Category: questions and prompts

From therapy to poetry and back again: One writer’s journey

Kathleen M. Quinlan
Pages 115-125 | Published online: 10 May 2013

This reflective piece suggests three phases from therapeutic writing to full-fledged poetry to an audience’s reading and discussion, illustrated with specific examples and commentary. The author, a social scientist, an adult educator and a published poet, begins with the role of writing in her own processing of the painful experience of a family member’s severe mental illness and suicide, showing us her earliest therapeutic writing. She then illuminates a second phase, in which she gives us an inside look at the rewriting process that led to two poems suitable for public display. She considers how the resulting poems might be used for both therapeutic and educational purposes, offering discussion prompts and questions related to the poems.

Character sketch of you in the moment of past success

Bring to mind an image of yourself in that moment of success. Notice first how you look, what you are wearing, your facial expression, the aura you project. Then turn inside and explore the feelings. What does it mean to be having this experience of success? Which of your core values does it reflect? What does it represent to you? What is the meaning of this success? How does it shape what you perceive as possible for yourself? Hold the image for at least 20 seconds, using your scent cue if you wish. Then write about yourself in the third person (the “s/he” voice), as if you are a compassionate narrator. Again, write for 7 or 8 minutes by the timer.

Kathleen Adams, “Your Brain on Ink”, p. 105

Captured moment of inside-out success

Bring to mind a time when you had an experience of inside-out success – a time you wanted something and set your intention, focused your attention, and went into action to make it happen (even though the articulation or recognition of these steps might not have been conscious). Be sure that it is an experience that you wanted, independent of what others wanted for you, or what you thought you should want but actually didn’t care about all that much.

When you have the experience, bring it to mind and focus on it for 20 seconds. If you are using a scent cue, inhale deeply. Then write a captured moment of that time in the present tense as if it were happening right now, focusing on sensory details. Write for 7 or 8 minutes by the timer.

 

Kathleen Adams “Your Brain on Ink”, 104-105

Catching masked negatives

From “I don’t want…” and “I want to stop…” and “I want less of…” towards what you really want

“Write a typical paragraph in your regular voice about the current reality of something that is frustrating or mildly difficult for you – a work project, a communication impasse, a household matter that is not resolving on its own. When you are done, go back and search for any masked negatives or qualified comparisons. Strike them out and thoughtfully pause to consider what you really mean. Then re-language in the positive”.

From “Your Brain on Ink” p.90