A Writing Exercise to Help You Meet Yourself

In order to accurately reflect what we truly think we may have to not to agonise about every word, not to go back and correct anything - and instead, just to write down everything that comes into our minds the very moment it does so.

FURTHER READING

“Usually, when we set out to write, sounding coherent and polished are our central priorities. We may think hard before setting anything down, we keep an eye on spelling, we may go back and correct words that feel not entirely right, we may delete a paragraph or two - all in the hope of eventually reaching a point where what we have articulated seems accurately to reflect what we truly think…”

MORE SCHOOL OF LIFE

Watch more films on SELF in our playlist:

SOCIAL MEDIA

Feel free to follow us at the links below:

CREDITS

Produced in collaboration with:

Aaron Sampson

Title animation produced in collaboration with

Graeme Probert

[VersusArdua]

as a fiction writer, using the discovery method of simply sitting down and writing has done so much for me in terms of figuring out exactly who I am and what I want to write about. I just take a basic idea or outline and build from there. Without fail in reading it back I almost always pick up on something I've put down subconsciously which ultimately goes on to become deeper than anything I may have agonized over in detail. The mind works in incredible ways, you just have to relax and let it do its thing without an overabundance of interference. You'll be genuinely surprised at what come out of you.

[dr.braxygilkeycruises]

This is how I learned to write truly honest poetry 24 years ago. I would close my eyes and just type until I felt like I was done. Then edit for spelling, syntax, etc. I call it *"letting my soul speak."*

[zinebmerabta]

Being a perfectionist has deprived me from expressing what really goes on in my mind for a long time now. I'll definitely give this excersise a try and see if it would work and help me declutter my thoughts out of my mind.

[ivonei]

Watching this at 4 am after a breakup. I’ve always had the habit of writing when feeling excited, sad, anxious or whatever. The amount of things I’ve realized when writing is truly amazing, and I don’t mean just at the time that I am with the pen and paper in hands.
At the moment of the breakup, it seemed terrible, but after reading everything I wrote about our relationship, I could see how it went from when everything was wonderful to when she started mistreating me, asking things of me that she didn’t do herself, and even blaming me when I was feeling depressed.
In the way I wrote, I could see how I was suppressed, always feeling like I was the wrong one, the one causing bad feelings for the other. Reading it afterwards, it’s easy to see how bad it was and how the breakup was the best thing for me too, even though I didn’t have the courage to do it myself. It really made me feel better and not guilty about anything, especially about myself.

[amtsad]

when depressed, Journaling helps alot!

[razorwriting]

This aligns perfectly with writing to heal (and strong personal writing) which can be built out from this 2-minute exercise; as a writing instructor, I love guiding adult students away from their misguided expectations of “good” writing to improve and heal through their own process of creating and revising lived and imagined stories about themselves.

[cherryblossom]

This is true. Years ago I wrote my first story and now after many years I've realised how it reflected my relationship with my parents, I've always felt disconnected from my dad and in the story the main character experiences childhood abandonment and didn't know who her dad was...😅 Never to late to learn more about yourself

[pashaveres]

Good stuff! Thank you.
A favorite prompt (maybe from Natalie Goldberg? Julia Cameron?) is: What I really wanted to say is... and then launch into the automatic part.
Julia Cameron's "Morning Pages" have changed my life. And changed my life again. That's three pages of writing, the pencil doesn't stop until you get to the end is basically the only rule.

[thermon]

Thank you, I discovered this is what I do already, when I write in my “for whining” diary after I have an emotionally charged (positive or negative) experience. This video just helps drive the point home and emphasizes the importance of re-reading the entries

[marka]

It's called freewriting. And the one should practice 10+ minutes, I mean it should be chained to time. Write whatever comes in mind (or about certain topic). Practice every day and you will see that it works like meditation to you. Good luck.

[nandkudasai]

Ive been doing intuitively (as a play) for more than a year. Specially when im under stress. And it has been helpful. Helpful also for its ability to help calm down.

[statsN]

Loved that you talked about the 2 minute essay in 3 minutes.

[WeAreAllThings]

Confirmation that the letter I wrote was the right thing. I did not know how to start it. I was worried about Mu handwriting, etc. But eventually I just wrote from the soul. Even found unhealed parts of My life that I had forgotten about. It helped tremendously.

[exzith]

This is what I have always done spontaneously since childhood

[johnnyc]

The shortest route to your own wisdom helps us understand, know ourselves and heal. Beautiful, clear and helpful. Thank you.

[rachelrose]

ie. Journalling with with a pen, and a journalling prompt. There's so many great prompts online.

[peg_e]

I always do intuitive or automatic writing and then spend the majority of time shortening and polishing … but it is my mode of expression and has always been due to ADHD and autism

[TheCompleteGuitarist]

I love this. I use automatic generation of ideas to help me simply produce something and I teach this in class as a second language teacher. I started just yesterday to try to emulate this for writing music. I hand write on paper and was surprised that I could actually do it where before I had been trying to write through an instrument, now I just sing my ideas and write them down as they emerge. Nothing prolific but it liberated me from noodling on my instrument and writing nothing.

[KennethWedin]

I’m not sure about Britain, but what’s being described here is usually called “free writing” and specifically “focused free writing, ” which works better for some people than brainstorming, which is listing words, phrases, and clauses in point form. I’ve seen British books on brainstorming that actually describe mind-mapping, clustering, webbing, or idea mapping. However, “automatic writing, ” at least in North America, typically constitutes going into a trance and then channelling a spirit (parapsychology), one’s subconscious (psychology), deity (religion), or one’s ‘higher self’ (New Age).

[xiaolung]

It is useful, I agree. But also, someone whose "automatic" mode is governed by normal assumptions, might first write a word which aligns with expectations rather than true feelings. Therefore, going back to correct in that case, might be a way to realign with what word actually resounds with them.