Virgo Writer’s Challenge: Day 3
Day 3 of the Virgo Writer’s Challenge-
30 minutes of writing a day for 30 days
08/25/23
As we open up Day 3 of the Virgo Writer’s Challenge, I would like to invite you to participate in a quick somatic exercise before beginning your writing practice today. This physical practice was specially created with today’s writing prompt in mind as we embark on an exploration of what pure joy looks like to you. Click the play button below to listen to the 5 minute guided practice on your computer or mobile device or you can download it by clicking the ‘Download’ button to return to at a different time if it calls to you.
Here is my response to today’s writing prompt:
Writing has always been one of my favorite activities since a very young age. I was obsessed with filling journals with my thoughts and creative writing as a child. For most of my life, I have viewed journaling as an introspective activity that allows me to talk to myself almost from an outside perspective. When I read back on my journal entries from my adolescence they most often read as a detailed account of activities and experiences I had day to day sprinkled with a myriad of emotional reflections of these experiences and the people who I was spending time with. It is interesting how this style changed though as I too matured through puberty and into adulthood. Rather than this factual who, what, where, when, why, how format of narrating my life, I changed to a more poetic lens of documenting my human experience. It feels strange to say but often these collections of poems feel as though they bubble up in my subconscious with persistent pressure till I surrender to allow the words to flow through to the written form. As if they come through me rather than from me. It is an odd experience in which till recently I believed I was alone. In exploring new authors and areas of study, I have truly been lit up by my discoveries. I have always loved to read and do truly believe this is the activity which brings me into my highest vibrational state. Finding like minded authors who share their wisdom and insight in written form has been one of the most lifegiving rediscoveries of my life.
As I have shared before on this platform, just under two years ago I suddenly lost my mom to COVID pneumonia. This major personal loss occurred during my first Saturn Return concluding with my 30th birthday about a week ago. During this two year period I have rediscovered my love of written words in forms new and old to me. I truly had forgotten how energizing I found listening to and reading written words. I have since reignited my spirit as a student of life and for this I am so grateful. The years following my graduation from my formal education at University of Puget Sound, were filled with an almost obsession with monetary gain and career “success”. Climbing ladders of conventional success and accumulating more monetary possessions and “wealth” to make me “happier” and “improve” my life. I put all these words in quotations because these standards of a conventionally successful life did not end up making me happier- very much the opposite actually. The more I placed my life in other people’s hands to guide and often dictate my path the more disconnected and lost I felt. This may sound like a cliche story but it was authentically the experience I have had.
A lesson I have learned from studying Abraham Hicks' work is “The more you know what you don’t want the more clearly you can realize what you do want”. This adage came into full effect in my life two years ago when the universe took a hard left turn for me. Since this massive course correction, I have rediscovered over and over again what truly lights me up in life. Writing is the guiding light of my passion. I truly believe I could if left to my own devices in life write all day long everyday and never run out of words or things to say. This hyperbole may sound overly grand but I say it with certainty because the creative process of allowing words to flow from me for no other reason than it was what I was born to do feels as effortless as breathing to me. Though I have explored writing for almost every paid job I have had since I was 16 years old, I have learned that when I give my writing gift away in exchange for monetary gain it does indeed taint my love. Mainly because the topic in which I write about is of great importance to my love of this practice. To continue to call in more of the lifegiving energy of writing, I must have full agency over the topic and style in which I share my gift of words. It matters greatly and impacts the end result massively. Creating this container of dedication to making time to write just for my own joy is bringing so much light and energy to my life already and I can not wait to see where it continues to go.
As aforementioned, in addition to loving to write, I love to read/listen to other gifted writer’s work. So below I have shared a few of my favorite books from my favorite authors both from the past and present for you to explore if it calls to you.
A Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
Becoming Supernatural by Dr. Joe Dispenza
Women Who Run with Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Ask and It is Given by Esther and Jerry Hicks
Strength in Stillness by Both Roth
The Presence Process by Michael Brown
Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh
Lighter by Yung Pueblo
If you would like to go on this journey with me of 30 days of 30 minutes a day of writing for the Virgo Writer’s Challenge, fill out the form below to receive daily writing prompts for free to help inspire you to dedicate 30 minutes of your day to the creative process of writing for the next 30 days.
Happy writing and see you back here tomorrow!
With love and light,
Erica
Founder of Summit of Wellness