🔼: [[🕯️ Journaling]]
###### Freewriting
Pure freewriting, whatever comes to mind, whether it's song lyrics, random thoughts, lists, or "I don't know what to write," over and over again. Don't worry about style, spelling, or grammar — we just get it all out and onto the page. The point isn’t the writing itself, it’s to let ourselves complete each sentence and fully hear ourselves out, which sometimes allows problems to metabolize and resolve. This is a place to be completely unguarded with yourself, to say things in the privacy of the page (or screen) that you would be hesitant to say to anyone else. Mountains can start to shift by this [[Practices 🕯️|Practice 🕯️]] alone.
Don't worry about journaling for a particular amount of time. If we’re feeling something intense or compelling, sit down and let that the [[💡 Parts|Parts]] write. Two minutes. Thirty seconds. An hour. Whatever — we can let our [[💡 Parts|Parts]] speak as much or as little as they want, so long as it feels safe to do so.
> [!note]
> Freewriting is one of my core practices, and almost always through typing because I can type faster than I can think. I write about whatever I’m feeling and thinking and notice [[💡 Parts|Parts]] that are speaking or responding. There is no methodology to this, and there’s no intention behind it beyond getting thoughts out of my head and in front of me and spending some time with myself, and I think it might be a mistake to approach Freewriting as a tool to make something happen. That said, things *do* happen all on their own.
>
> I notice when I haven’t been Freewriting it’s because there’s a part who’s wanting to use it to help me “get better.” Though for most parts, getting better means getting to [[💡 Exiles|Exiles]] and/or finding a way to get [[💡 Protector Parts|Protector Parts]] to stop doing what they’re doing. When I recognize them I notice they often relax and suddenly I’m able to Freewrite again, not to make something happen or as the means to an end, but *for its own sake*. The happenings that grow out of it are a byproduct, not a manufactured outcome. I become my own best friend through it, keeping my own secrets, but I don’t Freewrite with the expectation of this happening. I will sit back in my bed or on a couch with my computer in my lap, eyes closed, allowing my body to move however it wants, while I let the words pour out through my fingers.