WRITE TO FLOURISH
Next time you pick up the pen, step outside and find your flow, writes Jackee Holder
For most of my school years, I loved learning and I loved to write. But every year at exam time, I struggled. I could never seem to explain in a logical manner what the examiners wanted to hear. Maybe that’s why journalling came much more readily to me; I’ve always found it easier to express myself when I’ve stepped away from my desk. I’ve found solace and flow when writing in nature.
For years, I have been an advocate of writing outdoors. I find it easier to write or journal after I’ve been for a walk. In fact, walking is a creative primer and stimulus. I can be out on a walk, in a relaxed state and, from seemingly out of nowhere, whole batches of text relating to a project that definitely wasn’t front of mind will suddenly appear.
It turns out that when we are out walking surrounded by nature, we fall into a more optimal space for the mind to kick into what’s known as its default mode. Once in the default mode, the mind naturally connects across all the different hemispheres. It’s from this state that we solve problems, that the answer just comes, and ideas pop up.
I believe that nature is a great stimulus for writing. When you’re out in nature, you’re generating more oxygen, which activates your creative-thinking skills. This month, my invitation to you as the light increases is to stuff a notebook and pen in your pocket and get outside – be it to a bench in a city park, a river, the sea, or just your own garden. Once there, here are five tips to play with…
●Describe the weather. Feel the breeze on your face, the temperature in the air around you. Then move to your own inner world. What words, feelings or emotions capture the range of your own internal weather forecast? Maybe you’re feeling cloudy and stormy. Or perhaps calm and gritty. Or windswept and sunny. Using weathery words, give your emotions a different medium through which to communicate how you are feeling.
●Consider a current project. Feeling stuck with a work stream? Unplug and put some distance between you and your screen. Go analogue and take a pen and notebook out into nature or outdoors. Try taking a walking meditation around the block, or even a slow walk in the rain or a ride on your bike. Different ideas become available when we change location. What are three alternative ways of approaching your project?
