Today’s prompt stirs memories of my cousin’s bar mitzvah—all the ancient relatives from my dad’s side that I’ve never met before, or met once or twice. I’m eight or eleven and confused by all these seeming strangers.
I feel particularly embarrassed when Grandma Stella sings. Her intense emotion makes Barbara Streisand seem tame...
…Now that I’m older, I’ve begun to appreciate what Stella must have gone through on her journey to America—the pogroms she survived, the exodus portrayed in Fiddler on the Roof. Only, in the real life exodus people stumble along the way. As a young girl, did she have to step over bodies to keep going?
Her singing provided a way to express her pain. I think the root of my own shame is in the pain she expressed. As if I wanted to stop her and say, “No. It’s too much.”
When I wrote The Joy of Writing Journal, I intended to help spark my readers’ creativity. I went for a light touch, focusing on qualities like playful, quirky and fun.
But when we immerse ourselves in writing—be it journaling or other creative writing—we cheat ourselves if we try to control our emotions and remain in a comfort zone emotionally.
There’s power in exploring our shame and other uncomfortable emotions. Often, when we allow ourselves to feel and explore these emotions, we discover a certain freedom, and insights we would not have experienced had we stayed comfy and safe.
Your Turn
When you give yourself “permission to be bold” where does it take you? What did you write about today? Share a snippet or some of your experience in writing today. Or even post a video of you reading some or all of your entry!
Day 11 – Permission to be BOLD to go deeper – Prompt – Entity attachment, mental health and addictions
There are many times throughout my life I have been confounded by the behavior of some people’s irrational personality traits. Seeking to understand the emotional triggers that send people, including myself into a tailspin, which I label functional insanity, I observed that not all is what it appears to be. After I read a book called, “Healing Lost Souls by William Baldwin, I gained a deeper understanding of how we attract these non-physical entities to attach to us. And, how their unseen presence can change our mental health, create addictive patterning and weaken our physical bodies over time. This is not new, simply hidden. Indigenous
tribes, medicine men and shamans have practiced this form of healing successfully. There are three categories of these entities that do not know they are dead: the unquiet dead, the mischief makers and demons/dark force- follow the adage here of like attracts like. This diagnosis is more prevalent than we think and if understood correctly can be a healing tool, instead of pharmaceuticals.
How does it feel to write about something that feels bold? Is it freeing? Scary? What did you learn by going bold?
Deborah and Lisa, thank you for being honest and bold as it feels a little scary!
What would I write about if I was bolder?
My number one topic was truths, followed by shames, regrets, lies we told ourself and fears. All topics seem pretty compelling from where I sit in this moment in time. Truths important to me in this moment of clarity are that I am not at all times the kind, generous, empathetic person I’d like, to be. In the glaring light of day I see petty barbs and snares that catch my better side in thoughts unbecoming to a grateful heart. I see grudges overtake gratitudes in ways that seem involuntary or unprovoked but that must dwell barely below the surface ensconced by a fragile, vulnerable ego. How much real estate in the heart is required for the -What about me? What about what I need? What about what I want? shameless self absorption? It’s a reckoning to be so fallible a mortal.
A powerful point of inquiry Mary Ann!
It was both freeing and scary going bold. What will people think of me is a big factor of how much I share my opinions and suppose I am wrong – that’s even bigger.
What I learned is I have a voice – it’s time to use it.
Yes! Use that voice!
You are all so brave. Being bold means putting yourself out there and being open and vulnerable—first to yourself and then to the world. It is SO scary. But that’s how we grow, I think.
You all are giving me courage!
Yes Maureen! Writing itself is an act of bravery!
Maureen, some people act brave. You are brave in every way that is important! And we want to hear your voice. Rock on!