Will Parfitt, psychosynthesis author and long-term friend of the Trust, shares a new meditation to help people connect with their inner writer.
The writer meditation is available to listen to (included below) as well as a text.
In a blog published here a while ago on the subject of books, I made the assertion that “as self- and niche publishing have become widespread, it’s great to see many more books on psychosynthesis being released in recent years and there is room for many more. You could write and publish, too! A reflective, receptive, creative meditation on your deepest passion is a great place to start.” This challenging but completely throw-away remark has stayed with me since because, as a writer all my life, I know how easy it is to say such things but how hard it can be to actually write.
Sometime in the early 1990s, The Trust, the Institute and Karuna started together an association for students and graduates of these three ‘transpersonal’ trainings. Other things came along and this association didn’t last very long, but at the inaugural meeting (held, for some reason, as I remember, on a barge moored in the Thames) Jean Hardy and I led a presentation on writing which included an exercise to connect with the inner writer sub-personality.
This exercise uses the self-identification practice to its full extent involving all three stages: disidentification from the contents of the personality; self-identification; then choosing to re-identify. It’s that last step that is often overlooked. Of course, if you want to use the practice to connect with the deepest sense of self and nothing more, then you don’t need the last step, you can just find yourself back in some identified state as life continues. No one stays in a totally disconnected self-identified state forever – unless they want to remain disembodied – the point of disidentifying in the first place is to get to a clear place from where you can choose to identify at will with whatever is most appropriate/useful at the time. In this case, the exercise leads you to specifically choose to connect to your inner writer. Mind you, it still takes more will to actually get down to doing it.
Give it a go! If it works for you, then in future you can do the usual shortening of the self-identification process and then make a clear choice to step into your inner writer at will. It takes a while, but working with it over time means this part of you can be more readily available when you want it to be so. You not only want to write something; you have the ability to choose to do so.
In this recording of the exercise, I have left spaces where suitable but they may well be shorter than you need in which case use the pause button appropriately. The text of the exercise is below so if you’d rather make your own version, record it for yourself maybe, or – after trialing it – use it with others, so much the better. And remember: have fun, play with it, get other parts of you onside so the practice is a joy rather than a chore.
The Inner Writer Meditation
Listen to the Inner Writer Meditation here.
This is an exercise to connect with your ‘inner writer’ – have paper to write on and a pen or pencil handy. If you prefer to do the exercise on a computer that’s fine, but please have it ready for writing and avoid visible distractions on the screen.
Make yourself comfortable… Breathe…
Spend a few moments now tuning into your body. What are you sensing? … Are you sitting comfortably, without strain? If not, adjust your position to find a more relaxed but alert position.
Now tune into a deeper level of your physical world and be aware of any conscious holding patterns in your muscles, of any physical issues particular to you at this stage in your life …
Be aware you inhabit this body, and without it you would not be incarnate on earth.
Be aware you have a body and you are more than this.
Say to yourself: I have my body and I am more than my body …
Now tune into your feelings. What are you feeling right now? … Do you have any particular emotional reactions about where you are in your life just now … any interpersonal relating and sharing affecting how you feel? … Are you happy, sad or indifferent at being here now? …
Now tune into a deeper level of feeling and be aware of any feeling or emotional reactions you have to the idea of writing … Does writing, or trying to write something, make you feel elated and good or does it bring up feelings of frustration, unworthiness, difficulty …
Acknowledge what you are feeling right now.
Be aware you have feelings and you are more than this.
Say to yourself: I have my feelings and I more than my feelings.
Now tune into your thoughts … right now, what are you thinking? …
Perhaps you are thinking about this exercise. Perhaps you are having fantasies about your ability or inability to write …
Perhaps you are thinking about something else going on in your life …
Whatever you are thinking, spend a little time now watching these thought processes without censoring of judging what you think …
Become aware as you watch your thoughts, that you are aware of what you are thinking, so you must be more than your thoughts.
Be aware you have thoughts; they don’t have you.
Say to yourself: I have my thought, and I am more than my thoughts.
Now remember why you chose to start this exercise today, what motived you to do an exercise about writing …
It is possible you want to write more or are already a writer or in some way would like to be able to write in whatever form this takes for you.
Whether you are interested in writing novels, textbooks, poems, composing brochures, writing letters to friends – spend a few moments now thinking about your writing, real or desired …
Consider now what gets in the way, what stops you … the blocks that are most honest and relevant to you: judgements, over-excitement, blocks to the process, inertia, lack of self-worth – whatever blocks to writing you have …
Imagine you can see in front of you the part of you that is most involved with writing or the desire to write – imagine you can see before you your ‘inner writer’ … what do they look like? In your imagination build a picture of this part of you, this writer subpersonality, as clearly as possible …
Be aware of how this part of you wants to write something.
Be aware of what kinds of things it wants to write.
Be aware of the blocks that interrupt this process, that keep your inner winter unfulfilled or frustrated …
In a moment you can start writing. Before starting, choose to step into your writer subpersonality. Imagine you are the writer subpersonality, take on the thoughts, feelings and sensations of this part of you. Really feel that you are a writer – why? Because you are now choosing to be so.
Be aware that, as the writer, you have a wish to write … to write.
Make a clear choice now: say to yourself: I chose to write.
Be aware as the writer you have blocks to writing.
Acknowledge these blocks and say to yourself: I have blocks to writing and I am more than these blocks …
Be aware that, without judgement or censorship, you can now choose to start writing whatever comes …
Say to yourself: I now choose to write.
Do just that, simply start writing …
Spend about half an hour writing, just let whatever flows from your pen.
If you feel blocked, tune into the blockages – whatever they are – and continue to write about how you experience these blocks …
Don’t try to edit, censor or judge what you write – just let the words and ideas flow.
[space]
After about half an hour [keep going for this long] stop the writing at its own pace.
Stop writing and simply sit quietly, being aware of what you are sensing, feeling and thinking right now …
If it feels right to you write for a few more minutes about what you are experiencing now.
Now thank your inner writer subpersonality and acknowledge that you can choose to write more at another time, that this option is available to you, that when you choose, you can write.
Don’t edit what you’ve written now, leave it for at least a couple of hours, maybe a day or two. You can then look at it with fresh eyes and discover what your inner writer wanted to express today.
Now you have a method of ‘tuning into’ your writing self, try doing similar again – perhaps you’ll notice ideas, themes and so on emerging so you can use the same process to focus specifically to write on your chosen subject of interest.
About Will Parfitt
Will Parfitt has many years of experience in the field of personal and spiritual development including forty years as a Psychosynthesis psychotherapist. He is the author of many books, primarily on psychosynthesis and kabbalah, including the most recent The Magic of Psychosynthesis [2019] and the forthcoming The Journey of Psychosynthesis: Lessons in Self Awareness, and Making Your Best Choices [October 2024]. Will lives in Glastonbury from where, before retirement, he maintained a busy therapy practice, ran successful distance education courses in both psychosynthesis and kabbalah, and travelled internationally to run courses on a variety of subjects.
Find out more here: https://www.willparfitt.com/