Stream of Consciousness, Learning to Accept the Trivial

A barrier I’ve experienced in my journaling efforts is overthinking. I would often worry about what topic I needed to address in my writing.  Before I put pen to paper, I tended to have conversations in my head weighing the pros and cons of all the topics rolling around in my head. Often, the topics ranged from parenting struggles to work issues to relational issues.  Unfortunately, this led to feeling overwhelmed, which sometimes led to a resistance to writing.

A tip or strategy that I learned to overcome this barrier is stream of consciousness writing. This technique is relatively well known as a literary device used by authors such as Virgina Wolf, James Joyce and Sylvia Plath, to name a few.  It is also known in psychology, where the term was introduced by William James in 1890. Essentially, stream of consciousness is allowing thought, feeling and experience to flow in an unstructured way.

There are various ways to apply stream of consciousness in writing.  I’ve learned that the best technique for me is to set a timer for 15 minutes, place my pen on paper and write continuously until the timer beeps. By writing continuously I mean to say that I don’t allow myself to lift my pen from paper and when my hand wants to pause, I simply write the word pause or pausing. I keep my hand moving along the paper.  I also tend to write in cursive and allow the words to blend together so as to not lift the pen from the paper. It’s actually kind of a fun challenge. I have found myself laughing at the silliness of my own thoughts and feelings.

Though stream of consciousness is often used to remove superficial thoughts so we can get to a deeper meaning and perhaps a greater understanding of what’s going on in our mind and body, I’ve found a lot of value at the surface of my thoughts and feelings.  For me the greatest benefit has been learning to accept the trivial. I had often judged myself harshly for getting caught up in the trivial, but once I saw it in my writing as a passing or fleeting moment, I came to understand the dynamic nature of thoughts and feelings. As I allowed myself to go deeper in my writing, I came to realize that these trivial, fleeting moments or judgements are not who I am.  In essence, it has empowered me to let go of harsh judgement and even find humor in the trivial, surface level thoughts and feelings I may experience in any given moment.

What has been your writing experience; what tips and techniques do you use to help you write?

Love,

Sara