TO WRITE: What makes you you?
When living with depression or any other mental illness, it's all too easy to lose sight of who we really are. We're busy taking meds or going through other treatments to help change the ways we think and feel, and underneath it all our sense of self can be seriously compromised. The following quote by William James has helped me on several occasions to connect to what I consider my core -- my unique abilities, character, desires, needs, goals.
"Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, 'This is the real me,' and when you have found that attitude, follow it."
Play with this...
Write continuously for 20 minutes on "What makes you the real you?" Afterward, reread your piece and see if you can come up with ideas on how to "follow it."
Beth
About Me
- Elizabeth Maynard Schaefer, Ph.D.
- My book, WRITING THROUGH THE DARKNESS: EASING YOUR DEPRESSION WITH PAPER AND PEN, was published by Celestial Arts in June 2008. I've been a science journalist, textbook editor and author, poet, memoirist, creative writing instructor and -- sometimes -- a bipolar depressed person, since earning my Ph.D. in biology at Stanford University in 1991. For the past ten years, I've combined my interests in writing and mental health by teaching creative writing to other people with mood disorders in a class meeting at Stanford's Psychiatry Department. I speak on mental health topics, both personal and professional, to a wide variety of groups.
No comments:
Post a Comment