Whatever you write, whatever the topic, engaging writing as a spiritual practice will change your writing – and your understanding of yourself
We are all creative beings, whether, or how deeply, we tap into this force or not. Creativity in and of itself is the way Spirit moves through us, creating form out of ideas, transmuting one shape into another. Our entire lives are a process of transformation, evolution, destroying one thing to create a new (often better) thing.
We are constantly shapeshifting ourselves and shapeshifting the world around us. It is my belief that all forms of creativity are a spiritual practice. And, for me, writing has been one of the more consistent forms in which spirit moves through me and changes me and so I will focus on that today.
First, what is “Writing”?
Writing is not just putting words on paper. It is a much bigger process than that.
First, you get an inkling – an idea, a vision, a word, a sense, a sentence. A pull to put pen to page. Then, you mull the idea over before putting it in ink, or you begin to write it down and it streams out of you as your ideas coalesce into form. After you write it out, you might let it sit. Then you begin to edit, rearrange, let more emerge. You might get a new idea or sense, write that in, let that sit, edit again.
So, writing is a fluid process that moves between a thought-sense-idea to putting this idea into the form of words to rearranging those words and back and forth and through, like a dance.
And where do these ideas come from? There is the long held notion of the Muse, which, to me, is Spirit/Light/the Divine/your soul/your Light essence coming through you into physical matter.
It is an idea moving into form from an ethereal and invisible part of you into a physical and visible part of you.
An idea that is something some part of your being wants to bring into form to examine or express, to release or reveal. And it comes through the filter of your own unique essence because we are all everything, just in different flavors. And as this idea moves through you into form – as you let it move through you – you are joining the invisible with the visible.
The Allowing is where the spiritual practice part comes in.
And what is a “Spiritual Practice”? It is an activity you engage in consciously and regularly (it’s a practice, after all) to bring forth a greater understanding of your spirituality through spiritual experiences and evolution of your soul. When you write from your soul and consciously allow a greater invisible part of you to come through, you are engaging in a spiritual practice. And, to be clear, this is not exclusive to writing “spiritual” poetry and writing. The topic can be anything. What matters here is the process of engaging your full self – your Light Self with your Human Body Self –
Because in the merging of the two, you embody a greater understanding of who you truly are.
The experience of creation coming through from this energetic place creates a visceral understanding and energetic knowing of the spiritual self. And what comes through offers an opportunity for discovery of something your essence was wanting to reveal and express.
When you write from a very mental place, from a trying-too-hard-place, the pieces don’t come together as naturally. There isn’t a stream of energy flowing through you and out into the physical world. It’s more stop-and-go. It’s more draining. That’s often when I leave the room and go do something else, avoid the project entirely. I am not allowing all of me to joyfully come together and create. I might be caught in trying to please someone else, to be something I am not. I am thinking, not being.
And there is a difference in the felt sense of the experience.
In The Healing Power of Writing: How the Process of Writing Changes the Writer, I said that the process of writing is a transmuting process, that the very act of writing and the discovery that comes with it changes the author. Because how can it not? It is a process of bringing the spiritual self into the physical self and merging the two to become as whole as one can be on this physical plane. And isn’t that the goal? More on that in just a bit.
In meditation, we let go of and observe our thoughts. We realize we are the witness, the observer of our own experience even as we are having an experience. When writing becomes a spiritual practice, it is when we become the witness to the words flowing through us.
In a sense, we are not the creator of these words – we are the channel for them.
And because the words flow from our otherworldly self into and through our physical bodies, we are the creator, too.
Many believe that channeling is when someone lets a voice that isn’t theirs – a group of entities or light beings for example – through them. This is an experience you might have as well; in essence, you are transcribing someone else’s words through you.
But I also believe that there is a space for us as writers to be spiritual channels of ourselves.
It is a different feeling than knowing the words come from someone else because the voice is different. It is a different feeling than writing from the mind because that feels much harder, like pushing through a sandstorm.
To channel one’s own higher self into physical works of art – such as writing, poetry – is to connect and merge the entirety of one’s being inside the creative process.
And because writing is such a fluid process – idea to pen and paper to rearranging to idea – you can live inside of this process. You can live as an embodied creator walking the earth in all you do. This practice can extend outside of writing into your entire life because you will be examining and discovering and allowing and integrating everything more deeply.
When you practice the union of the self and the Self through any spiritual practice – here, through writing as a spiritual practice – you are step by step moving towards solidifying the merging of your entire being.
We are here in the time of the Great Awakening or Ascension. We are here to become souls fully embodied in our bodies. Writing from the place of the witness and channeling one’s Light self is, to me, one of the greatest spiritual practices you can immerse yourself in.
You will discover what flows through you on to the page just as much as you will discover you are so much more than a physical being – you are a powerful creator who has important messages for humanity, regardless of the topic or themes you choose to write. Your voice matters. The written word can reach anyone from your neighbor to billions. And sometimes, it is just for yourself.
What comes through is meant to come through because it unearths something.
If you haven’t done so yet, try it. Try allowing writing to become a spiritual practice for you. Begin allowing that voice through in a more fluid, engaged way. And as you do so, you will not only express what is needing to be expressed, you will become more and more of who you already are – a creator creating not only works of art that matter, but a piece of art yourself, a beautiful creation in the making.
If you are interested in exploring your human self channeling your divine self, join me for one of my upcoming workshops, such as Channeling Poetry: Allowing Words to Stream Through You From Beyond and Divine Writing: The Page as Sacred Mirror – A Revealing Conversation with Your Light Self. You can see all upcoming workshops, learn more and register here.
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