Your Subconscious Is Trying to Help You--An Excerpt from Your Writing Matters by Keiko O’Leary

Have you ever considered that your subconscious is trying to help you with writing when you have that song stuck in your head? Keiko O’Leary, author of the upcoming book, Your Writing Matters, offers her insight on this phenomenon. Check out the book here. Read this excerpt of Your Writing Matters below. 

Do you ever get a phrase in your head, maybe a line from a poem you learned as a kid? Or it could be the title of a story, or a bit of dialogue, or even a few words from your own work. Or sometimes a song that you haven’t heard in years, but now you can’t get it out of your head. 

Probably you don’t do anything with these phrases, except maybe complain about the song. 

But what if these phrases are messages? 

When my grandma was dying, I got a line from a Paul Simon song in my head: “the rose of Jericho and the bougainvillea.” I hadn’t heard the song in years, and I decided to listen to the entire album (The Rhythm of the Saints, a brilliant collection of music and poetry). It gave me perspective on the way my grandma had influenced our family’s life and my life, and I felt like I understood her story better. And when I finally got to the actual line, it turned out to be in a passage about a funeral. That was the first time in the grieving process that I was able to cry.

I know that art helps us grieve and celebrate, that it helps us experience and make sense of our feelings, that it helps us live and choose how to live. But I hadn’t realized that the art I need has often come to me through seemingly random phrases that popped up in my mind. Every time I go listen to a song that’s stuck in my head, I find what I need at that moment. And it doesn’t just work with songs. Sometimes a title will float through my mind (“We Will Drink a Fish Together” by Bill Johnson), or a line of a poem (“What immortal hand or eye” from “The Tyger” by William Blake), and if I go to the source and let myself experience the entire piece, it is always what I need. Sometimes it’s not what I want: sometimes I don’t feel ready for the transformation that the art brings me. But I have chosen to live as a protagonist, and that means I must suffer change in order to experience meaning.

Looking back on all the times this has worked, I conclude that something is trying to help me. Let’s say it’s my subconscious mind. Whatever it is, it’s sending me messages of art that can change me in the way I need to be changed.

It sometimes even uses my own writing. While I was editing this book, I experienced great swaths of zero motivation. Sometimes the only thing that kept me going was rereading the essays and trying to take my own advice. And plenty of times, what led me to the essay that helped was a little phrase that floated into my head, seemingly out of nowhere. But now I think it’s not out of nowhere: it’s out of somewhere that knows what I’m going through and is trying to help.

You might not live in a sea of allusions like I do, but still, if a phrase pops into your head, maybe try tracking down and experiencing the entire work. It
could be just what you need.

P.S. These phrases can also help you solve problems in your writing. If you’re stuck on something in a piece you’re working on, listen for the phrases that pop into your head. They could lead you to a solution.

Keiko O’Leary helps writers see the big picture while taking meaningful action today. She is a writer, editor, artist, and speaker. A leader in San José, California’s literary community, Keiko teaches workshops and organizes the long-standing writing group Write to the End. She writes short pieces, including poetry, flash fiction, and essays. Connect with Keiko at KeikoOLeary.com, and pre-order Your Writing Matters.