A Story to Tell

Lonely Furrow Company comes across lots of different stories. At present, my writer development coaching is helping a travel writer, a psychologist, someone suffering with depression who wants to use creative writing as a way to make sense of her state, an inspirational writer, a novelist who suffers from a tendency to procrastinate, a financial expert and so on and so forth.

And, as a ghostwriter, I am helping two people with their autobiographies. Whether these ‘books’ are published or not, they don’t mind. They just want to tell their story. These people – in my view, wrongly - lack the confidence to write on their own. But each has something very special to say. And the world would be a poorer place if they didn’t say it.

But does everyone have something to say? I can’t think of anyone who doesn’t - only a few people who don’t believe they have. Do you belong to this group?

If so, perhaps you’d like to take a moment to do this exercise.

Think of something that happened to you – as a child. Write it down. Leave it for a day. Go back and think about it carefully. Ask yourself these questions:

· Why does this memory stick in your mind?
· What did you feel about what happened at the time?
· What do you feel about what happened now?
· What strengths did that event reveal about you?
· Could you use those strengths more in your present life?
· What weaknesses did that event show up?
· Could you do more of something to prevent any weaknesses still with you today from getting in your way?
· What would you say to you as a child about handling that event?
· What could your child-self tell you to help you in your present life?

And what will you do with this new piece of knowledge?

You may need to think about this memory a little longer so you can use the insights it gives you to make sense of something in your life. You may feel upset – and need to turn to a friend or someone who can help you in this. Or you may feel empowered.

And you may have the beginnings of a creative piece of writing here.

Phoenixing

Well, that’s it. Autumn’s here. Time for a surge of baking and thinking about Christmas – although personally I’m still mopping up after a dreadful summer – and I’m not just talking about the weather. Here, we’ve had two bereavements and a serious diagnosis in the family.

This could have been expected to keep me out of the shipping lanes – except that some beguiling experiences were offered to me. And I couldn’t resist. I’m a freelance journalist, after all.

As a result, I found myself visiting a nuclear submarine (the Astute) in Cumbria, interviewing farmers about rural suicides in Devon and Northamptonshire and whispering to a wonderful horse called Seren in the Cotswolds. All articles will be published this Autumn.

So why am I telling you all this? Well, the thought for the month is: throughout all the traumas, I found that of the two aspects of work/life balance, work was the more restful and restorative!

Particularly the writing bit. The mindfulness required means you come away from writing in a state of total relaxation – with an almost divine serenity. And the truly wonderful thing is: you can go back there at any time. All you need is paper, pen and a story to tell.