How I use Free-writing to Answer Life’s Biggest Questions
From writing, dating, and addressing things we’ve long put on hold, the answer comes when we get out of our own way.
The quality of your life depends on the quality of your questions
What is stopping me from accomplishing my 5-year plan in the next 6 months? Why do I waste so much of my day on Youtube rather than bettering my writing? What’s the best approach to simplifying my life? What would _____ look like if it was easy to do? What would happen if I entertained this thought for the next 20 years? What does a ‘complete version of me’ look like?’
These are just some of the questions I have asked (and answered) through my freewriting sessions.
I’ve seen a few Medium posts talk about the subject of freewriting but have not come across it being utilized in a more philosophical and life-affirming way.
Along with being a great creative tool for channeling and opening the creative tap within us, freewriting for me has become a go-to tool that I use when I want to find a solution or follow my curiosity. It’s allowed me to address parts of myself I’ve wanted to improve, spark a new way of thinking, and finally put to bed thoughts and behaviors I felt were holding me back.
The Artist’s Way
I first came across free-writing when a writer friend of mine recommended The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. The book preaches the benefits of doing morning pages, a three-page freewriting stream-of-consciousness exercise designed to recover the artist’s creativity. Like any free-writing, it's just writing non-stop, allowing whatever (and I mean whatever) to flow.
We artists are our worst critics and can be merciless on ourselves when we become blocked, walking a very thin and fragile line between self-worth and self-hate for the most part.
What I most liked about the idea of the morning pages is that by allowing you to open the creative tap on, even if it been a while, you can get rid of that first bit of pipe led that comes out at the beginning, and then get to the good stuff, which is ultimate, boundless creativity. The more I became adept at this, the clearer and crisper I found my creativity to be.
Think Like Da Vinci
I came across Michael J. Gelb’s How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci in 2012, a book that dissects Da Vinci’s curious nature and outlook, claiming that his genius was not born, but cultivated. In the book, Gelb mentions freewriting as a way of answering looming questions or topics we want to be answered.
Simply set a time limit of 10–15 minutes, with a pen, paper, or keyboard at the ready, write down a question you want to be answered then place it where you can see it. Now write. Do not stop writing, and do not lift that pen off the paper until the time has elapsed.
When you first begin, gibberish will feel like a second language, but if you keep referring to the question you’ve set yourself, the pen will ultimately guide you. When you’re done writing, take a highlighter pen and highlight the parts that you believe are relevant to the question you’ve asked. That’s it!
From goal-setting, essay writing, solutions, or even dating (yes at one point I did use this on How can I find the love of my life? *insert cringe emoji), I have found accessing the stream of consciousness as a proven and effective method of expanding my way of thinking, leaning on my creativity for the answers I’m looking for.
How Can I Become the Best Version of Myself?
Below is a free-writing answer to How Can I Become the Best Version of Myself? from my journal back in January 2013, broken down into parts (it was originally longer, but still enough gibberish), with highlighted parts I felt resonated to the question:
I will become my best self when I learn how to persevere through obstacles big and small. It is intrinsic that I do not give up. It is not vital to become a man of value but rather one of service to his community. Listen to your heart and it will guide you.
Be amazing by letting go. Discipline yourself and never give up that vision and dream. Start slowly and build momentum, but keep the dream. Protect it as if it were precious. Protect it as if it were a child. Protect it from obstacles and anything that aims to encumber it. Never bring yourself to think ill of others, for they have yet to find their calling and own respective way. Be respectful, passionate, and above all else, only when asked may you share your dream. Do not hinder nor preach false or intrinsic doctrine, for it is not you and may not be the truth for others.
Be bold. Be willing to adapt thyself. Your life must breakdown in way of a new, better life. Observe, watch do not become overcome by negative emotion, do not let it stir you. Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. Therefore treat an obstacle as a way of bettering yourself, a way to become a bigger being of creation. Never forget that passion and inspiration need to see you at work, see to it that you are caught working. Never please false acquisition as a way of life. It is the shepherd that leads the way, do not become the sheep. The wall of destiny needs to be broken down, one brick at a time. Believe. Achieve. Live.
Regardless of the gibberish and at times archaic and pretentious language, the answer arguably was there, even if it did take some initial deciphering. I was heartbroken to find out that that killer line ‘Every obstacle yields to stern resolve’ was actually a quote from Da Vinci himself that I must have read, but the greatest takeaway was that I didn’t have to be confined to my ‘everyday’ thinking. I could expand my horizons by fully-exploring my curiosity and begin finding solutions rather than dwell on problems. Sometimes we need to channel a new way of thinking, to better our writing as well the quality of our lives.
Getting out of the Way
If you stress-test the boundaries and experiment with the “impossibles,” you’ll quickly discover that most limitations are a fragile collection of socially reinforced rules you can choose to break at any time.
— Tim Ferriss, author of The 4 Hour Body
I’ve always taken a more spiritual approach when it comes to writing. Maybe it's my paranoia and superstition but I cannot bring myself to write unless I have meditated and exercised beforehand. I feel when I’ve sorted ‘me’ out, then I’m in a better receptive mode to download the answers I’m looking for.
I’m not a deeply religious person, but I often think of the line from the Bible ‘Ask and it is given to you’ (Matthew 7:7–8) when I free-write, particularly when it’s often left me scratching my head as to where those words came from.
The key to wisdom is this — constant and frequent questioning, for by doubting we are led to question, by questioning we arrive at the truth.
— Peter Abelard
Free-writing and writing, in general, have led me to believe that the answer we’re seeking is out there, but we just need to get out of our own way.
Like radios, we just need to emit to the same frequency in order to find it.