Step 1 - Title
Enter a brief title describing the initial focus of your writing.
This could be describing the event you are writing about such as Divorce or Childhood Bullying, or it could be the name of a person or persons such as My Father or Work Colleagues, or it could be something very generic such as Feeling Blue Today.
Step 2 - The Writing
Choose how long you would like to write for using the timer icon below. Write for the chosen amount of time in a stream of consciousness style. Do not try to analyze what you are writing or come up with a solution.
The aim is to focus on your feelings and emotions and NOT on answers or reasons. Write as honestly as you can. Use expletives as much as you like. Let your emotions and feelings spill out freely onto the page.
This is an exercise in releasing negative energy so don't hold anything back.
Step 3 - Burn the Writing
When this exercise is done using a pen and paper, part of the ritual is to burn the paper. This is to signify the letting go of what you have written.
This is important, as the intention of the Write and Burn exercise is not to analyze what you have written, or to save it so that you can reread it in years to come.
When you hit the Burn the Writing button above it will replace the words you have written by random text multiple times, so that all traces of this writing are erased forever.
Step 4 - Identify Feelings or Emotions
How do you feel after completing that Write and Burn session? What feelings or emotions came to the forefront?
Sometimes there will be a single all-encompassing feeling or emotion. Other times you will find that multiple feelings and emotions will arise as you write. It doesn't matter if you felt one or multiple. The important thing is that you felt something.
If you were writing for ten minutes or longer and didn't feel any emotions then you were either writing about the wrong topic, or you need to be digging deeper. Some topics can be challenging. It could be that your mind and body have locked that topic down so tightly that you will need to work hard to uncover those hidden emotions that need to be released. If this is the case try writing about the same topic, but choose a longer time to write, such as twenty minutes, as this can help you to go deeper and to get those emotions flowing.
If you did manage to generate some emotions and feelings during this writing session, try to identify the ones that were most prominent during and put a checkmark next to them in the feelings and emotions list.
Step 5 - Meditation or Reflection
Whether you meditate or reflect is completely up to you. Simply follow the instructions below for the option that works best for you.
Meditation Instructions.
The Feelings and Emotional Release Meditation provides a highly effective way for ending your writing session with a proactive releasing of the feelings and emotions you put a check mark next to in Step 4.
Find a quiet and comfortable place where you can follow along with this guided meditation without the risk of being interrupted.
Once you are ready click on the Start Meditation button.
The meditation is four minutes long.
Reflection Instructions
If you don't want to do the meditation, or you don't have time, then this is an excellent, and very quick, alternative.
Here are the simple instructions:
- Breath in
- Say aloud the words "I release" followed by the name of the feeling or emotion. For example "I release the anger"
- As you breath out imagine the anger (in this example) flowing out of your body.
Repeat steps 1 to 3 three times for each feeling or emotion you put a checkmark next to in Step 4.
So if you had chosen anger, sadness and grief, you would do steps 1 to 3 three times for anger, then three times for sadness and then three times for grief.
That's it. Quick and simple.
Step 6 - Feeling Good
The Write and Burn exercise can bring up all sorts of thoughts and the process of releasing the feelings and emotions can often make you feel worse at the end of the session. Don't worry. This is just a temporary phenomenon and is part of the releasing process. Also, in many cases you will feel better after the session as the releasing of locked-in negative energy can be amazingly cathartic and freeing.
This final step is designed to tell your mind and body that things are fine. This isn't so much a positive affirmation as simply a positive way to end a Write and Burn session. Rather than leaving your mind and body with any lingering negative thoughts it refocuses them in a healthy and positive way.
All you need to do are write the words "I feel good" ten times in the input box provided. You don't need to count as the system will do that for you. Once you have written it the required number of times you will get a visual and audible congratulations message.
As you write the words "I feel good" make sure there is a smile on your face and genuinely try to feel good as you type those words out ten times. You'll be amazed at how transformative these words can be.
