Writing Mindfully: a Practical Application

Writing Mindfully: a practical application for everyday living in a mindful manner.

I read a book recently that I’d like to recommend to you, especially if you like to write or are a writer.  Even if you’re not a writer, this book gives a practical evidence of a living mindful. This book is, Fearless Writing, how to create boldly and write with confidence, by William Kenower.

Kenower speaks about how to BE a writer, be at writing, be in writing and be in your life for 225 pages. This is not a how to write book, but if you can’t get yourself to write, then the how-to or craft of writing really doesn’t matter much.  Here is the review I put on Amazon:

     I found reading this book both stimulating and soothing to my writing soul. I enjoyed and resonated with his conceptions about writing and writers. I am sincerely impressed that he could write an entire book about the mindfulness of writers and writing without ever using the word mindful! He escaped the overused commercialization this word is today sadly subjected to. In doing so, he bypasses preconceived notions or total dismissal readers can have about what mindful writing and living means and how it shows up. Bravo Bill!

     Throughout the book, Bill discusses the typical, not to imply unimportant in any way, just the usual areas many writers find to be obstacles or stressors they encounter in achieving their desire to write and or publish.

     The bottom line I think Bill is telling , and shows us with personal stories and those of his students and colleagues, is that being a successful and satisfied writer is an inner choice of ongoing decisions on where to place your focus of attention.

     I definitely recommend reading this book. I will likely refer back to it or the highlights I’ve noted, for comfort, regaining clarity, and staying focused when my productivity needs prompting.

My clients often use expressive writing techniques, and others, to work through their emotional pain, disillusionment, and confusion.  Even those who have never written or journaled, relief and insight often show up to light their way and shape their understanding of themselves. This empowers them and builds their strength to keep going.

On page 138, in the chapter called “How thought works,” Kenower writes this:

        This is the moment you understand your power.  This is the moment you understand your role in your life and how to live and write on purpose. You are exactly like a hero in your favorite story.  The hero is always brought to his knees. he always reaches a place of hopelessness, fatigue, and despair, a place where he believes he has no power and no options, and yet it is always from that depth of darkness that he understands how to find the light. Indeed, he needs that darkness to find the light himself rather than wait for a capricious authority to bestow it.”  

Another name for this passage in a life might be the dark night of the soul, one you are most likely familiar with already.  We all have them. They are seemingly the worst of times, but they are bridges if we process them, using it to gain awareness and understanding on a much higher or deeper level than we could before. It can kick start our conscious raising and head us in a new better direction than we’ve been headed previously.

Kenower is not doing therapy in this book, but shows that writing mindfully can be a therapeutic pathway. This is my opinion, he doesn’t state it as such. I read this book very slowly as it’s a rich read. So i read several pages each day until I was done. I highlighted like crazy and took notes of really important parts that meant something to me.  He is an authentic and personal writer, making this book enjoyable on several layers.

I’ll end with another quote from the book on page 121 in the chapter Finding Time to Write:

     …if you look upon writing as a practice- meaning something at which you gradually improve and are not expected to be perfect at every time you attempt it- doubt, procrastination, and fear are no longer evidence of your inescapable limitations, but indicators of where your attention has wandered.