<Enter Title>March2009Newsletter

You may have noticed that there was no Writing from the Deeper Self newsletter last month. I have been on a steep learning curve, learning how to be a small independent publisher ~ beginning with (I am so blessed to say) Dr. Claudio Naranjo's forthcoming book, Healing Civilization ~ and learning how to do what I did not before know how to do took up a lot of my time and energy. Before I knew it, enough of February had passed to suggest that I might as well wait until March to write a newsletter.

When I originally thought of becoming an independent publisher at all, it was to make a bridge between the amazing books my clients wrote (as well as my own books) and a way to get them into the world. The books that emerged from the Writing from the Deeper Self process were "babies" I had lovingly midwifed. I wanted the world to have a good place for them; to recognize their spark, their gift, their holiness. So the vision of publishing was basically an extension of Writing from the Deeper Self.

The practical reality, however (I am laughing as I write this) has been fairly complex and detailed. For the first time ever, I have written cost estimates, timelines, contracts. I will (by the April newsletter) have started writing requests for endorsements and reviews, press releases, and so on. This is the outer part of bringing a book to the world's notice, of "bringing your treasures into the world." The writing of the book ~ the part I know by heart ~ is the inner part; perfect for a (friendly) introvert and contemplative like me.

But life has a way of drawing out our wholeness, asking us to develop more of ourselves than we thought was even there. Despite the challenges and temporary obstacles, I am grateful to be learning how to walk (sometimes build) the longer road ~ the one that will connect the fruits of the Writing from the Deeper Self experience with the in-the-world experience of getting the books to market. That this market may need, as I believe it does, to be tuned by the "deeper Self" books rather than tuned to ~ well, that's another story. (And you can read it by going to the Archives.)

This issue's feature is about finding time to write. If there is any wish in you to write deeply, whether a book or something briefer, I hope you will find the time to do it, and experience that healing. For me, writing is all about healing. If this may be your time to write from the deeper Self, please contact me and we will explore the possibilities together.

"Naomi is gifted with the ability to create time and space for those of us who are her writing students to know how to feel our experiences welling up from our roots, their own unique tides coursing through our bodies, and to meld them with the words that name them. Together, we can swim in the language like fish, as naturally as we were always meant to. Naomi will cherish you and your work as you begin to recognize the beauty and poignancy of your own stories." ~ Carolyn Francis

I have never known a client ~ myself included ~ who didn't sometimes struggle with finding time to write. Mothers with young children, mothers with older children and a career, fathers with careers and children who cooked supper on alternate nights ~ with such people, the reasons were obvious why they might have to struggle to find time for themselves to close all the outer doors and enter an inner sanctuary where they could turn in a different direction, within, and gradually witness what was calling for expression, pull those waiting threads of inner experience or revelation and weave them together into some sort of telling tale.

But other clients had almost nothing but time, and they too struggled to find time to write.

What is actually involved in finding time to write? What kind of "time" are we speaking of, here?

The very nature of writing from the deeper Self places the experience of writing outside of time. Much like prayer, or the Jewish Shabbat, when we let go of the usual practical, linear constraints, and simply turn in the direction of that frequency, that tuning where our souls so naturally reside, we are embraced by the depth and resonance of time-outside-of-time. When I enter into that prayerful, sabbatical state, all my "to- do's" fall away, and I am present to the wonders that exist in the moment, certainly ~ simple as a breath consciously taken, a flower noticed as if I were again a child. But I am also available to receive whatever insights, revelations, connections, openings, synthesizings, blessings show themselves to me. I am, in that time-out-of-time, "doing" nothing; I am receiving everything. And much of what I receive actually comes from within me.

I have been calling it by this name, "Writing from the Deeper Self," for the last 25 years or so, because that was the name that arose from within to characterize the experiences I was then having of writing. Before that time, I struggled with writing in a most angst-ridden way (having learned that way of doing it from other writers, and from my writer-parents, bless them): not knowing what to put down on the paper was, itself, a source of angst; and not liking what I put down was a further insult to injury. Most of my writing time (when I was able to get myself to the paper at all) was spent in fits and starts, tentatively putting down some words and then frustratedly crossing them out. The stereotype of the writer at the (in the olden days) typewriter (though I still use one), ripping the freshly written page from the platen, balling it up and tossing it into the waste basket, had reality for me.

It was only when I began to cultivate more consciously my inner life ~ psyche, spirit, and soul (and body) ~ that writing started to become a blessing, and Writing from the Deeper Self told me its name. Once my inner life became more important than my self-image as a writer ~ and once I began to become familiar, even intimate, with the inner terrain of my being and how it showed itself to me (often, in images) ~ then although there were challenges in writing, they were worthy challenges, not destructive, hopeless challenges.

It is quite a different thing to pay attention to what is arising inside you and how it arises ~ does it float by as a long-forgotten sensation? does it have color, atmosphere, weight? are there bits of dialogue imbedded in memories or visions? and so on ~ and write from inside that, than to sit outside yourself and hope you can come up with well-written words. The former is an encounter with something inside that is wanting to make itself known to you, as well as ultimately to your readers. The latter is the frustration, even torment, of what it is to sit outside yourself and try, by the mind's cleverness or limitations, to batter your way in with words.

Writing from the Deeper Self is a relationship to the true nature within us. And while we may live outside that nature for a time, or a long time ~ eventually, especially as we get older and the outer trophies become less important than the inner experience ~ we feel again and again and again the call to come back to that nature; to live from it.

Writing a book from the deeper Self is a journey to our true nature, traveling through the terrain of our inner being. Our inner being is so rich with inner landscape, atmosphere, metaphor, imagery, language ~ we lack for nothing. When we make time to enter this inner world in order to see what is there, what wants to tell itself to us, and how we may discover more of ourselves in the very process of writing, then we emerge as enriched, cleansed (sometimes), and renewed as if we had spent a day in prayer, or off the busy-grid in contemplation.

Making time to write means calming the frightened ego that says we have to do it perfectly, look good, not show ourselves our fragility. Vulnerability is the gold of writing from the deeper Self. There are things inside us we have lost track of, or covered over long ago in our desperate need to survive circumstances too big or too hard for a child. To be an adult, now, writing from the deeper Self, is to bring the wisdom and compassion of an adult who has lived through things, and begun to see through things, to whatever is the focus at hand. In the process, a vein of pure innocence may open up to us, our own child- purity; and as we dip into the inner well through our writing, that purity of being reclaims us. It takes up residence in the writing itself, ready, with a reader's turn of the page, to transmit and bless all who encounter what we have encountered in the process of writing.

Finding time to write from the deeper Self is not only a matter of scheduling. It is a matter of entering our own sanctuary, and being present to what is there. An hour of deep time can be a lifetime, inside. So the thing is to remember that, in finding time to write, it's not about how many minutes or hours you have to spend. It's about making the shift into sacred time: the sacred time of your own inner life.

From there, there's no limit to what can be brought forth. Books like this, especially in these times, we need; we can feed from. To be a person who writes such a book is to heal the world.

In the January issue, I introduced a feature called "Writing as Play." It offered different words and phrases for anyone interested to find connections between ~ to link up things that, on the surface, wouldn't seem to connect. My view is that this is how poets and other artists think (and mystics, too, according to David Spangler) ~ the soul's intimation, even conviction, that everything links up somehow.

One of my clients wrote to tell me how much she loved doing this. I was thrilled. One response, for me, is enough to keep going. So here's a little more.

The Process:
It's really simple. Using the dictionary, or the 3 books you chose ~ or both ~ open at random and let your finger rest on a page. Wherever your finger ends up, write that word or sentence down.

Do this again, twice more. (If you are so moved, do it up to a total of 10 times.)

Now, this is the fun part! Just relax your mind, and allow to come to you any possible connections between the words or sentences.

Let there be spaces ~ fertile spaces in your mind ~ between them. Something is likely to arise in your awareness that can bridge the gap (like making new neurological pathways through the synapses of the brain).

Notice what arises, and write it down immediately, exactly as it presents itself to you. Whatever comes, write it down without judgment or second-guessing. Your aim is just to free-associate connections. Link one word or phrase with another, however that connection comes to you.

Instead of making judgments about it, just be interested in how the writing is unfolding. The process is the thing! If you are present to how this is unfolding inside you, it will lead you to some very fruitful surprises. You'll find things you didn't know you knew! This is like a vacation from the judging mind, giving you some indication of the great reservoir of possible writing inside you.

I'm not going to influence you, this time, by providing examples. You'll know what to do, on your own.

If you like doing this, let me know. I'll continue the "Writing as Play" feature. And I really invite you to share what you come up with ~ with a friend, with me, with yourself. Wholeness is our real nature. If writing can help get us there, more's the joy.

For the Book Harbored in Your Heart
If you have the desire to write a book because book- writing is truly calling you ~ and if you find the process of learning about yourself and cherishing what's inside you as valuable as the eventual end result of a book ~ then please give yourself the gift of an initial consultation with me over the phone, or in person if you are local to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Not only will you end up with a book that really speaks to who you are and are becoming, whatever the subject or genre, but you will have the tender and glorious experience of bringing your inner treasures to an outer world that is waiting for your particular nourishment.

To find out more, please go to my website, below. And if what you read there resonates with you, please contact me by email or phone. naomirosedeepwrite@yahoo.com, or (510) 465- 4945.

The book that changes your life is the one you write yourself.

You can work with me in a creative way even if you don't want to write a book ~ or write at all. Any creative form and path that calls to you, we can work with fruitfully.

You may want to write something other than a book ~ like a story, a poem, or a song. You may want to open to your inner painter. You may want to let your secret musician out. You may want to create a specific project, or a new way of being, or simply once-and-for- all experience yourself as a creative human being. In a certain sense, it doesn't matter which particular focus you choose to express your creativity: whatever the focus, you will get to connect with the Creative force, use it, and be uplifted and enlarged by it.

What Is Creativity, Anyway?
My view, in a nutshell, is that Creativity is our connection to the Divine ~ to our larger nature, which we usually are not conscious of. However, since Creativity is really the nature of our own being, it is already inside us. When we are able to tap it, open to it, and become an instrument for it, something incredibly beautiful happens in the process and the "product."

Sometimes people think that being creative means having lots of new, good ideas. To me, it includes that but goes far, far beyond that. Anything that has ever inspired you in your life ~ whether the work of great artists, or thinkers, or humanitarians, or spiritual teachers, and so on ~ speaks to the particular ways in which you yourself are creative.

There is an innate yearning to touch and express this Creativity in some form (or many forms).

Typical number of sessions needed: 4-8

To learn more about how you can experience yourself as a truly creative person and create in any mode that calls to you by working with me, please click the "Vision" page at the menu to your left, and scroll down to "Creativity Coaching & Consulting."