Writing from a Poem
By Laurie McMillan
Hearing each other’s stories actually raises the feel good hormone oxytocin. Writing our stories has been shown to increase our fighting cells in our immune system, decrease anxiety, get you better test scores if you write beforehand, and wind up with less doctor visits. A daily writing practice along with sharing some thoughts from your writing can do this! And more, writing integrates experience and gives the writer a better sense of themselves, their voice and clarifies values. As we write we make order out of our many thoughts. We see our choices more clearly. We confront old beliefs. As we write we make new connections and see some possible other meanings, from a different vantage point. Read this poem as a springboard to write anything you feel and share it with one or more people if you can (especially people that would not judge you). Note how you feel after doing this! "Allow" By Danna Faulds
There is no controlling life. Try corralling a lightning bolt, containing a tornado. Dam a stream and it will create a new channel. Resist, and the tide will sweep you off your feet. Allow, and grace will carry you to higher ground. The only safety lies in letting it all in – the wild and the weak; fear, fantasies, failures and success. When loss rips off the doors of the heart, or sadness veils your vision with despair, practice becomes simply bearing the truth. In the choice to let go of your known way of being, the whole world is revealed to your new eyes.
Writing Prompt: Spend a few minutes allowing words to spring forth onto the page. You might want to start from the line. ‘There is no controlling life…’
Write for five minutes (or more). Then write about what you feel inside after writing and if you had a particular learning from the writing.
Share what you wrote with a friend.
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Laurie McMillan has led diverse groups of people in creative writing explorations for over 20 years, and is a nurse at the University of Vermont Medical Center.
