Why I choose to write
Writing provides an opportunity to distill the infinite thoughts in my mind into readable words that allow someone (including myself) to learn something from it. The learning part is the main reason I choose to write, despite it being the side effect of sitting down and writing. The hard work is in the distillation. If I or no one else would learn anything from the things I write, I would not do it. Thankfully, there is always something to learn from someone else’s words. All you have to do is read and listen to their heart.
Distilling the mind with the heart
Thoughts come from the mind, but what turns those thoughts into the words you read? Am I writing what I am thinking verbatim? What is turning the underlying thoughts into the words I am writing? People may say it is the mind that you write with, but by treating writing as a creative process in addition to a technical process, you will need more than the mind alone. It is the heart that can make writing a joyful endeavor.
The heart can be considered the part of you that is not your mind or your body, not your literal heart. The soul may be a better term, albeit more spiritual. Writing with the heart is where your true voice starts to show itself without any preconceived notions of what writing is holding you back from saying what you want to say. Your mind is likely to sanitize your writing, saying to you “Don’t write this, write this instead, no one will read that unless you write it like this.”
Let your mind fuel the ideas behind the writing and allow your heart to hold the pen.
The choice
I intentionally wrote “choose to” in the title instead of going with “Why I write” because it is a choice for me to write. It is an intentional activity that I partake in. Choosing to write is about being in the present when writing. Disregarding thoughts from the past and without worry about whether my writing will stand the test of time, I let the words I write be as they are. Is that not freeing?