7 Insights Gleaned in Therapy (and how they relate to writing)

One morning a few weeks ago, I worked with my therapist on a dream which we had explored in my previous appointment. In the second iteration, we returned to my childhood friend Jackie’s basement apartment where some traumatizing events occurred.

In the session, I found myself recalling a healing experience of seeing what I could swear my 10th-grade physics teacher called the “optical rainbow” — a circular mandala of amber, cyan and magenta (but I can’t seem to find this term used this way in a Google search nor an image of the “optical rainbow”).

My Google search proved fruitless. I could not find an image of this light-infused mandala that I see when I squint at the sunlight reflecting off the ocean or off the mica-infused rocks along the shore.

But I did capture ten full lessons from the session, seven of which seemed to connect beautifully to writing and creative work.

Without further ado, the insights…

7 Insights and How They Relate to Writing

I start each lesson below as I wrote them for myself. However, where appropriate, I suggest ways you can customize them to your needs, and to writing and creative endeavors.

1. Do not journal about the questions from the same level of consciousness that asks the questions. Journal from love and compassion. This is a kind of shortcut to clarity and creativity.
2. Be a witness to trauma through the eyes of love. That is the most healing perspective from which to remember or witness trauma (for me, anyway). This can be helpful when writing memoir, poetry, or anything, really. Through the eyes of love, we see more deeply and capture that wisdom for ourselves and our readers. We can transform our trauma into a gift.
3. Do not resist the trauma or pain or event when you wish to transmute. Instead, come to it with the perspective of loving attention and compassion for all (as my muse reminded me, I did during 9/11, when a beautiful song-prayer came through me and which I’ve shared with others since then).
4. When I find myself feeling powerless, angry or frustrated, notice; I can tap into compassion for myself first, envisioning the mandala of the optical rainbow and allowing it to penetrate wherever those emotions reside in the body. For you, the image may be different; close your eyes and see what healing image you can tap into when you feel frustrated or powerless, or creatively blocked. Allow the image to help you connect with your creative wellspring.
5. Healing can be both instantaneous and take time to integrate. Journaling and time in nature can help you integrate your healing, as well as write beautiful work—poetry, essays, stories, books and articles.
6. My truth comes to me through communing with nature, spontaneous/sacred song, sacred/spontaneous dance and journaling/writing. More so than reading. I need to remember this and access it frequently. I can get lazy and read when I would be more generous with myself and my readers if I spent that time writing. How about you?
7. Being human is being a transformer of energy. Creative acts are just that — ways we transmute energy from energy to form, or from one form to another. You will create with more ease and speed/efficiency and efficacy when you remember this when creating or intending to create.

I’d love to hear what resonates for you, or how your own healing plays into your creativity and your writing life. Please share your comments.