Many studies show that writing is good for the soul. These studies do not speak of writing prose or novels, but of simple, intuitive writing where a person takes a pen and paper and writes whatever comes to mind for several minutes without stopping. No corrections should be made, no deletions, and no changes of any kind. It is simply writing to express one’s feelings and thoughts. This technique is part of what is called “writing therapy,” which in itself is one of the “expressive therapies.” Personally, I think it is a great way to organize one’s inner makeup and improve it.
You cannot compare expressing yourself verbally to expressing yourself in writing. When you speak, your words vanish as soon as you say them. But when you write what you want to say, it stays. As a result, the whole act becomes imbued with intention, if you can put it that way.
This self-organization is very important because this is the therapy in the technique. Writing organizes our inner systems and rearranges them in a better way because we not only express ourselves, but once our thoughts are on paper, we can look at them, examine ourselves through the text, and perform a kind of self-correction.
When we write, we can examine our inner makeup. Our basic makeup is a desire to feel joy and pleasure. In itself, there is nothing wrong with wanting to feel joy and pleasure. The problem is that, if not corrected, the desire to receive works in devious ways that hurt others. We call it “ego,” and our sages refer to it as a “serpent.”
You cannot kill the serpent with one blow. The way to deal with it is to bring it out one piece at a time, and examine it. Once you realize that it is the serpent, the desire to receive that enjoys hurting others, it is possible to restrain it or work with it in non-harmful ways.
When we write down our thoughts and detect the serpent, we cannot sweep it under the rug and pretend that it does not exist, since it is written down on paper. I cannot pretend that I did not say it or forget what I said, since it is not said, it is written down. At the same time, if something is too hard for me to deal with at the moment, I can always come back to it later. Once it is on paper, it will not go away.
For this reason, I do a lot of writing, and I recommend this practice to anyone who wants to examine one’s inner makeup and become a better person.
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