a huge platform, but she did get a book deal for her excellent book. Miracles do happen!

So, where does writing fit in?

“Writing is one of these tools. It allows us to be present in the very moment, to be here now in our writing process. In Beyond Medicine, I offer different types of journaling exercises to help us practice being here now and being present with what is.

“Writing helps us to cultivate this experience of being in the moment, where we experience the presence and inner peace that arises when we stop to be in the moment of what’s going on.”

Journaling Exercises for Healing

In her book and in her healing courses, Dr. Trish offers several journaling exercises for healing and experiencing absolute health.

“One of the simplest is just making a list—helpful for people not as used to writing.

“Another exercise is stream of consciousness writing, where we write what comes to mind at the moment, paying no attention to grammar, or punctuation, being as free and loose as possible where the writing hand is holding a pen or pencil (rather than typing). I encourage people to use their hands, not a keyboard to do the writing. That stream-of-consciousness technique is powerful for being in the moment with whatever comes up in the mind. If I give someone a writing prompt when you don’t know what to write, that’s what to write next.

“I also use different exercises writing with the nondominant hand, a potent tool that can help us slow down and get in touch with what’s going on internally. [Then we] connect with what’s going on. Nondominant handwriting can help us connect with intuition and inner knowing. Don’t worry what it looks like; even just scribbling can help us access our connection to our intuition/inner wisdom!”

The Science Behind Writing and Healing

“There are a lot of studies on journaling’s effects on health, especially expressive writing, writing about feelings that have immediate and long-term impact on our health. Expressive writing toggles on the parasympathetic nervous system, which facilitates resting, repair, healing, sleep and digestion.

“Conversely, when the sympathetic nervous system (fight, flight or freeze) is on we can’t rest, relax, sleep, heal or digest. Those functions are impossible when the sympathetic nervous system is turned on. Just writing about feelings helps to bring us to a place of calm, getting in touch with what’s going on internally. Writing can slow us down and get in touch with us. In the process, it relaxes us, even when writing about difficult thoughts and feelings; just getting them out helps train a state of ease and peace in both mind and body. This is where we need to be for healing to happen and for resolving difficult situations, to get answers without effort.”

How Dr. Muehsam Found Healing Through Writing

Trish shared her experience, “In the past, I’ve been a patient a few times over, and I share these in Beyond Medicine. There were times I was confused about what path to follow for healing. I would always turn to writing to get clarity and often started with just list making, making a list of my questions/confusions.

“I often went to stream of consciousness—flowing writing, where new ideas come. Then, I often got clarity from that. I also used inner child journaling: Using my nondominant hand as the inner child, what am I needing?

writing in bed
Photo by Kinga Cichewicz on Unsplash

“I often got clarity about how to proceed and connected with the underlying emotions. Every physical issue has an emotion and often an emotional root cause.

“I use journaling to get a sense of what’s going on body-wise and emotionally. With my broken arm and extreme physical pain, I couldn’t journal with my right hand but used my nondominant hand to write about the pain and explore the emotional roots of the pain. All physical pain has an emotional component and the physical pain cannot go away without addressing the emotional component. Pain is in our body, thoughts and emotions. Recent research explains exactly how emotions are clearly linked to physical pain. The fibers in the brain that transmit emotional info to our emotional awareness center travel along the same highway as the pain fibers that transmit the sensation of physical pain. Acute pain, once it becomes chronic, no longer activates the physical pain center in the brain, but it activates the emotional center.”

More on the Research

“Remembering an event that caused pain can elicit pain. We think it’s the shoulder that’s acting up, but it’s the emotions that are acting up. This research is borne from clinical studies and placebo surgeries—for example a knee study. One group had surgery for chronic knee pain, and one group had sham surgery, and the people who had the placebo did better! The apparent physical cause was not the cause of their chronic pain.

“In the early work of Dr. John Sarno, his theory was that mental and emotional stress and repressed trauma were the primary causes of back pain. The mind and emotions play a powerful role in our physical health. And writing can be a path to healing since it addresses the underlying emotions.

“When I’m anxious or angry or frustrated, overworking, not listening to my body’s needs, my pain increases. Writing is a beautiful way to slow down, explore the inner landscape, and get in touch with our feelings. And I always encourage writing by hand.”

How Healing and Health Affect Writing

In my experience, healing also affects our writing. Healing experiences often open me up to the creative muse, and I find myself writing poetry or getting new ideas for books I might write, for example. My first published book came out of healing from chronic fatigue syndrome and the polarity therapy work I immersed myself in.

So, I asked Dr. Trish about this two-way link.

How Does Vibrant Health Affect Your Writing?

Dr. Trish answered, “When I’m in a state of calm, my writing flows. When I was working on my book, the writing flowed when my mind and body were in a place of peace, what I call vibrant health. In that place of ease, new ideas would arise, my writing would flow, and new ideas came without effort; they weren’t ideas I had to list out; they arose as I wrote.

Dr. Patricia Muesham and dog

“Ideas also arose for my writing when I was in a state of peace and not at my keyboard, and I had a habit of grabbing the idea and writing it on the notes section of my phone, and I trusted those ideas even more than the ideas that came when I was trying to gather information.

“Great metaphors and images would come. I wasn’t interfering with it or filtering it. It was just flowing through me. I might be walking my dog, and as soon as I got home, I would note it somewhere.”

Surrender to the Moment

“That never happened when I was trying to get the writing going, ever. I had to often surrender to the moment. I had to let go of the trying. When working with my editor, when I was trying, that blocked the flow of ideas and the goodness of the writing.

“I would need just to stop and return to a place of peace before resuming. That could be 10 minutes of closing my eyes or 20 minutes of walking in the park. It didn’t mean I only wrote when inspired. I would go to my computer every day in the morning and write. I’d work on other tasks, such as research, if I were in a not-peaceful state of mind. But other times, I would pause and do a mini-meditation or breathing and take a pause away from my desk to return to that state of absolute health.” [Hey, just like we do in the Get Your Writing Done sessions—movement and breath to get things moving and entrain into creative flow!]

Dr. Trish had the same thought I did.

She added, without knowing what I was thinking, “The way I understand and experience healing is the way you teach accessing your inner writer.”

“Why does peace help us access the best ideas and the most profound writing? We don’t access intuition, inner wisdom or creativity in a state of stress. Might we not access creativity when the sympathetic (fight, flight, freeze) nervous system is turned on? We can’t connect with the inner muse and creative process when trying to ward off the saber-toothed tiger.”

Experience Absolute Health

So maybe you’re excited about these tools of absolute health and what they can do for your physical health and your creative life.

I asked Dr. Trish to share the details, and here they are:

Upcoming Online Course Starts October 8, 2024
Imagine being able to thrive in the most natural of ways, to feel well in your body and at peace in your life. And effortlessly so!

Join pioneering physician and award-winning author Patricia Muehsam MD’s 4-month online course: Beyond Medicine: A Physician’s Revolutionary Prescription for Healing Yourself and Transforming Your Life. You’ll discover a path to well-being that is extraordinary in its ease and profound in its results!
 
For more details and to register, click here.  $100 off course fee if you register by 9/23.
By the end of this course, you’ll discover:
    • That you are the medicine — your healer lies within, your answers lie within.
    • How to access your inner healer.
    • How to find your way to inner peace, speedily and easily.
    • How to facilitate bodily healing and how to transform challenging situations.
    • How truly effortless your way to well-being is — physically, emotionally, spiritually, and materially.

    You will come to know your unlimited capacity to heal yourself and your life.

    Because you are the medicine.

What’s Significant About this Course

“I’m offering these tools for healing one’s life, but what’s important is that I’m teaching a revolutionary way to feel well and thrive in all the ways that matter to you. It’s revolutionary because it’s simple, effortless and available to us at this very moment. What people will learn is that they are their own medicine, how to access your inner healer, how to find your way to that place of inner peace easily, where intuition flows and creativity arises, that place we need to be to facilitate healing of the body.

“You will learn to know that unlimited capacity to heal yourself and your life because our medicines lie within.”

If Dr. Muehsam’s book and courses had been available when I had chronic fatigue, the healing path would have been much easier and quicker. I encourage our readers to explore this incredible opportunity in Dr. Trish’s book and immersion course. Full disclosure: I am also an affiliate of Dr. Trish’s program, which means if you sign up through my link I will receive a commission. I take part in a small number of affiliate programs and only ones that I think will be of great benefit to my readers.

Now, let’s return to my conversation with Dr. Trish Muehsam:

“Returning to the notion of absolute health, peace of mind—it’s so accessible to all of us —a stop, a pause, and a breath away. We can use those writing tools to take us there. Peace of mind is our essential nature. We were born to be in a state of equanimity. A calm and peaceful mind creates a calm and peaceful body, where creativity can easily flow.

“A disturbed mind creates stress in the body, literally. Every thought and every emotion has an instantaneous effect on the physical body—neutral, supportive or detrimental. Healing happens when the mind becomes calm, at peace.”.

About Patricia A. Muehsam, MD

Author of Beyond Medicine, Patricia Muesham, MD

Patricia A. Muehsam, MD, a pioneer in synthesizing science, holistic health, and contemporary spirituality, has distinguished herself as a practitioner, educator, research scientist, and author. She has been an influential force in shaping the landscape of healthcare options available today. Muehsam’s groundbreaking book, Beyond Medicine: A Physician’s Revolutionary Prescription for Achieving Absolute Health and Finding Inner Peace, has been hailed by Larry Dossey, MD, as the “only health and healing book you will ever need.” Founder of Transformational MedicineTM, Dr. Muehsam’s services include health consultations, mind-body healing sessions, classes, and retreats. She lives in New York City with Benjamin, her adopted Golden Retriever and sage spiritual advisor.

Sign up for—or find out more about—Dr. Trish’s course: Beyond Medicine Immersive. The course begins on October 8, 2024.

 

 

Day 1: October Journaling Adventure with The Joy of Writing Journal

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Welcome to Day 1, where I share some excerpts from my journey through The Joy of Writing Journal and invite you to share an excerpt or a response to the experience. Join the community—read and comment/share!

Lisa Tener Journaling

Sometimes writing for me is pure elation, but in today’s exercise I struggled with my inner critic. Here’s an excerpt from my journal:

I feel inside me the green possibilities

journaling entry

growing like vines,

everywhere these creative ideas.

But when I put pen to paper…

Blah

Blah

Blah

journaling entry

Like I’ve forgotten how

to write

to live

to conjure.

Where has my muse gone?

Search for muse in nature
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

And where can I find her?

In the woods?

Under a rock?

Digging in the garden?

Peekaboo! Where are you hiding?

Your Turn

Share an excerpt from your Day 1 in The Joy of Writing Journal: Spark Your Creativity in 8 Minutes a Day. If you don’t have a copy, you can buy it here. I’d love to hear what the prompt inspired for you this morning, whether an insight, a joy, a challenge, resistance, an exploration, a poem or something else…Feel free to share anything about your response or an excerpt of what you wrote today.

Journaling writing is rough—unedited. So please just share without feeling a need to polish. We’re here for the journey, not a product. I hope you find that freeing!

Mindfulness & Gratitude as Portals to Writing with Ease

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Researcher Shalini Bahl, PhD is both a writer and an expert in mindfulness. The other day, she shared with me how practicing mindfulness, and gratitude in particular, helps her get unstuck when she writes.

Mindfulness expert Shalini Bahl PhD
Mindfulness Expert, Shalin Bahl, PhD

It makes sense to me. I know that when I’m in a negative state, feeling grateful helps me shift into a higher and happier state. Research shows, too, that mindfulness relaxes us and relaxation supports creative flow.

In our video interview, Dr. Bahl shares how our natural negativity bias creates resistance, which can be a normal response to the task of writing. Dr. Bahl turns that around by disrupting the negativity bias with a simple gratitude practice. She takes us through the exact steps she uses to shift from a negative mental and emotional state to a state of writing flow and ease.

These steps employ mindfulness and gratitude.

Lest you think mindfulness is complicated, this video will show you how easy it is to shift from writing resistance to writing with ease with gratitude.

Mindfulness Expert Shalini Bahl, PhD shares how to overcome resistance to writing

Share any questions or comments on your own experience with writing, resistance and flow.

How to Share Your Writing

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book writing coach Lisa Tener
Photo credit: Paula Schonewald

Does a part of you yearn to share your writing? When you hear someone else share their writing by reading aloud, or a writer shares by posting an excerpt, does it both inspire you and make you break out in hives? Do you wonder what you’re missing by not sharing your writing?

The Power of Sharing Your Writing

We had our first “Get Your Writing Done” Program workshop today.  When one participant shared some of what he wrote from one of the writing prompts, it moved me deeply, and I could see how it moved the other participants as well.

I got some writing done, as well. I loved the distinction between teaching for an hour and a half and, in this case, creating a space where people would be inspired and committed and get some writing done.

At the end of class, I decided to practice what I preach. I read a one paragraph excerpt from the book I’m writing:

“Be curious.

“When we write entirely from what we know and planned, our writing can fall flat. The best writing allows for spontaneity. When you’re at your most inspired, you learn something as you write. You expand beyond who you were twenty minutes ago when you began writing. You write on the frontiers of your own consciousness. Be open to the possibility that you will grow with your writing. It’s not something to force; you need to get out of your own way for that to happen.”

We can write in a vacuum for so long. It feels freeing to share your work with others and get the sense that your writing makes an impact.

And, hearing it aloud, whether you read it or someone reads to you, you get to tweak and polish, as well.

How to Share Your Writing

  • Join a critique group or writing workshop with a facilitator you trust (who treats everyone with dignity, inspires and sets a positive tone).
  • Be clear on your goal – why do you want to share your writing? Do you need a cheerleader to shift self-doubt? Or do you feel lonely in the writing and need to get some response to move on? Or do you want feedback or critique? If critique, trust your intuition about when to share your writing.writers gratitude journal
  • Share a snippet of a book in a blog post, as you see me do here. You may not want to give your whole premise away–be mindful about what you want to share early and what you want to save for when the book is published.

How to Get Over Shyness

  • Tell yourself that sharing will help you make improvements.
  • Tell your readers or listeners that it’s a rough draft. That way no one will expect perfection.
  • Remind yourself that others want to be supportive; they’re probably looking for what they like about it, not what they don’t like.
  • Ask yourself, “What am I afraid of?” Imagine sharing your writing and having that thing you’re afraid of actually happening. Your fantasy may give you the freedom to then share!
  • Only share with people you trust. If you’re afraid of criticism, let them know more specifically what you want from them. Maybe you don’t want any critique but just to be able to get over the fear of sharing.

Feel free to share a paragraph you’ve written below! Or share your experiences about sharing your writing.

 

You Are Invited to a FREE Creativity Workshop

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Lisa Tener Book CoachReady for a free creativity workshop?

As you may know, I’m working on a book that helps you consistently access a state of creative flow.

And I’ve refined by 5 Steps for “writing in the zone” to incorporate my new insights. At a focus group meeting, two long-term clients suggested I call this new iteration the “TENER Method” for creative flow. The whole group gave that a thumbs up, so I sat with it and it grew on me!

And now, I’m ready to share it. For free. In a creativity workshop. On Zoom.

I don’t want to wait for my book to start getting this work out the world. I’ve been sharing it in my book proposal class and now in my Bring Your Book to Life(R) Program. It’s been super-exciting to see this work:

  • Help writers break through blocks.
  • Inspire new ideas
  • Take people’s writing to a new level.
  • Make writing more fun and fulfilling.

So, I’m opening this training up to everyone in my community. Now it’s your turn, if you’d like to learn it.

Learn the TENER Method For Creative Flow:

5 Steps to get you writing (and creating) in the Zone.

Join me Tuesday, March 10 @ 8:00pm ET | 5:00pm PT

It’s FREE.

Event has passed.

9 Ways to Connect with the Creative Muse

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inspiration for writing on the beach
I love to connect with my muse in nature!

Do you know how to consistently connect with the creative muse? Probably my favorite activity in working with clients is guiding them in my signature “Meet Your Muse” guided visualization.

We journey from meadow to woods to a clearing and a little building inside which the muse, a symbol of their creative source, awaits.

Questions for Your Creative Muse

We come with questions:

  • Which book to write?
  • Who are my readers?
  • What’s blocking me and how do I get unstuck?
  • How do I find my voice?
  • How to get over my self-doubt?
  • Is this the right timing (to write it, to join a class, to work with Lisa)?
  • What’s the optimal way to get this book written?
  • Should I self-publish or traditionally publish?
  • How do I organize the book?
  • How can I connect with you every time I write?

This list goes on and can get very specific. We try not to overdo the number of questions on a call and work to identify those that are key and timely.

If you’re not writing a book, you can still connect to the muse for any kind of creative guidance, such as how to:

  • Get inspired.
  • Break through challenges
  • Identify what project to work on next
  • Clarify your next step
  • Refocus
  • Rediscover your passion
  • Gain artistic confidence
  • Connect with your vision for the project
  • Gain perspective
  • Understand and express complex situations

And much more!

The guided visualization I described offers one way to connect with the creative muse. Ready for more?

9 Ways to Connect with the Creative Muse

  1. breatheBreathe: As a qigong practitioner, I do lots of deep breathing. Deep breathing naturally helps us let go of stress, resets the nervous system and opens us up to the expansive universe of creativity.
  2. Close Your Eyes and Ask: Yes, it can be that simple. Close your eyes. Then ask for guidance and support. (of course, feel free to add a few deep breaths here as well!).
  3. Play: The creative muse loves to play! The more childlike the play, the more creative you get. So, take out those finger paints or crayons and draw with no other objective than to connect with your creativity.
  4. Sing: Singing naturally raises your mood and uplifts, making it easier to connect with your creative source.
  5. Skip: Skipping is so childlike. The creative muse naturally responds to such a spontaneously happy act.
  6. Feel: Maybe you don’t feel like singing or skipping. Maybe you feel crummy. If you allow yourself to embody the feeling, get deeply in touch with the nuances of that feeling, and find a way to express it–through writing, art, movement, talking out loud, you can utilize your emotions for creativity.
  7. Get in Nature: Okay, if you’ve read my blog for a while, you know nature is my answer to EVERYTHING that ails. But of course. The muse hangs out in nature. The muse appears in the animals you encounter; the elements of sun, wind, earth and rain; the plants that catch your eye. Go deep in your observations and you’ll likely find creative answers to whatever you’re wondering about.
  8. book coach Lisa Tener readingRead Something Inspiring–and Short: Read a favorite poet (Rumi or Hafez, anyone?). Or a humorous writer (Anne Lamott or David Sedaris). But keep it short so it serves as a bridge to your own creative pursuits.
  9. Be Grateful: When you focus on gratitude for your creativity and creations, you’ll find the muse responds with more.

What To Do Once You Connect with Your Muse

You’ve connected with the creative muse; now what?

  • Perhaps you’ve put together questions to ask; ask them.
  • Or maybe you just want to connect and create. Go for it: write, paint, choreograph, sculpt, sing, compose, play!
  • Or maybe you want to create an idea list and then choose something. Good. Do it.
  • Or perhaps you feel inspired to invite others to co-create with you. Sure, call them up. Or get everyone on a zoom call.  Community can supercharge our creativity.

Your Turn

What are your favorite ways of connecting with your muse? Share tips, stories, anything you like!

5 Ways to Get Unstuck: In Writing, Creativity and Life

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Looking for Ways to Get Unstuck in Your Writing, Creativity or Life?

This time of year, in the Northeast, it’s especially easy to get creatively stuck. It’s cold outside. We hunker down, watch more TV, skip yoga class, eat chocolate…

I’ll write tomorrow. I’ll exercise later.

And it’s downhill from there.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Winter can be an especially inspiring time if you know how to get unstuck. How?

5 Ways to Get Unstuck

Lisa Tener book coach gets unstuck
Moving to the Jamestown Library for my writing last weekend really freed me up.

#1: Change Your Environment

I do my book coaching, teaching and much of my editing from my in-home office that doubles as a guest room.

In winter, I spend even more time in that room where it becomes an entertainment center for watching Netflix or Hulu, phone calls to family (I still prefer a landline)  and reading books from the guest bed

I kept putting off writing the chapter summaries for my book proposal and I finally realized, I needed a new environment, both for the change of scenery and to spread out in a big room, surrounded only by my book ideas.

So, I hauled over to the Jamestown Library and took over a conference room, where I could spread out my book and post-it notes and create the outline of my book.

get unstuck - spread out
Find a space to spread out to get unstuck

#2: Make Space

When I first thought of mapping my book with post its I couldn’t imagine where in my home office I could find enough space to spread out.

Creative projects often require both physical space and space for one’s psyche.

Today, I spoke to an aspiring author who also felt stuck because of all the different projects in her workspace. In a guided visualization we did together, we asked her creative inner muse how to create the space and her muse responded with the advice to rent a separate studio for her artwork and move that out of the space where she’d be writing her book.

In addition, when she told me that her large whiteboard was half covered by ideas for her podcast, I suggested a separate surface for her outlining and book-related work. Why? Every time she looks at her emerging outline, she’d also see the podcast info. In essence, the podcast would intrude on her “head space” for the book. She agreed.

#3:  Get Moving

Sitting still at a computer all day practically guarantees getting stuck at some point. We need movement (and blood flow and breath) to keep our brains functioning optimally. Physical stagnancy creates creative stagnancy.

So, whether you stand up and do jumping jacks, yoga stretches or qigong, or you don your boots and raincoat and go for a walk in the rain or snow, you’ll likely find yourself refreshed and unstuck when you return to your desk.

Playful Creative Unstuck
Donning my playful headdress at Hera Gallery Gala

#4: Be Playful

When we feel the weight of the world on our shoulders, we’re more inclined to feel pressured and stressed. Do these emotions contribute to creativity? Hardly.

When we allow ourselves to be playful in one area of life, we open up to creativity and flow in other areas.

I recently made a playful headdress at the HERA Art Gallery Gala. I put it on just before working on my book and—voila—instant inspiration.

Why does this work? Playfulness is liberating. It helps us go beyond linear thinking and make creative connections we didn’t see before. And once we’re in that creative mindset, we don’t even remember feeling stuck.

#5: Return to Your Vision

In my book writing classes, I noticed a pattern that for many people, if things were going to fall apart, it tended to happen in week 3. “I didn’t write anything.” “I lost my drive.” “I’m stuck.”

Amazingly, I rarely needed to say much because other participants in the class offered what helped them stay on course and unstuck. And the thing I heard over and over was, “Do you read your vision statement daily?”

In week 1 of my Bring Your Book to Life® Program, we start with creating a vision statement for our book—what it will do for our readers, our own work and lives and the greater community or society. I encourage everyone to work on that vision until it feels like a 10 (on the 1-10 scale of inspiration).

Then, I suggest participants read their vision statement daily and also right before sitting down to write.

People find that the vision statement provides focus and clarity:

  • You know where you’re heading.
  • Your vision statement can guide your artistic decisions (“which path, A or B, better aligns with my vision?”).
  • You can use your vision statement to keep you engaged and inspired.

If you read your vision statement and feel uninspired, maybe it’s time to tweak it. Or make a more dramatic change. Your passion in reading it tells you how on target it is.

I find that when writers or other creatives return to their vision statement, it’s often all they need to get back on track—inspired, motivated and creative.

Here’s what one person’s inner muse had to say when her writing practice fell apart and she got stuck.

Visual Artist Uli Brahmst on Creative Process

I asked a few artist friends about their creative process and to share how they use some of the 5 Ways I mention in their work. How do they keep their creativity flowing?

Uli Brahmst, visual artist and President of the Board of Hera Gallery in Wakefield RI shared this:

Uli Brahmst and Lisa Tener at Hera Gallery Gala at The Towers, Narragansett in January

About play: “I clean up my studio… in no time I come across so many intriguing things that I start putting together little collages (they always feel like play to me) and I am on my way.”

About movement and change of environment: “I do move around a lot while doing that which probably helps to get the juices flowing.
“If I really feel I need a breeze of fresh air I get a quirky book or poetry/art magazine… something not too flashy and start reading… instantly I want to draw something and never make it much past the first couple of pages. In this context, I change the creative modality which is like a change of environment.”
Uli also adds that she has a number of projects going at once: “I also move between a number of simultaneous projects so that I can always work on something even if another area of my work feels stuck and working in itself creates new momentum.”

Uli Brahmst, Sanctuary II
Sanctuary II, 2020; branches, wool, watercolor on rice paper, chalk, clay, gold leaf, wood mounted inkjet prints. This piece is part of the current exhibit at UMass Dartmouth, New Bedford Campus.

“My problem has never really been to get stuck, I am more on the other end of the spectrum: I operate on overload and need to slow down. I think they might be two faces of the same coin… I really like handwork as a remedy for over stimulation, especially weaving, because the complexity of patterns keeps the mind focused on counting and technical challenges. Going from working freely and intuitively in drawing and collaging to working very structured in weaving is also comparable to a change of environment.

Uli Brahmst Art
Rococo in the 21st Century III by Uli Brahmst

“I also believe in taking our creativity out of the studio into the real world (similarly to taking your yoga off the mat) and find things like installing a show or working collaboratively on bringing art to the community a good way to mix up my studio practice.”

Uli’s work can be seen in her private show, “On Being a Woman,” January 21 – March 21, 2020 at UMass Dartmouth University Art Gallery in Downtown New Bedford. The exhibit is open free of charge through March 12. The gallery is open daily, 9 am to 6 pm.
I attended the opening and was blown away by the impact of her work; the breadth and diversity of subject matter, media and imagery; and her author talk which brought such insights and had me thinking about her message(s) on my hour and a half drive home from New Bedford.
I hadn’t realized what a vibrant art scene New Bedford has. The second Thursday of the month, the city celebrates art through AHA New Bedford, where you can find many art openings, artist talks, performances and more. As a writer, I find that an infusion of art and performance inspires my own work and opens my mind!

Your Turn to Share

What works for you?

Writing Overwhelm? How to Write Your Way Out of “The Messy Middle”

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Are you experiencing writing overwhelm?

There’s a place in the writing process that my friend and colleague, Stuart Horwitz refers to as “the messy middle,” where you may feel overwhelmed and stuck.

For me, that messy middle period can drag out to months or years. It can stop a project in its tracks. The overwhelming messy middle, the bane of my existence as a writer.

Writing On the Other Side of Overwhelm

Goodbye overwhelm. Hello ease!

Today, though, I’m on the other side, returning to all the holes in my manuscript and filling them in with the perfect random tidbit I’d filed away at the end of the manuscript. Or new inspiration bursts forth to tie everything in the chapter together.

An exercise I thought might fit in Chapter 12 wanders into Chapter 14 and a more perfect fit takes its place in the current chapter.

What once felt overwhelming and truly almost stopped me from completing my book has faded to a distant memory.

But wait, how did I get here? What can I share with you (and my future self) if we find ourselves in the messy middle (again)?

Writing Your Way Out of Overwhelm

Feels so good!

So, how do you do it? Get from writing overwhelm to inspired flow? Here are a few tips from your writing coach:

  1. Consistency: You won’t always feel like writing but if you write consistently 5-7 mornings a week, as creativity coach Eric Maisel suggests, (or even some other number but you are consistent) you’ll experience some flow days.
  2. Faith and Trust: Some days you will likely feel frustrated and uninspired. You may look at your writing and question whether you should even attempt writing a book. At least, I’ve felt that way (and not in the distant past, just the other day). Your faith can carry you through bad writing days, trusting that inspiration is on its way. It’s okay to write things that never make it into your book. It’s still practice.
  3. Focus on One Thing: If you focus on the whole of the book and all the many things you need to do, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Focus on one specific thing–writing up an anecdote that brings certain material to life for instance. Or telling a story about the most recent medical research relevant to that chapter’s topic. Stay focused.
  4. File Stuff Away: My current manuscript has over twenty pages of “I don’t know where this goes or if it even belongs in the book” writing. I’ve been filing it at the end of the manuscript and looking it over when I need another story or anecdote for a chapter, seeing if it fits. For me it works great and most of the previously called “random material” at the back now has found a home. I like having this material in the manuscript so it’s easy to find but you can also place it in a separate file.
  5. Hire an Editor or Writing Coach or Find a Trusted Beta Reader from Your Target Market: If you have a fair amount written and you feel stuck because you’re not sure it’s working, it may be time to hand your writing over to a beta reader, writing coach or editor for feedback. Some people wait until they have a full first draft but it’s up to you; you can do it much sooner if needed.

Organizing Through the Messy Middle

Make notes about the stories and lessons in each chapter. Have a printed copy of your outline with chapter notes by your side as you work through revisions.

When you come to a confusing or messy section, ask yourself if there’s a more fitting place in the manuscript for the messy material. Also, does some of the material in other chapters fit better here than what you currently have in the messy spot?

I prefer working with hard copies but it’s also easy to have two documents on your screen (manuscript and outline) if you prefer to work digitally.

When I arrived at the messy middle phase, it felt like a slog. However, by the second round of editing, at some point I could feel the momentum of the project carry me. The energy felt different, a sense of the different parts falling into place.

In fact, although I thought I was mostly done writing new material, several times I experienced something unusual that found its way into the book and strengthened the chapter it went into.

It felt like my life unfolded in order to give me a great story for a chapter I’d been working on–an invitation to a gong bath materialized overnight; my friends summoned me to meditate at their magical farmhouse at four in the morning, a quirky dream woke me up in the middle of the night and begged to be recorded.

Your Turn

Where are you in the process of writing a book? What challenges are coming up? How are you working through them? Any insights to share? Share your comments and questions!

 

 

Facing Fear, The Bird’s Eye View and New Material for Writing

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Lisa Tener
We were so caught up in climbing we didn’t take any climbing photos! So here is a photo from my first time at Fields of Fire a couple years ago.

Where was this new material coming from? I thought I’d finished my first draft.

Yet, by making—and keeping—a morning commitment, I often find myself discovering new material.

Some of it may not go in the book. Maybe it’s a blog post. Or a guest article. Or even material for a new book!

Yet, some of it is sure to make it into the book.

Yup. I Skipped Writing.

I skipped writing a couple days ago because I was sure I had no new material to write about. Then I found myself telling my friend Paula about my experiences at Fields of Fire Adventure Park the previous day—doing high ropes courses with my friend Amber and four boys ages 10 to 15.

“Your experience seems to have some powerful parallels to writing.”

Duh. If I’d just spent a few minutes recalling the previous day’s events, I may have written that morning.

But, it’s not too late. Here are my insights from ropes courses, the aerial view and zip lining.

Forget About Being Up High.

From the moment I stepped on the ladder, I stayed aware of how high up I climbed. Each time I stepped onto a new rope obstacle or feature, I became more aware of the distance from the wire, rope or plank to the ground. Not helpful.

Mid-way through my second course (Intermediate!), I forgot the height and my whole body relaxed as I gave myself over to the challenge. After all, should I fall, my harness would hold me up. No worries.

When it comes to writing, forget about what’s at stake. You’re safe. Just write. You can always use your safety net and censor yourself before you publish. Now’s the time to immerse yourself in the writing and forget how high you’re flying.

Swing, baby!

On the first beginner’s course, I tried not to let the features (planks or ropes beneath my feet) move too much. Guess what? That’s an impossible task. The features are designed to move.

When Amber suggested I just relax my body and let myself swing, during a particularly swing-y feature, I realized how fun it could be to swing. When I put my foot out to bridge from one plank to another, I could just wait until things firmed up, or use my upper body to rely on the rope I grabbed, rather than the plank beneath my feet.

Once I figured that out and let myself swing, I felt the sense of freedom of being up so high, swinging in the trees.

I had visited Fields of Fire twice before, and that lesson seemed to be about feeling the fear and doing it anyway. This time, I found more fun and freedom in the adventure.

How does swinging connect to writing? When we try to control the writing, we often stop short of our best work. Only by relaxing and letting go can we discover new insights in our writing and offer our readers the very best of ourselves.

Sit Down!

I had never gotten the hang of the zip line the other two visits. This time, I realized that, instead of jumping off the edge of the platform that surrounded the tree, I could just sit down and feel my harness hold me before I left the tree plank.

Wow, what a difference in perspective that made. Before, it always felt like stepping out off a cliff. SCARY!

This time, I felt safe before I ever started.

Writing sometimes feels unsafe, especially when writing about a traumatic experience or writing something controversial. If that’s the case, you may find yourself feeling stuck before you even start (or when you hit a tough spot).

That’s why I encourage my coaching clients and book writing course participants to develop a plan ahead of time that feels supportive. If you know you’re going to be delving into challenging material:

  1. Say a prayer or take a walk in nature before you begin.
  2. Have a plan for what you’ll do when you finish writing (a walk in nature, a phone call or time together with a supportive friend).
  3. Remember to bring your whole self to the writing and remembering, not just the part of you that went through the traumatic event.
  4. Make a list of all the supports (people, activities, etc.) you have in your life, knowing you can tap into that when you are done.
  5. Before you begin, write out your plan for before, during and after writing. That way, you know exactly what you’ll do to stay empowered, or regain your power, if the writing unnerves you.

[bctt tweet=”Inspiration for A Morning Writing Practice” username=”LisaTener”]

writing in bed
Photo by Lacie Slezak on Unsplash

Do you have a morning writing practice? Do you ever wake up and think you have nothing to write about? Here are some ways to tap into inspiration for generating new material.

  1. Recall the events of the previous day, anything from picking berries to a walk in the woods to a shell you picked up on the beach. Just write and see what insights come.
  2. Have a plan for what you’ll write, especially if you are writing a book.
  3. Write down your dreams. See if you can tie the dream to whatever you are working on at the moment, or to current events (for a blog post, for example).
  4. Go for a walk in nature and see what inspires you. Then write.

Your Turn: Share Your Insights.

What do you do when you’ve set aside time to write and the inspiration doesn’t come right away? Do you have any tips for finding new material?

Have any summer activities inspired your writing in new ways? How?

 

Happy Independence Day: Here’s to Freedom!

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FireworksIn honor of Independence Day, here are a few inspiring quotes about freedom and independence from Goodnet.
What’s your favorite quote on the subject?
Happy 4th! Enjoy the festivities.

“My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.”
– Adlai Stevenson (31st Governor of Illinois and United Nations ambassador 1961-
1965)

“Freedom cannot be bestowed — it must be achieved.”
– Elbert Hubbard (American writer, publisher and artist)

“The great revolution in the history of man, past, present and future, is the revolution
of those determined to be free.”
– John F. Kennedy (35th President of the United States)

“Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.”
– Albert Camus (French author, journalist and philosopher)

Do You Feel Full Freedom to Express or Do You Censor Yourself?

Do you find yourself censoring your writing, given the current climate and the way all our actions are tracked on the internet? I do. There are things I won’t write about because I’m concerned how it might be tracked and used.

As we celebrate July 4th, perhaps we can think about the things we can do to initiate greater freedom, such as fighting for greater security and less sharing of our data on the web.

What are your thoughts? Share your favorite quote below, share what freedom means to you as a writer and anything you plan to do (or are doing) to restore greater freedom of written thought in our society.

Writing from Your Heart

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book writing coach Lisa Tener
Your book writing coach Lisa Tener

I was recently interviewed by Dawn Montefusco for her Writing from the Heart series. Not surprisingly, we found ourselves talking about writing from the head vs. the heart.

Sitting here at my computer, staring at my screen, it’s easy to drop into “head” mode. I started this blog post about writing from your heart and then realized I needed to bring more heart into it! Am I practicing what I preach?

Here are a few of my musings about writing from your heart and some tips for getting in touch with that.

There’s a Little Poet in All of Us

house fly
Photo by Armen Chlchatian on Unsplash

On the call, Dawn and I shared how we both wrote poetry as children. I can remember a sort of luminescent feeling from my childhood, awakening in our summer house on Fundy Bay, before sunrise. I’d pull the string to my light bulb (no light fixture, just a bulb) and the heat of the light bulb hatched the housefly eggs that must have been laid in the ceiling above it. A majestic and steady stream of flies emerged and buzzed about.

As the houseflies came to life, I’d reach for a notebook or blank sheet of paper and write about the previously quiet pre-dawn house, the sun as it rose over the bay painting the sky shades of pink, purple and orange, my youthful pining for love. The act of writing from my heart filled me with euphoria, no matter the topic. I could have written about the houseflies and felt high!

Nowadays, in my mind, I’ve marginalized poetry. “No one will buy that.” “You can’t write poetry.”

I repressed my own inclination towards poetry so long that when someone comes to me looking for a poetry coach, something inside me judges the value of such an activity. Where does that voice come from? I love poetry! Writing poetry provided a lifeline during my adolescence and college.

I felt so alive when I wrote poetry.

Poetry buoyed me when I worked at a draining programming job in Boston, surrounded by men who didn’t know how to relate to a female co-worker and, therefore, said things that nowadays would make a human resources director run to the legal department. I’d write poems and my feelings of anger mixed with shame about the harassment drained away.

Recently, I’ve learned to embrace poetry again–for the pure joy of writing and for the instant connection it creates with my muse. And I discovered it’s also a wonderful entry point for any writing, in order to come from a more creative and heart centered space.

The Problem With Writing From Your Head, Without Heart

sunrise write from the heart
Sunrise and sunset help me write from the heart!

When you write purely from the head, you run the risk of:

  • Running out of Steam: It’s easy to lose momentum if you don’t feel passionate about your writing and your topic. Ask yourself, “Which book should I write?” based on your objectives and your heartfelt vision.
  • Losing Your Readers: When you write from your head you’re more likely to talk at your readers instead of engaging them in the discovery process. For instance, you’ll tell them things without bringing the material to life. Ask yourself, “Am I picturing a reader as I write or am I writing to an amorphous glob of readers?” As you picture one reader, feel that heart connection as you write. It helps!
  • Writing Something Blah: When you write purely from you head, the writing can feel stilted. When you write from your heart, there’s space for the bold metaphor, playful language, rhythm and phrasing, surprise and much more!

So, how do you write from your heart?

5 Tips for Writing from Your Heart

  1. writing coach Lisa Tener
    Being in nature often makes writing from the heart natural and easy.

    Remain Curious: Be Open to not knowing everything about the writing. Sure, have a plan. That will help create a container for the movement. But then be open to change, and keep asking questions: What am I not seeing? The best writing comes from writing yourself into discovering a deeper truth or new perspective.

  2. Move: Go for a walk, dance, practice yoga, qigong or tai chi. Such movement recharges mind, body and spirit and helps you enter a state of flow. I used to walk the Cliff Walk in Newport for my inspiration or climb rocks in Narragansett. My new favorite is the beach right in my neighborhood where I can practice qigong on the shore, walk out to the point where the brackish sea nursery meets Narragansett Bay and walk in the woods–all in one walk!
  3. Tap into Your Sense of Humor and Play: Playfulness and humor invite both you and your readers into an expansive state where your hearts are engaged and your minds are more open. How to tap into playfulness? Leave your critic at the door (maybe give her a playful activity, too) and feel free to experiment and loosen up with playful writing activities: Write a few poems out in nature before writing a chapter. I sometimes write down the different sounds I hear as I sit down to write. You can also take on a persona in your writing or play with a new voice, perhaps a funny one. Do an exercise that puts you in a more open space where control just isn’t part of the equation and see if that frees you up.
  4. Be Okay with “Failure.” I don’t really mean failure here but what the ego thinks of as failure. Allow yourself the space to “get it wrong.” And also allow yourself to be vulnerable in your writing knowing that you can always edit later. If you edit while writing, your censor blocks your creativity. If you tell yourself you can delete anything before you send it to others, you give yourself permission to write things you’ve been afraid of, maybe even things you haven’t admitted to yourself. It’s a powerful process.
  5. Connect with Your Muse: Close your eyes, take a few deep belly breaths and ask within for guidance. Let go of what you think you should do (such as where to start with the day’s writing) and ask your muse what it wants you to do right now in this moment. When you’re truly present in the moment, more can happen creatively.

How do you tap into your heart’s message when you write? Please share your insights and ideas as a comment below.

 

When You Commit To Writing a Book, Other Projects Will Call: How Will You Answer?

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Commit to Writing a Book!

book proposal coach Lisa Tener, write a book proposalYou commit to writing a book. You feel jazzed. You’re inspired. The birds seem to sing a little sweeter. There’s a lift in your step. And then…

Soon, you’re tested.

Suddenly, new and exciting opportunities come knocking at your door.

And you may want to answer, but don’t jump in too quickly. Remind yourself  that you committed to writing your book. Ask yourself, “If I say yes to this, what does it mean for my book?” And then decide. Perhaps there’s a way to put the new opportunity off for a few months, or to take something else off your plate (not your book, though)!

These opportunities can be anything from a new client, a new project to an invitation to a party Friday night. Whatever it is, before saying yes, always ask how a yes will affect your book and your commitment to writing a book.

If you are sure you want to accept the invitation and the invitation conflicts with writing time, perhaps you can immediately reschedule your writing time. Or perhaps you want to make the next few months a bit of a writing retreat and be more of a hermit—saying no to any and all distractions! Deeply re-commit to writing a book.

You get to choose. Choose wisely. Either can work, as long as you continue to prioritize your book overall.

6 Strategies to Commit to Writing a Book—and Stick With It

commit to writing a book
Commit to writing a book–and stick with it!

Here 6 strategies to commit to writing a book and keeping it a top priority:

  1.  When someone asks you to do anything (volunteer, help them out, take on a new project), stall with, “I’ll need to think about that. Can I tell you tomorrow/later today/in a few days?” Then ask the question above. “If I say yes to this, how will it affect my book?”
  2. Check your inner GPS: Imagine yourself doing that activity or taking on that project. How does it feel to say yes? How will it impact your book? What does it feel like as you imagine the impact on your book? Now try it the other way. How does it feel to say no? To make your book writing your number one priority?
  3. Schedule your writing sessions in your calendar for specific dates and times. If something comes up, think about whether it’s worth going off schedule. If it is, reschedule for another time immediately and put that in your calendar.
  4. Find a person or group to be accountable to. Check in daily, weekly or at scheduled times. We do this in my writing programs, along with 5 simple questions to stay on track. It works like magic.
  5. Give yourself rewards after you’ve completed your writing commitment for the day—a walk outdoors, a chat with a friend, a show on Netflix.
  6. Join a book writing class! One thing I love about a class is the sense of community. You’re not going it alone. In fact, everyone benefits from the sense of momentum we build up as a group. And I just happen to have a class coming up. How about that?! In fact, it’s not to early to be thinking about my premiere book writing program. While classes begin in February, you can get started on the pre-work any time (including a private book concept consultation with me).  Feel free to email me to explore.

I’ve seen people make that commitment and complete their book, in first draft form, in months, or even weeks. And I’ve seen aspiring authors make that commitment and then get side-tracked my bright and shiny objects. Those two outcomes feel very different inside!

Even new opportunities that look like answered prayer should be evaluated carefully. You don’t have to rush into a “no” either. Take your time to decide and prioritize.

What do you do to keep your commitment to writing? Any suggestions for fellow readers of this blog?

And here are some tips for writing productivity, once you get started.

 

Grappling with Your Book Concept and Other Writing Challenges

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writing a book, book concept
Working on Teri’s book concept during her VIP Day.

I love this time of year. As I gear up for teaching my Bring Your Book to Life® Program, several early-bird registrants have had their first book concept consultation this week. Common themes emerge—perhaps some themes you are grappling with yourself:

  • “Who am I to write a book? Can I do this? Will anyone read it?”
  • “I’m not even sure what this book is. It feels so vague right now.”
  • “Who’s my target market? Moms? Business owners? I can’t decide.”
  • “I have so many ideas. What’s the right one?”
  • “How do I find my voice as a writer? How do I make this book stand out from everything else out there? Is there a way to find my essence as a writer?”

These are all great questions to be asking. And, yet, if you ask them from a place of fear, or wanting to control the process or a sense of rigidity, they will muddle everything. If you think there is one right answer and you need it now, you push the clarity away. If you ask from a place of openness and curiosity, of ease and gentleness, not needing an immediate answer, you draw the clarity to you.

You will get clear. Maybe not right way. You may need to play around, experiment, trust.

And then, it will come.

Book Writing Advice

Be relaxed. Stay open and curious.

So much of the time, we are in our heads when thinking about our books—overthinking. Our best writing comes from our hearts. I don’t mean fluffy or vague ooey-gooey writing. Just writing from a place where you embody your book, your stories, your teachings, your wisdom and knowledge.

You may want to practice walking in nature, running, qigong, tai chi, yoga, dance, lifting weights or meditation before writing. In that way, you tap into a more expansive sense of who you are and your connection to all that is. You can let go of the part of the mind that strives and embrace the part of you that exists in a state of flow.

Try it! And feel free to share any practices that help you get clarity. Or ask any questions you have about writing a book.

 

 

How to Access Your 24 Hour Mind, Dreams and Creativity for Writing Inspiration

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Today, let’s explore how dreams and creativity work together, though an interview with Kari Hohne.

Accessing the 24 Hour Mind

Author Kari Hohne, expert on dreams and creativity
Author, Innovator, Musician and Dream Interpreter Kari Hohne

“The 24 Hour Mind!” The first time I heard Kari Hohne mention the 24 Hour Mind, I made a doggy head-tilt. You know, a “What’s that?” kind of look.

I wanted to know more.

Although Kari started out as my client for a book proposal, she soon became a mentor for me in the dreamscape: helping me access the wisdom, intuition and the power of my dreams for increased creativity, more harmonious relationships and a breakthrough on my most recent book project.

Once I got the bug, I realized that my readers and clients could benefit greatly from what Kari teaches about the 24 hour mind, creativity, dreams, innovation and all of life, really.

Kari has been analyzing dreams for people all over the world for many decades, and pioneered the hero’s journey through the dreamscape. Kari writes about the three parts of every dream that show conflict, cause and resolution.

I’ve found in my work with Kari that the transformation that takes in my dreams often proceeds the personal transformation that follows in everyday life. Without further ado, here is our conversation about how to access the 24 hour mind for creativity, writing and life.

Lisa: Kari, you help people access their “24 Hour Mind.” What is the 24 Hour Mind and what does it open up for us?

Kari: The 24 Hour Mind describes the totality of the mind’s potential.

In ancient times, dreams were at the center of understanding one’s life path. Today, we’ve compartmentalized life and dreams as two separate mental processes and actually ignore half of the mind’s experience and expression.

The way dreams condense symbols in ingenious ways shows that each of us has access to enormous creativity and innovative thought that we underutilize.

Once people begin dreamwork, they always notice how synchronicity intensifies. Synchronicity is the sense that what we dream seems to precede what we experience. You might also call this sensation déjà vu.

I also noticed that dreams have a different time sense and a view of the life path that is not available to everyday consciousness. After observing how we are learning equally through experience and when we dream, it occurred to me that the eastern “all is me” view of experience is exactly the formula used for interpreting dreams.

Additionally, we spend almost half of our lives in the learning environment of dreams, and we are actually in a more enlightened and open condition when we are dreaming. By removing the illusion that we should have boundaries between the dream/wake/dream cycle, we access the part of our mind that is ingeniously creative, boundless and at the root of our intention.

We are more of a witness in dreams and if we can apply this same sort of wonder and non-attachment to our daily awareness, we can see how life is mirroring our intention back to us.

Through my series: The 24 HourMind, people can learn how to access intention and change it. The formula is inspired by how dreams are structured, but doesn’t require that we remember our dreams.

Intention and Potential, Dreams and Creativity

dreams and creativity tap into natureLisa: Of course, we all dream, even if we don’t remember our dreams and so we all have some access to the 24 Hour Mind, but you talk about being intentional.

How does intention help us gain greater access to our potential? How do our dreams and reality interact?

Kari: The images a mind uses to describe what’s happening in the inner world shows how the dreamer has organized reality. For example, bathrooms can show how a dreamer is attempting to ‘come clean’ and reveal their more intimate nature.

Lisa: We’ve certainly seen that image come up in my dreams!

Kari: A tree house can show how the dreamer is moving closer to their organic being or authenticity. And Trickster symbols like coyote…

Lisa: Or those toy dragons in my dreams!

Kari: Yes. Exactly. Tricksters can appear to allow a dreamer to laugh at their sense of certainty.

Immediately following a breakthrough dream, the police will show up as if the psyche has a sense that some repressed quality and the emerging enlightenment is ‘against the rules’ and off limits. The conditional tapes of childhood can be tough to erase through applied thought and meditation. Therefore, the dreamer’s potential is limited by these false assumptions and the mind’s self-imposed limitations.

All dream images capture snapshots to tell a story of what the dreamer’s mind either allows access to, or keeps as repressed potential. The correlation between dreams and experience is that the repressed ideas explored in dreams might shift a dreamer to open up to a new view of experience.

When this emerging awareness is being considered, synchronicity brings an event into actual experience where the same idea can be tested in reality. I laugh at the word reality because the 24 Hour Mind becomes aware of how life is an ongoing dream. It is one story unfolding in two dimensions, but it is the same story. These stories become the life we allow ourselves to live.

When we dismiss dreams, simply because we can’t understand their metaphorical language, we miss an awareness that would fast forward our ability to evolve into authenticity and achieve our greater potential.

If dreams are a way of viewing how we organize experience through intention, understanding these inner dynamics will allow us to change intention. By observing life as our ongoing dream, or as a reflection of our inner world, life reflects our intention back to us.

Building Self Help Technology and a Database of Ancient Eastern and Western Wisdom

dream app taps into 24 hour mindLisa: You’re a wonderful example of the innovations that dreams can help you access (and the way dreams and creativity work together). Your Dream App has remained in the top 10 at Amazon and iTunes since its launch in 2009 and you’ve had over 100,00 downloads.

What are the secrets to your success with apps?

Kari: I think the same early adopters who embraced apps were also the type of people interested in tapping their personal technology to achieve greater efficiency. Understanding dreams is the key to unlocking greater human potential. Many of my apps began as books but I redesigned the information into fun platforms so readers can grab exactly what they need when they need it.

Way ofdream app taps into creativity Dreams allows you to type your dream into a cloud and it interprets it, while saving it to a diary. Inspired Natural Wisdom connects the spiritual journey to nature and many of the more than 150,000 people who visit Cafe Au Soul each month are green enthusiasts or those seeking to find meaning in a life connected to nature.

 

Beyond the dream dictionary on my website, I also have the Internet’s most popular I Ching oracle. I’m launching the app in January. This oracle is also inspired by nature, which is the basis of Taoism. I build self-help technology, whether through apps or the many free oracles on my website so people can find a place to explore their inner direction. I see the I Ching as a culmination of eastern wisdom, while Tarot and Astrology are rooted in western archetypes.

Cafe au Soul is a virtual database of all of our collective and ancient wisdom.

Cultivating a Sense of Wonder with the 24 Hour Mind, Dreams and Creativity

Lisa: Wow, that’s a tall order. Let’s talk specifically about writers. We often rise in the morning in a creative state. Why is that? Should we always write immediately upon waking or are there other ways to tap into the subconscious mind?

Kari: I always say it is as if we have two minds. The daily mind is driven by cognition which is survival driven. It was designed to notice what’s wrong or out of place in the environment so that whatever is amiss, can be efficiently organized and classified so it can move on to its next task. Creativity is not cognition’s strong point.

The dreaming mind is more of a transcendent outlook which is completely boundless, and established on a foundation that anything is possible.

The same part of our mind that cleverly chose two unlike symbols to make a breakthrough point in a dream is more accessible after dreaming. When we awake from the metaphorical and boundless awareness and immediately shift back into cognition, the dream content is lost. It was the cognitive mind that buried the real story in the first place. This is why people have difficulty remembering their dreams.

Cognition can be retrained to behave more like the dreaming mind with its foundation of wonder. This is the core of what I teach about the 24 Hour Mind. To remove the barriers between the dream/wake/dream cycle, we have to look at our idea of the world and release our assumptions. Is what I believe real? Is what I have always believed as the only way, truly the only way? What if I juxtapose two different ideas? What if I allow synchronicity to add a bit of inspiration as a message and incorporate it into what I am writing?

Dreams inspire this creative approach: 1) Take two unlike things and combine them. 2) Change the order of the obvious. 3) Don’t discount the bizarre. 4) Be willing to be lifted out of your shoes!

The unnatural boundaries the mind creates can keep us stuck in routine thinking. If we want to be more creative we simply look at life as being no more real than a dream. What seems so tangible about life is really nothing different to how we believe dreams are real while we are dreaming. We hold the power to change our experiences. When the mind returns to wonder, anything is possible.

Dreams and Creativity: Writing and the Subconscious Mind

Kari Hohne, writer and expert on dreams and creativityLisa: What’s the power of the subconscious mind? What does it do for our writing and creativity?

Kari: I want to just clarify that cognition is an organizing tool and the unconscious holds an enormous reservoir of personal and collective inspiration. The subconscious holds ideas that are pre-conscious. These ideas are neither completely unconscious nor immediately available to consciousness.

For example, let’s say we have repressed something from childhood, perhaps a fear of being destitute or a shameful experience that now resides in the unconscious. In an attempt to fill this inner vacuum, we overcompensate by seeking accolades and become over achievers. Our subconscious triggers the experiences that validate our unconscious beliefs. The subconscious drives our focus and this is what we come to say is real.

When we begin to explore what’s repressed, we would describe the same activity as synchronicity because now intention is no longer unconscious and we can observe how we are drawing these experiences to prove our beliefs.

In the case of synchronicity – we have become open to change. The power of the subconscious mind is the trigger for how intention manifests. This part of the mind is often a barrier to how we might access unconscious potential and greater inspiration.

In dreams, we freely explore all aspects of the unconscious.

Archetypes are inspiration of a collective and transpersonal nature. So for writers, it is the unconscious that might allow for enormous inspiration once the barriers of the subconscious are transcended and cognition is coaxed toward wonder.

I use another idea from Taoism to help people move away from purely cognitive thinking. In the west, we associate the mind with all aspects of thought. The heart is the place where all feelings reside. In Taoism, intention resides in the heart mind. So one activity I give people while they are working on changing intention is to center themselves in the solar plexus, the home of the heart mind.

Our feelings infuse consciousness with a belief in what is possible. If we are afraid, angry, or beaten down by life, we perpetuate the experience with these feelings. As we center ourselves in the solar plexus – where thoughts are no longer just of the mind and feelings are no longer just of the heart – by simply taking a breath, we can clear our intention. No matter where we find ourselves in the stages of our transformation, and regardless of the experiences we encounter, we can change everything with a simple breath.

Prior to writing or embarking on any creative adventure, I would say 1) Move away from what you know. 2) Center yourself in the solar plexus. 3) Take a breath. 4) Hold to excited anticipation. 5) The outcome doesn’t matter because anything is possible and it will be perfect. You are the creator and have the power to create anything. Whatever you believe is true is true for you.

Lisa: That’s beautiful!

[bctt tweet=”Breaking Through Blocks through Dreamwork and the 24 Hour Mind” username=”LisaTener”]

Lisa: I was stuck for a long time in staying with a writing project of my own and I found that working with you on dreams and creativity caused a breakthrough in commitment and productivity. Is that common? 

Kari: Yes. I’ve worked with many innovators, musicians, writers and healers and all have felt an increase in mental energy and focus because we got rid of the psyche’s barnacles. Those doing dream work always notice how enormous energy is released in the psyche, energy that was usurped by repression and how creativity blossoms. The greatest takeaway people get from doing dream work is the knowledge that they have this inner genius at their disposal. Knowing this changes the process of creating from work to an adventure of discovery. When we remove the subconscious blockages, it’s like opening a fire hose of creativity.

Lisa: I love reading your writing. It’s playful, often humorous, insightful and offers powerful information. How do you get into a state of flow? Is it just second nature? If so, was it always that way or how did you come to this place?

Kari: Thank you for saying that. I’ve learned so much from you, too. The creative process seems to work best when the artist is not centered in the self. This is demonstrated best in acting. When the actor completely transcends the sense of self and allows the character to have life within them, the audience is moved by an alter reality. The moment the actor becomes self-conscious, the process fails.

In writing too, the process of writing is more important than the product. We might have an idea of where we are going, but we have to allow for the opening of wonder…the belief that discovery translates to the reader…the freedom to be led by where our writing takes us.

Just as the Trickster in dreams is always poking fun at all of our serious attempts to be certain, we have to take our thoughts lightly and be open to criticism. One of the most humiliating things I ever experienced as a writer was at a writer’s conference in Washington D.C in 2007 when I first began writing books on dreams. A publisher listened to my pitch and said, “Dreams? Oh yeah, you’re from California.”

dream app taps into 24 hour mindA year later I made the book into a dream interpretation app and it sold in the top 10 at iTunes. The following year Amazon asked me to build it for Kindle. Who would have thought a day would come when a bookstore would go directly to an author?

It’s more important to stay true to your inspiration, regardless of who understands it. Whether I’m writing books, apps, music or designing technology, it’s a completely inspired process. Much of it comes from dreams and the other portion comes from synchronicity. I am open and I know it will be fantastic – whatever it is. It has nothing to do with me other than how I have to peddle it into a world of furry eyebrows and arms akimbo.

It takes courage to stand behind your work. Like the actor, when I make it about me the process can only fail. The discovery process and accessing the inspiration makes it fun. Having people write to share how my work has helped them connect with their sense of direction makes it infinitely rewarding. We’re all students of life and we’re lucky to part of the few who keep wonder and inspiration at our core.

Powering Your Writing from Your Dream State

Lisa: What are some ways authors can use their dream state for creative inspiration to power their writing?

mythology of sleep: dreams, creativity and symbolismKari: When I was writing the Mythology of Sleep each chapter was inspired by a dream. I had a sense that I was writing about the common archetypes of world mythology, but I would wake up with a symbol that once explored, set the stage for each chapter. At the same time, the dream themes and archetypes I was working on emerged through specific clients, exactly at the time I began each chapter. It was uncanny.

What really amazed me was how I wrote seven chapters of archetypes around the world and when I got to the eighth chapter, the mythology of China and the Pa Gua (the elements of nature at the root of the I Ching) embodied the 8 archetypes exactly.

Each proceeding chapter was captured in one of the 8 Pa Gua. For example, the Warrior was Chien, the active life force of yang. The Survivor was embodied in K’un, the receptive or yin force. The chapter about the Zealot and Trickster’s Medicine was captured perfectly by Chen, the Thunder. In fact, Tricksters or Heyokas are Thunder Beings. How is that possible?

The book wrote itself. I was just the scribe and conduit. Perhaps it was my belief that this is possible that allowed it to happen.

As a dream analyst, I give dreams the type of importance they deserve. The challenge is always remembering your dreams enough to allow them to inspire your work.

My suggested method for using dreams to write:

1) Keep a diary by your bed and be committed to capturing your inspiration.

2) Honor this inspiration as a gift of insight and use intention to remember.

3) Remember that cognition is the antagonist of the dream hero, so wake up gently.

4) Rather than trying to remember the dream, consider the feeling you are left with. This can jar your memory later.

5) In the final stage of sleep and while still using your dreaming mind, see if you can capture just one symbol. Name it. For some reason, the visual nature of dreams translated into a word allows it to be brought over to cognition without the normal defenses.

6) Take the symbol and research all you can about it and be open to seeing this symbol on your path. How can you apply it to your writing? The key to allowing this to happen for you will be your belief that it’s possible.

“Today’s reality is built on yesterday’s fantasy.”

Lisa: You’re a prolific creator—from one of the biggest downloaded dream apps on iTunes to your music to the pioneering work you did in the real estate industry in the early days of cell phone usage. Did your dreams always play a part in this creativity and success? How?

Tao Te ChingKari: It isn’t just dreams that fuel this creativity. I tap my 24 Hour Mind in that I don’t create barriers between what’s real and what’s fantasy. For an artist, fantasy is real.

Business innovators like Apple and Facebook aren’t necessarily selling products, they’re capitalizing on our desire for status. Is this real? Because I understand what dreams are doing to the mind, I know how to think this way all the time.

When I developed the first technology to allow homes to be viewed on the Internet and later on cell phones, it was a combination of looking at what’s possible and tweaking the system to make it happen. I had an idea, but had to push a lot of developers past their comfort zones to make it happen.

This is another aspect of the 24 Hour Mind. It doesn’t believe in boundaries. It sees beyond the need to classify what’s real and what’s fantasy because today’s reality is built on yesterday’s fantasy. Tomorrow’s fantasy can be real today. Why classify anything?

I like to use nature and physics in my writing because both show the unreality of our absolutes. After thousands of years of trying to understand our universe, nobody really knows anything and more than 80% of the universe is missing.

I know why we don’t remember our dreams, but I don’t understand how half of our life experience is dismissed as nonsense. We’re in a more enlightened state while dreaming and certainly more creative. I’m still not sold on the idea that what we call reality is any more real than what we are dreaming, except for the way cognition distances itself from the intention of the creator. So yes, dreams are the missing link in why we’re not able to access more of the mind’s potential.

 

Writers Who Tap Their Dreams and Creativity for Clarity

Lisa: Can you share some examples of nonfiction authors who’ve tapped into their dreams and creativity for clarity?

Einstein, dreams and creativity
Image courtesy of publicdomainpictures.net

Kari: Einstein worked in a patent office and had dozed when he had the realization that a body falling in space has no mass, which helped him write his papers about gravity and relativity. He dreamed of sledding and seeing the stars differently, inspiring his writings about the speed of light and the universal constant.

Niels Bohr was working on the structure of the atom and dreamed of the nucleus of the atom with electrons spinning around it, similar to how planets spin around the sun, which led to him winning the Nobel Prize.

Descartes was inspired to devise the scientific method from a dream. Alfred Russel Wallace had a fever and in his delirious and semi conscious condition, the theory of evolution by natural selection came to him. Mendeleev felt he was close to seeing a pattern while assembling the periodic table but kept running into a wall. He was lucky in that he had a dream that spelled the entire table out for him. The saying to “sleep on it” comes from our common knowledge that, when working on solving an issue, we often wake up with the correct answer mysteriously.

It isn’t a mystery to me. We can use cognition to organize our ideas or to set a framework, but to allow our inner genius to achieve breakthrough thinking, it’s better to go for a run, clean the house or do something of a routine so cognition abates. There are numerous examples of how our greatest discoveries have come from dreams. The 24 hour mind doesn’t sleep.

 

Lisa: Can you give our readers a few steps to set intention and tap into the power of their dreams and creativity for their writing practice and ultimate success?

writing inspirationKari: I mentioned getting out of your head and moving more into a place of excited anticipation and discovery prior to writing. This is the head space achieved when working out and by getting in the ‘zone.’ We are in a state of energy rather than being consumed by life’s demands.

I also recommend initially working with your dreams to understand and come to respect their incredible wisdom prior to just following the symbolism for inspiration. My examples of the insights that led to inventions can inspire readers to gather a sense of what type of inspiration they’d like to achieve prior to sleep. If the mind has spent the day organizing a set of ideas, sleep will spin it all around and reposition what’s most important. Out of the cauldron, a breakthrough symbol will come forward.

Lisa:  You mentioned a free gift for our readers. What is it, where can they get it and how can it help them?

Kari Hohne, Author and innovator coined the term "24 hour mind"Kari: I’d like to offer your readers a free introductory dream interpretation.

Lisa: Wow, I have to admit I wasn’t expecting that, Kari. Your dream interpretation is amazing! What a generous gift.

Kari: My pleasure. I especially love working with creators. Your readers can contact me and mention this article. Readers can also download Affirmations Inspired by Nature, which allows you to search through challenges and listen to affirmations centered on how nature can inspire a more positive approach. It is a free and mini version of the more comprehensive Inspired Natural Wisdom that is includes a more detailed look at nature’s inspiring processes with a workbook.

Readers can also visit my website www.cafeausoul.com where I’ve combined technology with our ancient wisdom to make self-help an adventure.

Lisa: Thank you, Kari! We’ll all be waiting for your book with baited breath! In the meantime, you’ve shared a treasure-store of resources with us.

Readers, feel free to ask questions about Dreams, Creativity, Writing/Inspiration and the 24 Hour Mind, or share your experiences as a comment below.

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