Waiting for the Weight
We often hear the advice, “If you want to write, just sit down and write.”
And sometimes that’s true; it’s what I’m doing right now. But too often, the sit-and-stay approach increases stress, as we chase meaning with words, and leads pretty quickly to feeling stuck.
When developing Sense Writing, I’ve found this suggestion to be more effective: “If you want to write, wait.”
I don't mean like how we wait for the subway to show up or for an upcoming vacation. Instead, it’s the kind of waiting we do after extending an invitation: somewhere between hope and patience, and if we’re lucky, trust that the invitation will be accepted.
It's a different kind of waiting than the grocery line. Critically different. But physically, it often starts the same way, with what looks at first like an empty space.
A kind of stillness, and then a conjuring.
A waiting for the weight.
In Sense Writing, that space sometimes begins before writing, with the body. To invite something new, we first make room for it.
In the Sense Writing sequence linked below (and never before shared), I prompt you to pay attention to what’s already there at the level of the body. Without trying to relax or correct anything.
During all this, you might be asking: What does this have to do with writing?
Tuning the Senses
Our primary mode of interfacing with the external world is through sensation. And sensation is processed through the body and nervous system.
Sense Writing sequences — like the one below — shift your nervous system away from its habitual stress responses and toward its learning functions.
When we are in this learning mode, we can actually tune our senses to take in more of the world — not just large objects, but details and unexpected discoveries on the periphery.
These are the big and small, moment-to-moment details that bring intricate meaning to our lives and creative work.
The more skillful we become in noticing and processing inner and outer sensations, the more complex the connections we can create.
And as the connections develop, they in turn support and contextualize our ability to perceive. Thought and language are a part of this cycle. So are memory and imagination.
The Physical Leads to the Metaphysical
In a weird way, when we fully inhabit the physical and the present, the metaphysical — the imaginative leaps, the philosophical musings, the language games, the ideas we remember or invent — can grow from there.
Letting ourselves be contained creates more clarity and choice.
And isn’t that what we’re really after when we sit down to write?
To allow these choices, we don’t have to muscle our way through the discomfort or wait anxiously for inspiration to strike. We can conjure and invite these choices by turning our attention toward what is already there — in our bodies, our surroundings, and our minds. (Yes, even when they’re anxious or frustrated or already wondering about lunch.)
This is not merely waiting.
This is waiting for the weight.
A New Sequence Gift from Sense Writing
Curious about what “waiting for the weight” feels like?
Just press play below and sit down and... wait.
You'll need 30 minutes, a notebook and pen, and a place to lie down.
Wishing you a new year full of conjuring!
