My writing teacher Deb demonstrates the power of writing things down in every class I attend. Here in Ojai, she offers weekly "write nights," and as a coach she encourages us to "keep the pen moving."
In a class this month, I started wondering about the power of writing things done in ALL areas of life, and work, and sport, and...then I came up with a question. What I wrote even MORE things down, free of expectation or anticipation?
What she calls "free writing," is just that...the freedom to write without attachment or agreement.
Imagine if we started each day with a free write. Writing ANYthing on our mind, and then just going on to the next thing having actually decided..."No, I'm not doing anything about those other things I wrote!"
For years, I have done this very task. The benefit is great: I start off with a clear mind, and a clean slate. Let me tell you how I discovered this...
One September morning (early!) I was driving north from Ventura. It was 4:15am, on a Saturday, and I was on my way to race in a triathlon. I had a lot on my mind:
The weather report was excellent, I had trained optimally for this race, and I stood on the podium the year before, having earned 3rd place in my division; I had a lot to look forward to!
Arriving by 5am, I parked the car and kept the car running. I was listening to a favorite song (and, the heater was keeping my legs warm!). For some reason, I reached into the side panel, grabbed a pad of paper and wrote something down...
...then I wrote something else...
...then another one...
...before I knew it, I had filled in TWO PAGES of single-line items. Things I was thinking about, planning, wondering about, worried about, waiting for, etc. I looked over the sheet (it was now about 5:20am) and realized the only thing I had left to do was...
...go race!
It turned out to be a great day...and, with everything "out of my head," it made it very easy to focus on the bigger picture!
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