Writers and artists – your emotions are your greatest creative asset

It’s quite the emotional roller coaster these days, isn’t it? I feel and notice a lot of fear. And uncertainty, which fuels fear. There’s a lot of anger, and also wafts of hope.

We are living in tough times for sure. We need to seek groundedness. If we don’t replenish ourselves and keep our immune and nervous systems in balance, we put ourselves at more risk. Taking care of ourselves is a priority, even when we are caring for others.

But what to do with all those feelings? This is where our art and writing can save us. All good art is based in true emotions. You’ve heard this before: someone can be technically proficient at their art. But if there’s no feeling behind the words, the sketches or the performance, what’s shared is simply polished gestures.

We are attracted to art and writing that moves us emotionally. The artist or writer has put something of their essence into a piece.

Tune into your emotions to improve your writing

Now, when the emotional temperature is running high with all kinds of feelings, we can observe our inner landscape. This is a great time to practice writing from our feelings. 

It’s challenging to describe emotions. I have learned that we don’t feel our emotions first as thoughts, but in our body. Look to your body to give clues about how to describe your feelings. Where does that anger express itself? A tight jaw? A quickened step? Clutching the steering wheel as you drive?

What about fear? Where does that take space in your body? How would you describe that?

Developing this kind of awareness of our emotions and how they live in our bodies is good for our writing. It’s also good for our emotional health. Emotions are a fascinating thing. They are always running in the background. But we often don’t have a clue what we are feeling. I am working daily on emotional intelligence. It’s not easy, but my writing is an ally in this journey to be fully human.

Getting more present with our emotions helps us both as humans and as creative people who want to make things we deeply care about.

Take time to practice emotional awareness. Do a quick free-write to explore your emotions right now. Your prompt: I’m feeling…

And consider joining us for the Pop-Up Writing Salon on March 12, 2020, where I will facilitate a writing session focused on the emotion of fear. Save your spot here.