Posts by Joy Held

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

Relax? What does that really mean? It can mean taking a moment in the face of stress and remembering how inconsequential the problem is. But is that practical? What if the problem is a really big issue like something burning? Thankfully, the natural “fight or flight” response will kick in and you can probably put the fire out but what about responding to the everyday stresses we encounter all the time? It all matters a little bit but how we react to the situation is the real cause of most of our stress. It’s a matter of choice.

I believe that what causes the most stress for people are expectations. The fear of not living up to the hype causes us to tense up and that tension results in poo-poo thinking and the release of stress hormones that don’t dribble out later. They hang around and sludge up the works making blood sticky, muscles achy, and thinking unclear.

What helps? Breathing helps. Meditation helps. Exercise helps. Loving helps. Heck, hugging helps reduce the stress response and makes us think maybe we can cope with all this crap after all. Everything happens for a reason, and you are here now at this moment for a reason living life the way you are. You may not know it, but I think the human experience is only about finding that reason for living and pursuing it with everything you’ve got body and soul.

Find your reason for living by paying attention to the little things and to how fast time flys when you’re engaged in a particular activity. When do you lose all track of time? When do you feel refreshed no matter how intense the activity? When is your thinking focused on one thing and nothing else can get in until you let it? These are clues to finding your reason for being here, for contributing to the existential drama that causes us so much stress because we don’t know for sure what our true purpose in life is supposed to be.

Be still, breathe, and listen and the answer will overpower the stress.

(Photo by J. Purkey, 2003)

Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity

Who Dares Wins Publishing  www.whodareswinspublishing.com

I’ve been told that a healthy writer is an oxymoron. The nature of the business (sitting for long hours, working odd hours, seclusion, etc.) create an unhealthiness that in some ways contributes to the work. HUH? I even have a friend that when she told her mother she wanted to be a writer, her mother said, “You’ll have to learn how to drink.” My friend has loved dark rum ever since but it doesn’t contribute anything substantial to her successful career.

Our awareness as writers depends on our state of health physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Our choices have a profound effect on the condition of these factors. Studies abound on the mind-body connection proving that each affects the other. An appreciation of what role the spirit plays in being human is expanding daily as well. Overall, it is wise to make decisions that lead to a healthy state of being supportive to your creative life.

WRITER WELLNESS is a plan that employs choices you can make to improve yourself by writing in a journal, exercising, learning to relax and meditate, making sound nutritional decisions, and by engaging in some type of creative play on a regular basis.

Here is one reason journaling is useful to writers.

Journaling: Some people hate it. Some people are addicted. But a journal writing habit is nothing but good for a writer. Contrary to what you’ve heard, it isn’t a time waster. “If I’m going to be writing, I want it to be toward my daily word count.” Well, writing in a journal can contribute to your daily word count if you learn to harvest the ideas from your journal that are worth employing in your writing. When the well seems dry and you’re crawling toward your word count, turn to your journal for ideas from past entries. If you keep a journal of thoughts, pictures, events, etc., I guarantee there is no such thing as writer’s block because you have a journal full of ready-made ideas to jump start your thinking when you run into a sour place in the novel writing. But there has to be a journal to refer to and you need to set aside time on a consistent basis to track your life for ideas and for cleansing. Journaling is a cleansing process that leaves you feeling crisp and excited about your work-in-process. No such thing as writer’s block when you have journals full of history to refer to when you’re stuck.

Writer Wellness is a lifestyle, a committment just like your writing. Check back and we’ll explore fitness, meditation, nutrition, and creative play and how those ideas make you a better writer.

Be well, write well,

Joy

Coming soon! Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity, second edition from Who Dares Wins Publishing

www.whodareswinspublishing.com