Jan Marquart's Blog, page 3
March 20, 2013
An Unwanted Journey
Everyone has a part of life that has brought them unwanted experiences. And these unwanted experiences are the stories that usually provoke a person to pick up the pen and write about what happened to them. Why do so many people write about their pain, publish them in memoirs, and fly around the country telling their stories? Because writing and sharing challenging, traumatic, and difficult stories helps heal, not just the writer, but the reader as well.
Teenagers, parents, veterans, mothers, daughters, neighbors, employees - there is not a description of a person that doesn't fit into a category of having a story that needs healing. We all have them. We go into therapy to talk them out, we make appointments with our physicians to see if the symptoms from stress might not be cured with a pill, we meditate, exercise, take yoga all to help heal from difficult experiences. It doesn't matter who you are or what you have to heal from, writing can be a powerful way to uncover, recover, and discover a reborn self.
For a brochure on my 6 week course Write to Heal PTSD and Other Symptoms of Stress email me at: jan_marquart@yahoo.com. Meanwhile get out your pen and write out what happened. Tell your story in every detail. Leave nothing out. Take your time. Spill it all onto the page. Go deep then deeper and visualize yourself healed - then write about that.
until next time,
Jan
Teenagers, parents, veterans, mothers, daughters, neighbors, employees - there is not a description of a person that doesn't fit into a category of having a story that needs healing. We all have them. We go into therapy to talk them out, we make appointments with our physicians to see if the symptoms from stress might not be cured with a pill, we meditate, exercise, take yoga all to help heal from difficult experiences. It doesn't matter who you are or what you have to heal from, writing can be a powerful way to uncover, recover, and discover a reborn self.
For a brochure on my 6 week course Write to Heal PTSD and Other Symptoms of Stress email me at: jan_marquart@yahoo.com. Meanwhile get out your pen and write out what happened. Tell your story in every detail. Leave nothing out. Take your time. Spill it all onto the page. Go deep then deeper and visualize yourself healed - then write about that.
until next time,
Jan
March 2, 2013
Are You Your Mother?
I'm sure you've had the comment surprisingly thrown at you that you 'act like your mother' then find your blood boiling from the remark. Although there is no doubt that women will always be similar to their mother's, they spend a good deal of their lives seeking their own identity.
Mother's Day is a little more than two month's away. Are you already preparing yourself for the visit? Here is an idea that might help you get ready.
Write for inner clarity. Spend 20 minutes finishing this statement: I don't want to be like you in the following ways... then spend 20 minutes writing: I want to be like you in the following ways...
Most of the time after daughters establish a boundary for where their mother's identity ends and theirs begins, visits are much easier to handle.
For more prompts on how to become your own woman and relate to your mother in a healthier way, check out Echoes From the Womb, a Book for Daughters. www.createspace.com/3546083 or www.JanMarquart.com.
Until next time,
Jan
Mother's Day is a little more than two month's away. Are you already preparing yourself for the visit? Here is an idea that might help you get ready.
Write for inner clarity. Spend 20 minutes finishing this statement: I don't want to be like you in the following ways... then spend 20 minutes writing: I want to be like you in the following ways...
Most of the time after daughters establish a boundary for where their mother's identity ends and theirs begins, visits are much easier to handle.
For more prompts on how to become your own woman and relate to your mother in a healthier way, check out Echoes From the Womb, a Book for Daughters. www.createspace.com/3546083 or www.JanMarquart.com.
Until next time,
Jan
February 28, 2013
Writing Away PTSD Symptoms
Writing to heal PTSD symptoms and Other Symptoms of Stress is not an easy task. It takes more than daily journal writing in order to reach into the subconscious and heal symptoms that wreck a life.
The subconscious is the place within our minds and spirits that hold our creative and imaginative energy. Healing is an act of transformation and requires both the imagination and the transforming energy of creativity.
Once the imaginative and creative energies are accessed, recovering from life-altering symptoms is possible. Intensive writing accesses the internal power and allows the mind to integrate the fragmented pieces of the self that trauma and stress create.
Take a Write to Heal PTSD and Other Symptoms of Stress workshop - online - in the comfort of your own home. email jan_marquart@yahoo.com for more details.
Until next time, keep the pen moving,
Blessings, Jan
The subconscious is the place within our minds and spirits that hold our creative and imaginative energy. Healing is an act of transformation and requires both the imagination and the transforming energy of creativity.
Once the imaginative and creative energies are accessed, recovering from life-altering symptoms is possible. Intensive writing accesses the internal power and allows the mind to integrate the fragmented pieces of the self that trauma and stress create.
Take a Write to Heal PTSD and Other Symptoms of Stress workshop - online - in the comfort of your own home. email jan_marquart@yahoo.com for more details.
Until next time, keep the pen moving,
Blessings, Jan
February 16, 2013
Timelines
Writing timelines is powerful. If you have a project you are working on, take out your calendar and write the steps to your project on it. Then tuck it away somewhere and wait until the end of the year. Check to see how close you came to following your timeline.
Does this work? Yes. I've done one for each of my books. I am always amazed at how the subconscious works when timelines are written.
Try it.
Until next time,
Jan
Does this work? Yes. I've done one for each of my books. I am always amazed at how the subconscious works when timelines are written.
Try it.
Until next time,
Jan
February 14, 2013
The Mindful Writer
What makes a writer mindful? Is it choosing the right words? Is it making sure that its words match a certain vision? Is it paying attention to the inner mind? Yes. It is all of the above.
In addition, the mindful writer knows its own mind's process of creativity. Maybe one person will write better in the morning and another in the afternoon. Or perhaps words come more easily when in a routine whereas for someone else words might be easier to access in the heat of emotional turmoil. Each muse has a voice of its own and the writer for that muse must pay attention to the vicissitudes of its creative pattern.
There is no writer's block, as this book discusses. What there is, is the heartbeat of the individual muse that sings its own tune and speaks its own voice. So listen carefully. That is mindfulness.
www.createspace.com/3546101
www.JanMarquart.com
Until next time,
Jan
In addition, the mindful writer knows its own mind's process of creativity. Maybe one person will write better in the morning and another in the afternoon. Or perhaps words come more easily when in a routine whereas for someone else words might be easier to access in the heat of emotional turmoil. Each muse has a voice of its own and the writer for that muse must pay attention to the vicissitudes of its creative pattern.
There is no writer's block, as this book discusses. What there is, is the heartbeat of the individual muse that sings its own tune and speaks its own voice. So listen carefully. That is mindfulness.
www.createspace.com/3546101
www.JanMarquart.com
Until next time,
Jan
December 27, 2012
Writing Trauma
No one likes to write about their trauma; our natural instinct is to turn and run like hell. To write about pain awakens the hell we have lived through and who wants to do that? I get it. It's agonizing. It feels cruel to ourselves. But let's not overlook something crucial here. Even the most painful and soul ripping experience holds something in it that we can use to transform and heal our lives. I believe that the experiences we hold, when put into words, have power to make us whole again.
Who says we must write about trauma in the first person, even though that is the first voice we think of writing in? Consider this: you can give it away when you write.
Writing trauma through another's voice is equally as powerful as writing it in the first person. Therapists use dolls to help children access their trauma. The child is more likely to speak through a doll than through its own. Pretending the pain belongs to another allows the mind to reveal information it would otherwise hold onto in order to avoid the pain and protect itself. The third person's voice puts distance between ourselves and the pain and is beneficial because our hearts like the added protection of space around it.
Energetically, trauma impacts our bodies. By writing about it we put out that energy with words and visions onto paper. That process is healing for the triad mind/body/spirit. Personally, I have found the process of writing both from the first person and the third person equally healing. I've been asked why I write non-fiction and fiction. The answer lies in what it will take for me to get to the heart of the matter in order to feel better. No one likes carrying the shadow of pain and trauma around with them. Before you know it, you feel as if you have lost control of your life. Writing can get you back in control.
If you don't know which you would rather use, first person or third, try this. Write one page in the first person - then re-write it in the third person. The process itself will show which one reveals more of what you need in order to release the pain.
I wrote The Breath of Dawn, a Journey of Everyday Blessings in the first person but hit too many stumbling blocks. Writing about nearly dying from a paralyzing illness took everything I had. So I then re-wrote the 400 pages using the third person. I was shocked at the words that hit the paper. Suddenly I remembered moments that shook me to my core - then I re-wrote the manuscript again back to the first person. It was an amazing an enlightening experience. Because The Breath of Dawn was a memoir, I wanted it to read in the first person. This process worked for me despite being time consuming. I knew that unless I found a way to get to the impacting and traumatic moments, there was no point trying to write it. Re-writing it in the third person tricked my mind, and released more of those hot moments.
In The Basket Weaver, I kept my pain in the third person. It worked much better as a novel, however, it did not lessen the healing quality of the writing process. By writing in the third person it gave me a chance to be creative and have some fun with the pain I'd been carrying for too long. Fiction allows your mind to take what is real and re-write it so only you know what you are truly doing with your pain.
I hope I have given you food for thought. Now, pick up your pen, set your pain free, and write ...
Until next time,
Jan
Who says we must write about trauma in the first person, even though that is the first voice we think of writing in? Consider this: you can give it away when you write.
Writing trauma through another's voice is equally as powerful as writing it in the first person. Therapists use dolls to help children access their trauma. The child is more likely to speak through a doll than through its own. Pretending the pain belongs to another allows the mind to reveal information it would otherwise hold onto in order to avoid the pain and protect itself. The third person's voice puts distance between ourselves and the pain and is beneficial because our hearts like the added protection of space around it.
Energetically, trauma impacts our bodies. By writing about it we put out that energy with words and visions onto paper. That process is healing for the triad mind/body/spirit. Personally, I have found the process of writing both from the first person and the third person equally healing. I've been asked why I write non-fiction and fiction. The answer lies in what it will take for me to get to the heart of the matter in order to feel better. No one likes carrying the shadow of pain and trauma around with them. Before you know it, you feel as if you have lost control of your life. Writing can get you back in control.
If you don't know which you would rather use, first person or third, try this. Write one page in the first person - then re-write it in the third person. The process itself will show which one reveals more of what you need in order to release the pain.
I wrote The Breath of Dawn, a Journey of Everyday Blessings in the first person but hit too many stumbling blocks. Writing about nearly dying from a paralyzing illness took everything I had. So I then re-wrote the 400 pages using the third person. I was shocked at the words that hit the paper. Suddenly I remembered moments that shook me to my core - then I re-wrote the manuscript again back to the first person. It was an amazing an enlightening experience. Because The Breath of Dawn was a memoir, I wanted it to read in the first person. This process worked for me despite being time consuming. I knew that unless I found a way to get to the impacting and traumatic moments, there was no point trying to write it. Re-writing it in the third person tricked my mind, and released more of those hot moments.
In The Basket Weaver, I kept my pain in the third person. It worked much better as a novel, however, it did not lessen the healing quality of the writing process. By writing in the third person it gave me a chance to be creative and have some fun with the pain I'd been carrying for too long. Fiction allows your mind to take what is real and re-write it so only you know what you are truly doing with your pain.
I hope I have given you food for thought. Now, pick up your pen, set your pain free, and write ...
Until next time,
Jan
December 20, 2012
Meant to Triumph!
I believe we are meant to triumph. What does that mean? I believe that the challenges we get are meant to bring out the best in us, even though the journey to get there might be unwanted. If you were to read memoirs of individuals who were faced with a terrible illness or another kind of disaster you would find that the stories did not stop at the disaster. The stories kept going until, at last, there was some kind of triumph.
These memoirs are inspiring, but more than that, they offer hope that you too are capable of getting through challenging times with success. By writing about your triumph, with your head held high, your words have the power to become food for someone else's aching soul.
Memoir is a powerful way to bring out that inner voice of experience, the one that hurts, that conquers, that gets reborn. Memoirs are about all types of experiences. They can speak to the power of a relationship, illness, adventure, divorce - the list is endless.
What experience did you have that brought you to triumph? Don't judge it as being too insignificant to others or that it isn't worth writing. Write it anyway. The pen has no judgment of what you write.
Until next time,
keep the pen moving - Jan
These memoirs are inspiring, but more than that, they offer hope that you too are capable of getting through challenging times with success. By writing about your triumph, with your head held high, your words have the power to become food for someone else's aching soul.
Memoir is a powerful way to bring out that inner voice of experience, the one that hurts, that conquers, that gets reborn. Memoirs are about all types of experiences. They can speak to the power of a relationship, illness, adventure, divorce - the list is endless.
What experience did you have that brought you to triumph? Don't judge it as being too insignificant to others or that it isn't worth writing. Write it anyway. The pen has no judgment of what you write.
Until next time,
keep the pen moving - Jan
December 12, 2012
It All Counts!
I know some things don't seem to matter. After all, most moments seem trivial and insignificant. However, many stories keep us riveted upon small moments that hold aha realizations or thoughts in seemingly nothing moments that come back to haunt a character at another point in time.
Write at least one moment you had today that didn't seem significant. Maybe it was a smell that reminded you that you hated that perfume or you noticed how impatient you were standing in line at the post office. Wrap a story around that moment. You can do it. Maybe the moment of impatience made you think of your husband and how you treated him the night before when you were impatient. Maybe that moment either put you in therapy to overcome your angst or allowed you to go home and turn the relationship around with an apology.
Every moment is fuel for a story. Make every moment count.
Until next time.
keep the pen moving,
Jan
Write at least one moment you had today that didn't seem significant. Maybe it was a smell that reminded you that you hated that perfume or you noticed how impatient you were standing in line at the post office. Wrap a story around that moment. You can do it. Maybe the moment of impatience made you think of your husband and how you treated him the night before when you were impatient. Maybe that moment either put you in therapy to overcome your angst or allowed you to go home and turn the relationship around with an apology.
Every moment is fuel for a story. Make every moment count.
Until next time.
keep the pen moving,
Jan
November 29, 2012
4 Reasons to Write Daily
Are you a daily journal keeper? Do you like to write out your day's events, perhaps write out solutions for a problem, maybe write goals for the future? Journal writing certainly is useful for each of these three types of daily writing.
Now let's look at another way to write on a daily basis in your journal; let's look at writing about those moments that happened in a flash of a second and changed your life forever. We each have them, but oftentimes their power gets lost in whatever happened next.
I'd like to share four reasons why writing about your life's aha moments can be powerful and why writing about them daily can bring life to your writing:
1. they embolden
2. they can help realign us if we have gotten off track
3. they can reawaken latent creativity to begin new goals and projects
4. they bring us back to the power inside us
Perhaps you will find more reasons why writing about aha moments are so special. I'd love to hear about them. Write to me at: www.freethepen.wordpress.com.
Keep your journal near you in the morning and write in it as you begin your day. Remember that the pen can uncover, recover, and discover the many wonders of daily living.
Keep the pen moving.
until next time,
Jan
Now let's look at another way to write on a daily basis in your journal; let's look at writing about those moments that happened in a flash of a second and changed your life forever. We each have them, but oftentimes their power gets lost in whatever happened next.
I'd like to share four reasons why writing about your life's aha moments can be powerful and why writing about them daily can bring life to your writing:
1. they embolden
2. they can help realign us if we have gotten off track
3. they can reawaken latent creativity to begin new goals and projects
4. they bring us back to the power inside us
Perhaps you will find more reasons why writing about aha moments are so special. I'd love to hear about them. Write to me at: www.freethepen.wordpress.com.
Keep your journal near you in the morning and write in it as you begin your day. Remember that the pen can uncover, recover, and discover the many wonders of daily living.
Keep the pen moving.
until next time,
Jan
November 3, 2012
Memoir
Most people I've spoken with want to write stories about their experiences. Sometimes though it is difficult to know where to start. How do you structure a life so that others would be interested in reading it and the author doesn't get lost in the storm of writing?
Here is a system to begin getting stories down on paper. Make a list for memorable occasions, another for life themes, possibly another for lessons learned. Then cut up the list and slip all pieces of paper into an envelope.
Choose a time of day that works for you and pull out a slip of paper. Write for as long as you can on each slip of paper making sure to include every detail including the five senses.
When you have completed writing on each piece of paper and you do not wish to add more lay out the written topics and collate them into the order that best makes sense for you.
Weave them into a whole and read it out loud. This process will help you discover, recover, and uncover what is missing.
Continue this process until the whole piece reads until you are satisfied with it. Leave grammatical and structural editing to the end of the project. You will want to get professional help to make sure you are making your memoir ready for another reader.
Contact me at jan_marquart@yahoo.com if you have any questions about this process.
Until next time,
keep the pen moving.
Jan
Here is a system to begin getting stories down on paper. Make a list for memorable occasions, another for life themes, possibly another for lessons learned. Then cut up the list and slip all pieces of paper into an envelope.
Choose a time of day that works for you and pull out a slip of paper. Write for as long as you can on each slip of paper making sure to include every detail including the five senses.
When you have completed writing on each piece of paper and you do not wish to add more lay out the written topics and collate them into the order that best makes sense for you.
Weave them into a whole and read it out loud. This process will help you discover, recover, and uncover what is missing.
Continue this process until the whole piece reads until you are satisfied with it. Leave grammatical and structural editing to the end of the project. You will want to get professional help to make sure you are making your memoir ready for another reader.
Contact me at jan_marquart@yahoo.com if you have any questions about this process.
Until next time,
keep the pen moving.
Jan
