| |
| Writing as Transformation |
 Interviewed by Mildred Lynn |
 |
Natalie Reid is a seasoned workshop leader, soul reader and author from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Natalie was in Ottawa to introduce the compelling workshop Writing as Transformation and share wisdom about writing from a place of sacred consciousness.
Thank you Natalie! |
|
 What is the concept of writing as transformation about? |
It is about using writing as a tool for learning to listen to the voice of your higher consciousness. That voice—sometimes called the voice of the soul—is the purest source of creativity you have. Hearing this voice allows profound transformation to occur, because it holds the answer to all your deepest questions: What is my life’s purpose? Where do I have an opportunity to focus my creative energies?
All transformation starts with self-awareness. The writing exercises in the writing as transformation process interrupt old ways of perceiving time, self, and the world, thereby allowing new perceptions to emerge. The more you work with transformational writing exercises, the more you develop a form of listening that bypasses normal channels of perception. You ultimately begin creating, without interference, from your own truest voice. |
| From your experience, do writers often express themselves from a place of higher consciousness? |
Absolutely. Most inspired literature comes from that place. Some writers call it their “muse”; others say that their characters just “appear” or “speak” to them. Naturally, many fine authors plot their stories and carefully invent their characters. But others “co-create” with their higher consciousness. For example, if you turn past the last page of Alice Walker’s bestseller The Color Purple, you’ll find the line “Thank you all for coming.” |
| What role does confidence play in the writing as transformation process? |
Confidence plays a huge role. The only thing that keeps us from hearing the voice of our higher consciousness is fear, and fear is what saps confidence. If you truly want to connect with that voice and write from that connection, learning to release fear will increase your confidence. |
| How does a person feel when they are writing or expressing from a place of higher consciousness? |
Peaceful, Joyous. Connected. Inspired. Grateful. Everyone feels the connection differently at various times. Most commonly, people speak of feeling a confident “knowing” that they are hearing their own truths and writing from their deepest source. This knowing, also called “claircognizance,” eventually becomes the writers’ benchmark for knowing when they are writing from their higher consciousness, as opposed to “writing from their heads.” As many great scientists and inventors have also discovered, we often receive our best insights when we temporarily remove our conscious minds from the process. |
| Is there a simple exercise that you use to connect with your higher consciousness when writing? |
| The simplest is to go to the unique place that we create in the workshop. For people who haven’t taken it, I recommend imagining a beautiful cave with magical crystal walls. The key to using the cave is your focused desire to listen to your higher consciousness.
Close your eyes, imagine the cave, and imagine yourself sitting in it. For several minutes, bring your attention to your heart and concentrate on feeling grateful for all the good in your life. Then, still in the cave, become open to receiving. When you begin seeing or hearing or feeling things, open your eyes and write them down. (Like learning to meditate, this takes practice.) Later you can discover special crystals in the cave, each of which will lead you to different insights.
While such an exercise may sound far-fetched, the imagination is one of our most powerful doorways to listening—and thus to transforming ourselves. |
| What resources would you recommend to a beginner writer, one who is in the “why would anyone listen to me” stage? |
| I recommend Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind: Living the Writer’s Life, both for the writing exercises and for her descriptions of her own struggles as a writer. Another good resource is Dorothy Randall Gray’s Soul Between the Lines.
Use books like Writers Market or websites like ByLine Magazine, which publishes first-time writers and has links to other good resources. (For women, I highly recommend joining the International Women’s Writing Guild -- if only for the “calls for manuscripts” in its bimonthly magazine and its supportive network of writers and writing teachers.) You can also google links to scores of journals seeking new writers. Search for and study a variety of publications until you find one with a focus and style that your writing will fit.
As to “why would anyone listen to me,” remember that everyone has something to say, and that no two people ever tell the same story the same way. No one but you has lived your life or thought your thoughts. Your poems, stories, and insights are valuable—not only for your own self-discovery, but for others.
|
| In your opinion, who are the movers & shakers in your field? |
These are primarily the great psychologists (like Carl Gustav Jung) who made a lifetime study of people’s transformative processes. Jung, who was also a spiritual alchemist, was deeply fascinated by transformation on all levels—and especially by the role of the soul in that process. Jung states clearly that the only way we can become fully whole is through the imagination. And that is what writing as transformation is all about.
The late psychologist Rollo May honors the fear of the blank page in The Courage to Create. The work of novelist and essayist Ursula K. LeGuin involves the power of the imagination in understanding and transforming both self and society. Jane Roberts’ “Seth” work (e.g., The Nature of Personal Reality) also stands out for me, as does the very different work of Michael Newton (Journey of Souls) and Dr. Olga Kharitidi (Entering the Circle and The Master of Lucid Dreams).
For more information on Writing as Transformation, contact Natalie Reid at: reidnat@aol.com or 505-271-0360 (Albuquerque, New Mexico).
© Copyright Mildred Lynn McDonald 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Published in TONE Magazine in 2006
Back to the e-zine |
