10 ways to write from the heart
Consciously focusing on the heart rather than the mind can help unlock ever new writing potential, keeping your creativity flowing more and more consistently, bringing forth your own unique writing ability. Writing from the heart is allowing our true inner selves to speak about the world around us.
The prolific writer Sri Chinmoy once said:
“There is a big difference between what you can get from the mind and what you can get from the heart. The mind is limited; the heart is unlimited.”
10 steps to write from the heart:
1. Meditate regularly every day, for at least 5 minutes first thing in the morning and again before writing. Simply focus your attention on your spiritual heart in the center of your chest. If you want, you can try to listen to your own heartbeat or imagine that you have become the heart itself. If any thoughts enter your mind, simply return your attention to your heart.
2. Keep a pure and clean area to meditate. It’s a good idea to bathe or shower first and keep the room well ventilated. You can bring fragrances like incense, something from nature that inspires you, like a fresh flower, and perhaps an image of something meaningful to you. Keep a separate writing area and introduce similar sources of purity and inspiration there.
3. Writing is not just something that happens as you write or put pen to paper. Writing from the heart means being constantly aware of what is around us. This is what Buddhists call “mindfulness.” It will not only give you a fuller experience of life, but it will also lead to deeper and more authentic writing. Get in the habit of simply observing the world: people, nature, each of your own senses and your own feelings.
4. When you get used to observing your surroundings, you will naturally begin to accept things as they are. You may see the same scenes day after day. The mind can draw from them, but if you look from the heart, you will find new beauty and inspiration.
5. Observation and acceptance naturally engender love, gratitude and joy. These are invaluable keys to meaningful writing. Conveying these experiences through words will help others see the beauty and inspiration in their own lives.
6. Protect that effort you have made to see and feel things positively. Unconstructive criticism, anger, and jealousy can frustrate our inspiration and prevent us from writing from the heart, whether it comes from ourselves or from others. Try to avoid meeting these negative forces. If you can’t avoid them, try not to pay attention to them.
7. When you are in the habit of observing your surroundings, let the words come to you, even without the intention of writing them. When the words are not written, they have more freedom. Practice describing to yourself the things you see.
8. Take a notebook with you everywhere. Only when a sequence of words comes to you and touches your heart, write it down and let more words grow around it.
9. Don’t let the mind plan a finished product. Let the writing flourish and become what it wants to be. That way it will have its own authenticity and integrity, and the result will be more valuable.
10. Trust the creative process that comes from the heart, but also use the mind to polish and revise your writing. Sometimes what comes from the heart can benefit from a little clarification.