Say Aloha to Adriana my guest blogger talking about Spiritual Writing

Did I mention I met (yet another) amazing lady?

This is Adriana Attento from Hawaii who responded to my desire to learn to write more from the heart and less from the head...?

I have just embarked on a 7 week Writing Meditation Course with her - seems pretty amazing so far!

Say Aloha to Adriana my guest blogger!

I asked her to go into more detail about what writing meditation is.... so those intrigued can follow my journey.

I'll write a post at the end of each week and let you know how I'm getting on with my omms (on paper)

Aloha friends,

It is a pleasure to be here as a guest on Sharni's blog. I am writing from the beautiful Kona coast of the Hawaiian Islands. Living here for the last seven years and often writing alongside the ocean have no doubt helped my writing blossom.

About four years ago, a friend and I decided to write for an hour at the beach every morning starting at 6:30am! Hearing the waves and watching the light of day unfold as we wrote really boosted our creativity. In fact, that early morning writing cracked me open and I had a spiritual awakening – through writing!

So, here are some thoughts and ideas from that experience and how staying in touch with the inner world through writing can lead to awakening and healing.

• Turn attention inwards. Spirituality begins by turning attention away from the light of the world and into the dark dome within. There is nothing outside that you will not find inside. While attention points inwards, write. Simply write out your inner experience moment by moment.

• Get empty. By writing about the little things that bugged you, you can drop them and move on. Write about the conversation where you wish you said something differently. Write about what your co-worker said to you yesterday. Write about the dirty look you got from a good friend. Get it all off your chest. Ahhhh, now you can really sink in andwrite! When you are empty, then you can receive! Eventually, writing from this “empty” place will bring awesome ideas, inspiring writing, and most importantly, your true and authentic voice!

• Allow anything to arise. Let go and allow what surfaces. Allow means to receive “all” including the “ow” – those thoughts, feelings, memories that are painful. Why is this particular feeling or memory showing up right now? Is there an image too? What might be the the purpose and meaning behind their appearance? Pushing away what arises in writing (and in life) is precisely what leads to suffering. Simply opening up to whatever appears – whatever it is! - is healing.

• Become a spiritual explorer. Writing isn’t just words; it’s your whole inner world – memories, dream snipits, images, physical sensations, and wisdom waiting for you to discover. If something arises from within, Wow!, explore it.

• Ride the flow. Sometimes when we sit down to write, the flow is absent. Thoughts might be boring and repetitive and there is nothing to write about. Although if you stick with it and keep writing, effort creates non-effort. Soon, an inner fountain will form – ideas, thoughts, memories, images, feelings, and all sorts of inner experiences will rise up from within. Once the inner flow is going, write about what has the most energy for you. If you feel fear, love, shame, pride, anger, annoyance, joy. Ride on the crest of their waves. (Sometimes feelings are hidden behind what you are attracted to or what you notice yourself avoiding). Go with it. Be curious. Why is this particular feeling showing up at your doorstep?

• The Socratic Method. Do you remember who Socrates was? He was a Classical Greek philosopher who used a series of questions to get to the truth. Like Socrates, you can deepen into yourself by asking specific questions about what’s arising within you. Let's say you sit down to write and this feeling of hatred for someone you know keeps showing up sentence after sentence. First get your creative flow going. Then, in the middle of your writing, ask yourself, “Why do I hate him so much?” You write in response, “He treats me the way my father used to treat me.” “How did my father treat me?” Right in the flow of your writing, you answer, “He never listened to me and always made smartass comments..... Use the energy of the emotion to carry your awareness deeper within. Continue to ask yourself questions to go deeper and deeper.

• Encountering the unconscious. As you deepen your awareness within, you will begin to encounter the unconscious. The unconscious usually presents itself in images or waves of emotions or a strong feeling or a potent mood. The unconscious is nothing to fear. It is precisely what is needed to transform your life – that is, if you want that! Well, if you didn't want that, then at the very least the unconscious is a good friend for anyone who wants to get creative, receive fresh ideas for their work, or find new solutions to a problem. Also, it is from that deep place within – beyond the ego – where the universal truths of spirituality lie. They are there waiting for you to discover. A practice of writing and turning your attention inwards can take you there!

• Becoming familiar with the unconscious. Ingmar Bergman, the famous cinematographer, described his creative process while conceiving of a new film:

“It is a mental state… abounding in fertile associations and images. Most of all, it is a brightly colored thread sticking out of the dark sack of the unconscious. If I begin to wind up this thread, and do it carefully, a complete film will emerge.”

The same is true in writing. Actually, in any creative act, there is always an approach towards the unknown, the “dark sack of the unconscious”. As you write (or paint or dance or sculpt), something within, an impulse or a soft feeling, will urge you to draw a moon for example versus drawing a flower as your thoughts may be telling you to do. The creative impulse is the heart-felt hint of what to do next in the creative act. Pointing attention inwards and becoming receptive to the creative impulse is writing meditation! It is none other than the practice of following the heart.

Well, my friends, that's it. I could go on but I don't want to overload you. My hope is that these spiritual writing principles deepen your work as a writer, an artist, and a creator!

In the spirit of creativity,

Adriana

To learn more about these principles, you can take a course on “Deep Writing” here