We usually think of writing as a solitary activity.
The stereotypical image of a writer is a tortured soul, often a man, at their desk with a cigarette in one hand, a glass of vodka in the other. In between sips and puffs the man’s hand types away on a keyboard. It’s like the male God transported to a stuffy home office with a cluttered desk and stuffed bookshelves.
But does writing have to be associated with such suffering and inebriation?
What if, instead, writing became a process that is gentle and loving, where even the most difficult experiences can be held with compassion and care.
This is the intention of Loving Inquiry.
We are all on a human journey that takes us into the unknown, which at any given moment can be electrifyingly beautiful, starkly difficult, or sometimes both.
Writing is how we can survive, cope and thrive as we navigate the passages of our lives, through the treacherous and wondrous waters of joy and pain, success and failure, death and heartache, love and rapture.
I have discovered that there is another way to be with our experience than the tortured soul stereotype above. Especially for women, who have been raised and taught not to speak of the difficult, that it is selfish to spend time caring for ourselves when there are so many others that need caring for.
Writing with Others Can Heal Us
I am deeply committed to creating a culture of kindness, curiosity, caring and compassionate witness through the transformative power of writing our stories, our way. It started with noticing my own stress in writing and telling my stories of difficulty and challenge. But also even when writing about the joy. So much pressure I felt, to get the words out “right,” to be the “good” writer. And so much competition, wanting to be better than others.
So I invited two other women to write with me and together we created a space that became a sacred container for practicing a different way of being together, as writers and as women. And guess what happened.
There was powerful writing and sharing. There was poetry and story. There was healing joy, and also tears, hugs and beauty. Actually, there was so much beauty we decided to write a book about it, so we could share it with others.
We called the book Writing Alone Together, and published it in 2014. In it we describe four practices that supported us to write from a place of kindness and care.
Are you curious? Want to experience this very different way of being together?
Read more about the book Writing Alone Together…
Listen to an interview with a writer who has thrived through Writing Alone Together…
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