Writing Down Your Soul: How to Activate and Listen to the Extraordinary Voice Within (Writing to Explore Your Spiritual Soul) - Softcover

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Janet Conner is a prayer artist, deep soul explorer, field guide in The Mystic, and devoted daughter of the Feminine Divine and Original Prayer. Janet’s first book, Writing Down Your Soul, became a bestseller, followed by The Lotus and The Lily, Soul Vows, Find Your Soul’s Purpose and more. When “Prayer Artist” came calling, Janet found herself writing a whole new genre of prayer as love songs, redefining prayer altogether, and creating radical prayer intensives with fellow female mystics. She launched the Praying at the Speed of Love podcast to host intimate conversations with authors and teachers about their private prayer lives. Although she can hear the trees in the Hudson River Valley whispering her name, for now Janet lives with silence, solitude, and joy in the tiny town of Ozona, Florida on the Gulf of Mexico. https://janetconner.com/

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From the book:

Create a Schedule

Just like the wise financial practice of “pay yourself first” creates huge financial benefits over time, the wise spiritual practice of “tell the Voice first” generates huge spiritual benefits over time. Pick a slot in your day to talk with the Voice. Block out ten to fifteen minutes—more when you are under stress. There is no right time or wrong time to write. The time of day doesn't matter; making a commitment and keeping it does.

Most deep soul writers report that they write in the morning before their day begins, even if that means getting up a few minutes early. It's the only way, they say, that they can be sure they'll have uninterrupted time to write.

I love this idea, but I'm too muddle-headed and uncoordinated first thing in the morning. Instead, I like to have my coffee, read the paper, and attack the Sudoku puzzle before I go upstairs to my office. There, I repeat my personal covenant and say my daily writing blessing out loud, blessing my work, my life, and my hands. Then I sit in my writing chair and have at least a ten-minute written conversation with the Voice. When I'm finished, I move to the computer for my professional writing. I'm always tweaking my process, but that's basically the schedule that works for me.

A few writers report that they are able to write during a scheduled hole in their day, such as lunch or mid-morning break. This plan works well when the break is consistent and you can count on privacy. It doesn't work if you're prone to work through your break or if you are concerned that someone will read over your shoulder or ask you what you're doing. If your home life is too chaotic, you might want to look at your work schedule and see if you can create a regular writing break.

Many people in Writing Down Your Soul workshops report that they write just before they fall asleep. I've always known that this kind of writing has a calming effect, but Nancy, a professional woman in her mid-thirties, surprised me and everyone in our deep soul writing class when she blurted out, “I can't wait to journal every night! It completely settles my chatterbox mind. When I write, I'm done, and I don't have to think about my problems any more. For the first time in my adult life, I'm sleeping through the night! I love this practice.” I thought I understood the power of writing, but this writing-as-a-sleeping-pill idea was a new and amazing discovery.

Donna Vernon breaks her writing schedule in two. When Donna first came to a Writing Down Your Soul workshop, she was a massage and colon therapist, a career that “wasn't working.” Today, after rewriting her life, she is the founder of a Web-media firm disseminating information on health and complementary medicine to the world. “I continue to write every day,” Donna told me ten months after the class. “I say my verbal affirmations in the morning, describing my life as I want it to be, then I write whatever comes. At the beginning, it took me twenty minutes or more because my life was so out of sync with what I wanted. Now it's pretty short, more of a to-do list. And I do a gratitude journal at night. I write what I accomplished, how it fits in line with the new self I'm creating. I mention all the gratitude I have for the people I talked to, the situations I was in, even the challenges I faced that day.” Donna has certainly found her perfect writing schedule.

The key to a successful schedule is to write at approximately the same time every day. Don't say, “I'll write when I can.” Trust me, you'll never find the time. It isn't that you don't want to or even try to. The problem isn't you; it's the worried little critic who lives deep inside of you who is scared to death of what's going to happen when you and the Voice start having real conversations. When that little critic gets wind of change, he or she can be counted on to start tossing up all kinds of scheduling blocks. If you find yourself saying, “I'll write later,” or “I'll write after I take care of______” (fill in the blank with everyone who needs you to stop what you're doing and do what they need), your inner critic is doing a good job deflecting you away from something that could change your life. If you find yourself skipping your writing time more than you make it, it doesn't mean you're lazy or weak or too busy; it means your inner critic—not you—is in charge. Get back on top by making a schedule and sticking to it.

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