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The protests of the horrible death of George Floyd and other black people in the US have finally brought our systemic racism to the surface in a way no one can ignore. I feel my own complacency has reached its expiration date.

It’s hard to see violence ripple through the world like this. And I know that massive change is often required to make the changes we need. Inertia, as you may well know, is a powerful force.

There is a feeling of hope that this time, finally, we are awake to the fact that the world needs to change. Is changing. If our constitution promises liberty and justice for all, that has to be more than lip service. This is going to take some work and each of us plays a part.

I don’t have answers for what you should do to end racism now. I know what I am doing. I’m taking a tip from my friend Jonathan Fields. He suggested that the anti-racism work we need to do is a practice. It’s not a donate once and done kind of situation. It’s ongoing work on ourselves and work in the world.

How? Let’s figure it out. Don’t ever let not knowing how to do something keep you from doing something.

Writing as a power tool

As your writing coach, I encourage you to use writing in every instance. Writing clarifies. Writing heals. Writing shows us a path forward.

There are as many ways to use our words in this fight as there are words. Write a letter. Write a truth. Write an article. Write a confession. Write an apology. Write a commitment. Write a manifesto for a new world. Write a rant. Write a love letter.

Perhaps start with a free-write to get grounded and to get clear. Here are some bonus prompts I shared in The Devoted Writer salon this week:

• Becoming an activist
• How I lead
• How I follow
• My racism
• Change and me
• My addictions
• Here’s what I want for the world
• What I need now
• My commitment to change

In my classes, we have talked many times about our emotions and how they impact our ability to write. I know many of us are having a hard time focusing on anything now. Hard to stop reeling and feeling and settle into any writing. That’s okay. Do what it takes to take care of yourselves. Do what you need for your writing. And do what we all need to make our world whole – do something to end racism.

I stand for peace and justice for all. I stand with Black Lives Matter and I commit to doing my part to end systemic racism in the US.

Do what is right for you, and if you feel like sharing the actions you are taking now, please do so in a comment below. I know that would inspire me and help me take more action.

You probably know that writing has sustained my sanity and creativity for a long time now. And, it’s my mission to help people craft a writing practice that honors them and serves their writing dreams and goals.

I was poking around online recently to see what people were saying about a journaling practice. I found an article on the New York Times:

What’s All This About Journaling: One of the more effective acts of self-care is also, happily, one of the cheapest  by Hayley Phelan

The following two paragraphs blew me away. I know the benefits of regular writing firsthand, and I have seen hundreds of people’s lives change as a result of the practice. But I’d never thought of writing this way:

“….writing is fundamentally an organizational system. Keeping a journal, according to Dr. Pennebaker, helps to organize an event in our mind, and make sense of trauma. When we do that, our working memory improves, since our brains are freed from the enormously taxing job of processing that experience, and we sleep better.

This in turn improves our immune system and our moods; we go to work feeling refreshed, perform better and socialize more. “There’s no single magic moment,” Dr. Pennebaker said. “But we know it works…”

(Emphasis mine; James W. Pennebaker is a social psychologist at the University of Texas at Austin who is considered the pioneer of writing therapy.)

The cool thing about a journaling or writing practice is that it can do so many things. We can write to refresh and release. We can write our way to clarity. We can write from our imaginations and for our work.

If you haven’t been writing, I invite you to pick it up today. Don’t do it ‘right’. Don’t do it my way. Do it your way and let your pen lead you closer to yourself and what you want for your life.

There’s still room for you in our online writing salon, The Devoted Writer. We’ve only just begun and already people are savoring the positive effects. Like Patricia Mauerhofer, who shared in our salon:

“I am soooo grateful and happy for being here and having signed up…7 days and my playful creativity juices are starting to flow again.I also became aware why writing just a little every day is good enough for now.”

Writing every day isn’t the goal; being connected to ourselves through a writing practice is our focus. Some people are working on projects, others are writing just for themselves.

Join us here.

Do you have a writing practice that honors you? Share in a comment below one thing that helps you connect to your writing practice.