Do you believe you can write? I can almost hear a great big “NO” reverberating across the time-space continuum 🙂
The truth is I’ve never had anyone say to me, “I think I’m a darn good writer!” Instead, here’s what I hear all the time:
“I hate writing” “I can’t write” “I’m not a writer” “People will think I suck!”
These are just a few of the prevailing beliefs a lot of us have around writing and it’s why so many of us would rather do ANYTHING else!
Doing the dishes, wiping down every surface in the kitchen, or even cleaning Fluffy’s kitty litter starts to feel super exciting compared to sitting down to write!
But here’s the vicious cycle we get tangled up in sooner or later…
No matter how much you distract yourself and how far you try to run, you KNOW you have to get that — email, sales page, website copy, or what-have-you — written.
This inescapable inner knowing adds to your anxiety, which makes you want to procrastinate even more… and on and on it goes.
So how in the world do you get around it? How do you stop from feeling like the worst writer in the world or the worst procrastinator who ever lived (or both!) so you can finally get your writing done and do it from a place of peace, fulfillment, and maybe even — dare we say it — pleasure?
First thing to know… if you can speak, you can write.
If you can hold a conversation and have other people understand what you say, you can write for yourself, for your business, for your community, and for the world.
Writing can be easy, it can be inspiring, it can be healing — and even fun — when you can connect to your true self, and bring ALL of yourself to your writing.
And this brings me to something not a lot of people talk about… Shadow Writing.
If you have blocks and negative beliefs around writing it’s because of one key reason… you’re not writing as yourself.
You’re writing based on what you think people want to hear or what you think you’re supposed to say.
And so your words lose that beautiful, authentic spirit and energy that belongs only to you and that’s when the act of writing starts to feel super uncomfortable.
The simple truth of the matter is: great writing is brave writing.
It cannot come from playing a role, it cannot come from you trying to force yourself to follow rules or fit your words into restrictive formulas and templates. It comes from a deep place inside that you can access only when you become familiar with not just your Light but your Shadow too.
Your Light is everything that’s good in you — your generosity, your joy, your sense of humor. It’s the part of you that you openly share, the part of you that dances out in the world.
Your Shadow is the part of you that you hide — sometimes even from yourself. It’s the part of you that holds darker character and personality traits like anger, jealousy, or greed.
But here’s the thing you need to know…
There is a lot of untapped creative energy and power in the Shadow and it’s the central piece in helping you connect with your natural writing voice and style.
Shadow Writing is well known in creative writing circles.
Stephen King is masterful at harnessing the power of the Shadow. One of his most celebrated novels – The Shining – was about writer Jack Torrance (King himself, perhaps?) who starts out a good husband and father (The Light) but quickly travels into depths of murderous rage and madness (The Shadow)
Then there’s the classic Jekyll and Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, which is about the good, upstanding Dr. Henry Jekyll and his evil alter ego Edward Hyde.
The Shadow also rises in movies like Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, which is based on the book by Robert Bloch, Fight Club, or Shutter Island (if you haven’t watched these movies I highly recommend all of them!)
Your own Shadow Writing doesn’t have to be this literal. You don’t have to write from the energy of jealousy or murderous rage… this is definitely NOT about setting your Shadow free to run riot across the page and in your life!
This is about accepting your Shadow self which means accepting all of yourself.
Start to observe your own thoughts. Note those little prickles of envy or anger, watch without censorship, pay gentle attention until the feeling starts to shift and change (as all feelings and emotions do), and here’s the key…
The power of Shadow Writing comes from awareness — unblinking, unapologetic, non-judgmental awareness of who you are as a human being — in your Light and in your Shadow.
The good news is Shadow Writing is not about sharing your darkest secrets with the world (unless you choose to).
It’s about giving yourself permission to start being vulnerable and real with yourself and for yourself…in your own heart and mind… for now.
Focus on creating a safe sanctuary to just BE you without self-rejection in your own writing and don’t feel the need to share anything with the world just yet.
Instead, write in a blog that’s set to private, or better yet, write in your journal, without censorship.
This is how you start to safely tap into the unlimited creative energy of Shadow Writing and when you do, you’ll begin to experience the amazing healing power and ultimate liberation that come from writing as YOU, in your true voice… as a unique, beautifully flawed, divinely creative human being.