When Our Grief Is Blocked: A Creative Writing Workshop

In order to express ourselves creatively, we need to be able to be realistic about what’s true and what’s possible.

For example, we might want it to be true that as soon as we put our words down on paper, they are so beautiful that they stun other people into silence and we can immediately receive the shared appreciation of the beauty of our work.

But if we stay there–in that place of unreality–then nothing will ever be good enough. Our creative expression will never be what it could be, because we’re stuck wanting it to be superhuman.

On the days where we want superhumanness, it’s impossible to write.

This longing for perfection is one of the elements that creates writer’s block, because we can’t be perfect. And good writing isn’t perfect.

When our PANIC/GRIEF circuit is unregulated, it’s impossible to know the difference between what is true and what we wish were true. We relate to our surroundings through denial and daydreams. And once we begin to see through the clouds of denial, then anger and resentment can arise, and we are living in the world of “This shouldn’t be happening!” rather than in the world of, “This is happening, and I am devastated,” or “This is happening, and I can speak the truth about it.”

Allowing ourselves to feel that devastation can feel overwhelming when our PANIC/GRIEF circuit is blocked for many reasons: we aren’t biologically wired to grieve alone, we haven’t developed the neurons that allow us to feel grief without hardening towards it and ourselves, we haven’t fully developed the warm allyship of self-resonance.

In order to be realistic, we have to have a PANIC/GRIEF circuit that allows us to mourn that the world is not as we wish it were. It’s only once we are able to mourn all that we wish were true, but isn’t, that we can be and express who we truly are.

This is because being able to hold the truth of life, rather than deny it, is vital for our capacity to be creative.

Over the course of six weeks, we will work with the PANIC/GRIEF circuit through unconscious contract work, time travel, warm accompaniment and an ongoing exploration into the neuroscience of what makes grief safe. Together we will take tiny bites each week with optional writing prompts and optional discussion points, for people to be able to claim whatever small bit of mourning there is to do each day that we meet, and we will often experience the movement into joy. This exploration will provide each of us tools and thoughtful inquiry into our grieving, our celebrations, and our truth-telling as writers, artists, and creative livers of life.

Experience what’s possible when you explore and create within a resonant and welcoming space that honors the uniqueness of your truth and your voice in this 6-session series dedicated to creative process and exploration.

In order to express ourselves creatively, we need to be able to be realistic about what’s true and what’s possible.

For example, we might want it to be true that as soon as we put our words down on paper, they are so beautiful that they stun other people into silence and we can immediately receive the shared appreciation of the beauty of our work.

But if we stay there–in that place of unreality–then nothing will ever be good enough. Our creative expression will never be what it could be, because we’re stuck wanting it to be superhuman.

On the days where we want superhumanness, it’s impossible to write.

This longing for perfection is one of the elements that creates writer’s block, because we can’t be perfect. And good writing isn’t perfect.

When our PANIC/GRIEF circuit is unregulated, it’s impossible to know the difference between what is true and what we wish were true. We relate to our surroundings through denial and daydreams. And once we begin to see through the clouds of denial, then anger and resentment can arise, and we are living in the world of “This shouldn’t be happening!” rather than in the world of, “This is happening, and I am devastated,” or “This is happening, and I can speak the truth about it.”

Allowing ourselves to feel that devastation can feel overwhelming when our PANIC/GRIEF circuit is blocked for many reasons: we aren’t biologically wired to grieve alone, we haven’t developed the neurons that allow us to feel grief without hardening towards it and ourselves, we haven’t fully developed the warm allyship of self-resonance.

In order to be realistic, we have to have a PANIC/GRIEF circuit that allows us to mourn that the world is not as we wish it were. It’s only once we are able to mourn all that we wish were true, but isn’t, that we can be and express who we truly are.

This is because being able to hold the truth of life, rather than deny it, is vital for our capacity to be creative.

Over the course of six weeks, we will work with the PANIC/GRIEF circuit through unconscious contract work, time travel, warm accompaniment and an ongoing exploration into the neuroscience of what makes grief safe. Together we will take tiny bites each week with optional writing prompts and optional discussion points, for people to be able to claim whatever small bit of mourning there is to do each day that we meet, and we will often experience the movement into joy. This exploration will provide each of us tools and thoughtful inquiry into our grieving, our celebrations, and our truth-telling as writers, artists, and creative livers of life.

Experience what’s possible when you explore and create within a resonant and welcoming space that honors the uniqueness of your truth and your voice in this 6-session series dedicated to creative process and exploration.