Lock-down Therapy

Photo by Sarah Kilian on Unsplash 

Here we go again. How are you feeling on this first day of our third national lock-down? It seems as though we are in for a long-haul over the next few weeks, so have you got some strategies in place to help you survive? Here is a BBC news article about four women who have already done that. You may find it useful.

I'm going to try and live from day to day, in the moment, avoiding the temptation to catastrophise and continuing to meditate and write. I don't know quite how it happens, but something magical happens when you write, especially by hand. The process is tremendously therapeutic. Writer Graham Greene said:

“Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.”

Writing prompt: 

• Write down these words on a blank sheet of paper: lock-down; vaccination; key-worker; Zoom; face-mask; acceptance. Set a timer and write, by hand, for two minutes on each word. Don't plan what you are going to say, just see what comes.Write without stopping.
• When you have finished, read what you have written. Did anything surprise, shock or delight you? If so, write for another two minutes about that.