Digging Deep

Ever had a time where something was really, no I mean REALLY bothering you? And you just couldn't put your finger on what it was. I have.

Yesterday, I was catching up on a favorite blog - in fact, she's a sister of a friend at church. As I read, I could hear her crying out in frustration about something that was gnawing away at her. I was very quickly reminded of an exercise I learned twelve years ago when I attended part of the National Writing Project (an excellent program I might add). I commented on her entry and suggested she try this little exercise. She did. She unearthed some things that just wouldn't come out.

I've suggested this exercise to a few people in the past, as a way of helping one articulate what they may be scared to actually vocalize or possibly can't. You see, our minds are good at things like this. There is so much happening in our conscious and subconsious sometimes it's hard to figure out what is going on at all...that little 3 pound thing located on top of our shoulders is a very complex machine. Sometimes we have to do things just a little different to really, really figure out what is going on in there.

So here's the exercise:

In a quiet place by yourself, grab a paper and pencil and timer. Begin thinking about your subject (I would pray too and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal what He wants). Set the timer for 5 minutes and as fast as you can write every word, thought, and phrase that comes to mind. No grammar rules apply. No complete thoughts or sentences necessary. Whatever pops into your head scribble it down. If you begin to draw a picture - go with it. It's your time to let it all out. If you end up with only a list of words that's okay. The hard part is to keep your brain from trying to write paragraphs. I find that if I stick to only single words and short phrases I unearth a lot more - (but that might just be me). There is no order to this wherever you feel led to write something on the paper do it. You may find your self somewhat ordering thoughts...just let your subconscious do the work. The only rule - DON'T THINK TOO HARD!

When you are finished you go back through it and begin to weed out, or to see the pattern of what you were trying to dig up and articulate, but never found the way - until now.

If you want to read the orginal post from Janet click here and the follow up to her exercise click here. By the way Janet is a Top-Notch designer, photographer and scrapper in the Digital Scrapping Industry. You can visit her web site, The Daily Digi and check out her amazing gift of creativity.