A week ago, a friend asked me if I wanted to attend a workshop on writing and I agreed. Yeap, I am that adventurous; no details required, just sign me up! The way I look at it is, at least I get to meet some new people. Win win for me as I also get to wear some nice clothes (something apart from my usual all day bedtime clothing). Soon details started trickling in. The 1st shocker was it's not creative writing! What the fish, that's the only type I have heard of. But then the name expressive writing sounded so promising and intense. Isn't most of what we write an expression of us in that moment, even if it's in the form of OMGs or the dancing ladies. Normally I would have googled the hell out of this, but not this week. I'm happy that I didn't. Sometimes it's good to go in all blind. Without expectations it's easier not to be disappointed. After all the workshop was on a Saturday afternoon for 6hours!
I would be lying if I said the 6 hours flew by or it was a drag. On the contrary, those 6 hours were spent consciously. One of those rare times, where I can recall most of the details, if not a minute by minute report. Maybe that's how it is by design. The activities in the workshop were divided into 3 units: BE, BE YOU & BE YOU FOR YOU. I don't want to dive into details of each and every activity, but I will be sharing some of the things I wrote there on this blog.
The highlights for me from this workshop were:
1. Almost every activity was time based around 15-20 mins. Looking back at it, it's quite amazing how everyone with no exception could easily pick up a pen and let their thoughts flow through it.
2. The moment where I realised, it's so easy to write for yourself. I just sat there and thought that barely took a few minutes.
3. The stories/thoughts/writings that everyone chose to share were so diverse and beautiful.
So what is expressive writing? I can google it for you and post it here word to word because I don't yet have that clear distinction in my head. This does not reflect upon the workshop which was fantastic. To me most of my writing has been a form of expressive writing and hence the blurred lines. The letters/emails I wrote to my friends & family, this blog and ahem the other super private one, are all bits and pieces of my thoughts & feelings. I guess even the rare genuine FaceBook posts could also count as a form of expressive writing. From what I gather, expressive writing or writing as a form of therapy doesn't stop at the writing, the idea is to read & reflect on what you have written. To connect with the emotions that affect your thoughts and vice versa.
I am going to give this a try, somedays maybe on this blog on others just in my notes. Who knows what's there to discover?
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