by, Maya Amaele Liebermann

Exhale. 

Release.

Take a mind dump.

That’s what Dr. Adrienne playfully calls it in our writing circle.

A mind dump or a journal free write, she explains. 

This is what I get to participate in at the opening of every weekly writer’s circle.

Expressing freely to myself.

Dumping out the contents of my mind.

Into where? 

Into the sacred safe space that is my personal journal.

How do I feel when I mind dump, free write, journal?

I feel I am coming home to myself.

I can turn to my journal as a safe and sacred space to say anything.

I let my guard down. 

Speaking freely to myself, letting my words flow.

Sometimes I can write nothing else until I let myself have this sacred mind dump. 

This releasing. 

This letting go into the earth.

Releasing what I no longer need.

When I release, I open to receive the sustenance and wisdom I need to freely write.

If I held my breath, not allowing myself to exhale, I would not survive.

If I hold my self-expression closed and do not release all the parts of me that need expression, I cannot function. 

Toxic thoughts and toxic emotions build up within. 

Journaling helps clear my thoughts.

My energy becomes unstuck 

as I say what I need to say, 

to the first person I need to say it to 

-- myself.

Myself as an audience. 

First and foremost.

Am I really feeling what I am writing?

Does it feel true in my body and mind?

My authentic writing process opens me.

Once my breath has left me, it’s time to inhale, 

and I do.

Fresh air coming in...

I feel myself opening to new ways of feeling and thinking.

Words pour through, bringing my emotional healing. 

I feel brighter, lighter.

I can concentrate on something else now.

What is it?

What are the ideas that want to come through my writing?

I won't know until they arrive... 

one 

word

after 

the

next.

Leading me along their trail.

I am on a word path of discovery and wonder.

I have no writing agenda.  

A writing agenda finds me. 

Ah, this... is what I will say.

That... is what wants to come forth.

Is this part of my manuscript?

Will that be in my book?

The fun is in not knowing.

Do I have to know everything before I write it?

My writing finds me when I let it.

Inhaling delight and discovery.

Exhaling my relief.

Moving along a new path.

Inhaling the safe, clean, and fresh air of possibility:

I am renewed.

My breath continues in a circle:

...releasing...

...receiving...

Discovering and recovering 

my true writing voice.

Now I can inhale fully.

Breathing in to nourish. 

I am receiving what I need with every inhale.

What do I need?

Having exhaled I have an open space.

To discover my open space, 

I breathe deeply into the moment.

My personal truth fills my journal. 

All the feelings in my body.

The direction of my thoughts.

The wants, desires, whims 

- in my being.

All of it finding its way into words on the page.