Intuition and Compassion
for creativity and healing
Wouldn’t it be nice to quiet some of the nastier chatter in our minds? I did it & so can you! Honestly the silence is golden. More below, but first here’s the Brave Space schedule in case you’re trying to build a creative practice and want some help doing it! Also a writing prompt and a wholeness tip - enjoy!
Brave Space Sched for next week: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 12pm ET and Tuesday at 10am and for All Humans at 7pm ET. See you then!
Brave Group Coaching Sched moves to Wednesdays at 10am ET for the rest of 2023!
New Brave Group Coaching Cohort begins in January! More info to come! And if you’ve been waiting to do this with me, please get it touch with your preferred time slot, so I can work with your needs!
2024 Winter Playwrights Workshop: only 1 spot left! Reach out if you’re interested. Yep, you can just reply below, and you’ll get me!
Writing Prompt: Embrace Your Intuition - I’ve found that by being open to my intuition, a kind of internal knowing, I am opening my heart. I am trusting that something worthwhile will arise from inside of me. Something that will work to solve something in whatever I’m writing. Something right “there” that I haven’t noticed yet. If I can immerse myself in the setting, see/hear/smell/taste/sense what’s there, the answer will arrive.
I tell my students to use what’s there, and I mean that literally. What’s in the world of the scene? What objects? What strengths? What character traits? What wants/desires? How can the character get what they want right then and there? I believe that we already know. Or we are already primed for the universe to send us the answer.
I’ve found that stopping when I get to a stopping place is usually too soon. I try to go one step further by asking myself a simple question: what else? or what did I miss? or what am I not seeing? And this almost always leads to a new insight.
I believe that we are connected to something larger than ourselves. You can call it whatever you want. I imagine my heart is large enough to hold answers that I don’t even know I have. If I stop and breathe into my heart with a question or a need, usually the answer arises. 3 breaths, try it! (I’m not saying this is a way to cure illness - this is a writing exercise.)
Wholeness Tip: Compassion compassion compassion - when will Emma ever stop talking about compassion? Never. As it is the antidote to so many problems, I have to highlight it again and again. Because people tend to push it aside, as if it won't help. And yet I know it helps. I am what they call living proof!
If you want more proof, Harvard Medical School says compassion has been found to lower levels of anxiety and depression.
I spent years with a lot of negative self-talk. A lot of nasty shaming, blaming and never giving myself a break. This excruciating monologue in my head ended, (listen to the crickets), about a month after starting my compassion practice. That's incredible if you consider I had a habit of negative self-talk for decades!
There are lots of links for learning a compassion practice, but I think what I do is way easier. (I will share the links too.) This is what I do: I notice when I've been hurt, and I respond to myself with kindness, the way I’d respond to a friend, a child, a stranger. Whatever hurts for whatever reason, I offer compassion to myself in that moment. It doesn't take time. It doesn't take a guided meditation. It's a simple hand-on-my-heart acknowledgement of my suffering and a brief offering of a soft-centered open/warm feeling of being-with. A "you're not alone in this," an "I've got you," moment.
The first step is to notice you’re suffering. We are programmed to ignore ourselves! Not okay! After decades of avoiding ourselves, we almost don’t recognize our own needs. But once we start to notice again, we realize how much we all deserve compassion.
At first you might feel as if you’re faking it, but the more you do it, the easier it gets. And it feels good! Let yourself know that you see the pain or shame or fear, and send compassion. Let’s stop pretending it doesn’t hurt — it does! And let’s do something about it: notice it, see it, hug yourself.
And if you prefer links, here are 3: Tara Brach meditation or A Mindful Guide or Easy Ways to Cultivate Compassion
ICYMI, I signed an Open Letter from Jewish Writers: Critiquing the State of Israel is Not Antisemitic. The letter is now live with n+1. You can find it here: https://www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/a-dangerous-conflation/?affid=x
In the two days since publication, the letter has attracted over 1,000 additional signatures and counting. If you are a Jewish writer and would like to add your name, you may do so here: tinyurl.com/jewishwritersspeakup
NYC Theatre Peeps: I'll be attending 29PWC's latest event, and I'd love to see you there! Join me for DANNY RYAN'S WAKE by Michael Wells-Oakes on November 16 at 7pm. Directed by Hannah Skambellone. On the day of Papa's wake, James Ryan's 4 adult children are lost in a snowstorm of heartbreak, secrets, and anger. It takes Papa's grandson, Danny, to bring the Ryans safely back home, back to Philadelphia. Featuring Kyle Parker Daniels, Dave Droxler, Henry J. Eden, Tom Ovitt, Cat Scholtis, Jeanne Lauren Smith, Ali Dachis and Dan Pearce. FREE and open to the public. Register HERE
Onward,
Emma