Nov
Writing Exercises
Among the most useful exercises is writing. I have used it for many years with good effect. Writing is included in many of my lessons and exercises because it works.
There are several reasons for writing. In one, committing an idea to writing makes it tangible. It gives it a “place” and “form” in your mind. That small bit of tangibility is enough to make the idea more comprehensible and more real to you. It is no longer a wafting bit of thought, but something you can look at.
Writing out an idea makes you face it. So long as a thing is a thought, an idea, a memory or a concept, it is insubstantial. Your can easily dismiss a thought. After all, you think it and you can try to think it away. Writing it down makes it substantial. It takes away the ease with which you can dismiss that wisp of the mind. The word now has a place, a shape, a form. You have to look at it. There it is in writing. Your mind immediately assigns tangibility, and therefore you have to admit the reality of that thought.
If you write what you feel, for instance, it is easier to face those feelings. That little bit of substance imparted by writing is just enough to make the process easier. In this case, seeing is believing. You felt it, you write it down, you see it and now there is no easy way to dismiss it.
Writing is a great tool for self-understanding and self development. It makes it easier for you to relate your thoughts and feelings to your studies. When you get into a space where you feel confused or when things seem muddled and airy, start writing. Commit these things to paper. That gives you the means to organize them and put them in perspective.
One other thing. Do not write in “Net-speak” or “texting talk” with their abbreviations and truncated words. When you write as an exercise, use whole words. Abbreviations and short cuts diminish the impact of the written word. Whole words have more impact and are therefore more beneficial. The bottom line is that you are doing these exercises for your own benefit, so put in that extra effort. The more you do, the more you benefit.
