Writing for mental health.

6 Prompts to get started

I have been writing in a journal since I was 11 years old. I don’t remember what inspired me to write in a ‘dear diary’ style but I suspect it has something to do with the movie ‘Barbie diaries’ that my parents bought for me from one of their trips to Chennai.

Thankfully, no one in my family was alarmed at the sight of a pre-pubescent girl spending most of her bedtime, face buried in a ‘secret diary.’

Nobody raised objections, nobody stopped me and I kept writing.

It became a daily habit and I suspect a large chunk of my articulation and clarity of thought comes from years of writing what was on my mind. I am grateful for that practice.

Writing is like thinking but in high resolution.

Which is why when I started consulting 1:1 on personality development and mindset, one of my most highly recommended practice to my clients was writing.

In fact, let me tell you a quick story.

Early on one of my clients (lets call him Rancho to protect his identity and infuse some fun into somewhat a story of emotional pain and transformation) was extremely distraught about the behavior of his ex-partner (lets call her Piya) which was getting in the way of his daily functioning.

Rancho kept replaying old scenarios of their conversations and fights in his head and something just never added up.

I decided to recommend him night writing or pre-slumber writing as an accompaniment to our weekly sessions.

Rancho was a Conscientious guy, a sincere guy, so he followed my advice religiously and kept writing daily before bed. After about 15 days of writing, something phenomenal happened. Here is a little bit of that converstion.

Rancho: “Ipsita, you won’t believe what happened yesterday!”

Me: “Tell me :)”

Rancho: “While I was writing in my diary yesterday, I was replaying a particular argument Piya and I had had 6 months ago. I kept going… what I said, what she said, then what I did and what she did. And then bam, suddenly it all came flooding; as if a dam in my mind had just burst open, I remembered something she did, a peculiar behavior of hers, a pattern she almost always had in our fights. And THAT cleared everything up in a second for me! I didn’t even know I had that memory stored somewhere in the back of my mind! It’s as if this memory was locked away in a box back in the abyss of my mind and writing just pushed that box out to the front and opened it!”

That is what writing promises.

A promise of a fantastic dialogue, if not immediate solutions.

But solutions are promised to you if you can keep at it. If you don’t give up on the habit of writing, you will be rewarded. Graciously.

WHY WRITE?

You write to get your story straight. The story of your past, your present and your future.

Where are you coming from. Where you are. And where are you going.

You will free up a massive carpet area of your mind by getting the story of your past straight.

Most of our agony and exhaustion comes from a muddled mind. An unclear mind. A heavy mind.

Writing is a promise to organize that mental real estate, move freely in your present and waltz with hope into your future.

I have identified 2 types of writing: Morning writing and Night writing

Morning writing is to CREATE. Come up with ideas. For example I am writing this newsletter in the morning. Our brain is better primed to come up with new ideas, organize existing ideas during the day time.

Prompts to get started:

• What is 1 idea that I heard, read or thought of that has been on my mind?

• How can I use that idea in my conversations with people?

• If I could create 1 piece of work with this idea, what would be it?

Night writing is to CLEAR. To mind dump. To put down on paper what was on your mind all day. What bothers you. What tortures you. Night writing is to wrestle with yourself and whatever entity you worship or don’t. An entity larger than you. More omnipresent than you. Night writing is for dialogue between you and you. Ask the questions, answer them yourself.

Prompts to get started:

• What is the 1 thing that has been in the back of my mind, bugging me all day?

• WHY is it exactly bothering me so much?

• What is 2 little steps and 1 big step I am going to take to solve this?

Keep this habit up and I can promise you on the 15th day you will start seeing different person when you look into the mirror.

But, a warning: There will come a day when you feel on top of the world. A clear mind and ideas flowing, no qualms for the day and nothing much to write about at night. You will be tempted to skip writing that night. And thats when you are in the danger of derailing off of that habit.

So I want you to read this note as a reminder that on your best days, is when you are called to write the most urgently.

I want you to write about your victory, a day well spent. Soak a good day in. Writing about a great day makes it greater :)

See you next week.

Yours,

Ipsita