By Grace Cater
In a world where life is always hectic, it’s more important than ever to take time out for yourself. People do this is a lot of different ways, but a method that has become increasingly popular recently is stream of consciousness writing. This free, unstructured process allows the mind to meander along, connecting feelings and images, allowing you to dump any emotional baggage onto the page. It’s best to try and do this when you have nothing else to do for a good while, so you can properly relax and focus your energies on the exercise.
The idea of this exercise is to help you slow down, and focus on yourself. To do this, you should start with a simple breathing meditation. “During your breath meditation, choose a topic that you would like to focus on,” says Jenny Adams, writer at Essay Roo. “A subject will probably emerge fairly easily if you allow yourself to relax.”
Put on some relaxing music, take some deep breaths to cleanse you from the inside, and really feel every portion of your body – where do you feel the stress building up? Where feels tight? Use these deep breaths to relax all these tense areas. When you feel physically relaxed, imagine yourself staring into a thick, dense fog; when an image pops into your subconscious, notice what this means or what is associated with it, and it can help you to think of a topic to write about. When you feel ready, open your eyes and begin writing.
The writing process itself should ideally be by hand. ‘While handwriting may seem alien to a lot of us now we use computers for almost everything, it is an integral part of this process’ says Martin Gere, health blogger at UKWritings. ‘Writing by hand slows us down, forces us to think about what we are writing and gives us time to process these thoughts, keeping our brains engaged’. Go with the flow, and let your thoughts meander wherever they wish. Nothing is unrelated, and nothing is meaningless in this exercise.
Make sure the space that you’re in is clear and tidy. When it comes to trying to be creative, being in a cluttered, messy space can result in a cluttered, messy mind. Take care to be somewhere where you feel comfortable and at ease, take regular breaks to air your mind out, and get some fresh air. It may sound cliché, but it really does help!
Staying organized when writing for your own benefit, or for work, is essential. A lot of people find it very difficult to begin writing without any structure, and keeping track of their ideas. Having a dedicated notebook to keep with you all the time, so that you can jot down ideas as and when they come to you, is a great idea that a lot of writers use, to save them the frustration of scrabbling around for notes.
Planning out your work can also help you to free up your creative energy; it can enable you to properly see where your ideas are going, and how they can develop. If you are tasked with writing a reaction paper, you should first read about what is reaction paper.
Planning your work can also help these ideas to flourish, as you can continue to jot down different elements within your plan as you go along. Additionally, using some writing tools such as Simple Grad, BoomEssays, My Writing Way, and Big Assignments can really help to improve writing style – and also banish the lingering fears that your writing is lacking a certain something!
Obviously, the biggest key is to simply take action. You can plan as much as you like, in the most elaborate ways, but ultimately, if that doesn’t lead to putting pen to paper, then it is all done in vain! Keep our goals and aims clear in your mind – what do you wish to achieve from your writing? Having this end point in sight (even if it is simply a personal journey) will give you the motivation to write.
Finding your voice and being mindful through writing can be very therapeutic, and very beneficial in a number of ways. Not only are you benefiting your mental health, but you could also be creating something beautiful at the same time!
About the Author
Grace Cater is a content manager at Australian Help and Eliteassignmenthelp.com
