How to Dissolve the Writer’s Block

Let your subconscious lead the way

What is writer’s block?

There are many discussions about the writer’s block. Some authors say it’s significant and needs to be dealt with, while others claim that the writer’s block doesn’t exist.

Here is what Wikipedia says about it at the moment:

“Writer’s block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. This loss of ability to write and produce new work is not a result of commitment problems or the lack of writing skills. The condition ranges from difficulty in coming up with original ideas to being unable to produce a work for years. Writer’s block is not solely measured by time passing without writing. It is measured by time passing without productivity in the task at hand.”

In other words, writer’s block is the resistance toward the work at hand, however big or small it might be and whatever your writing project might be — be it a book, an article, or a question at an exam.

Where does this resistance come from?

I remember being utterly confused when I became aware that my struggles rooted in resistance. But where did it come from? Why did I resist?

Pushing this question and trying to answer it didn’t help.

I now realize that it was one of those chicken or egg casualty dilemmas.

“The chicken or the egg causality dilemma is commonly stated as the question, ‘which came first: the chicken or the egg?’ The dilemma stems from the observation that all chickens hatch from eggs and all chicken eggs are laid by chickens.” — Wikipedia

When I resisted writing something, I judged myself for doing so. I also tried to get rid of my resistance and force myself to write. But the more I judged, the more I forced myself into writing, the more I resisted and resented. Did I force myself to write in the first place?

Inspiration to stop forcing and self-judging

I could only step out of this chicken or egg casualty dilemma when I saw that I was judgmental toward myself — and toward the fact that I was judging myself — and just tried to see what I really wanted without weighing it with pros or contras.

The following three brilliant ideas by award-winning writers, seminar leaders, radio show hosts, and my favorite authors on living in the moment and being here, Ariel & Shya Kane, helped me tremendously in the process:

1. “What you resist persists and grows stronger.”

2. “No two things can occupy the same you at the same time.”

3. “Anything you allow to be, allows you to be.”

— Ariel and Shya Kane, Practical Enlightenment

How to stop forcing yourself

Our resistance often comes from the judgment of what is. We, writers, think we should have already written and published many best-selling books and articles in prestigious publications to be happy now. But that judgment won’t dissolve your resistance; it will only increase it. So what should you do?

The answer is to observe yourself non-judgmentally, as anthropologists do when they study a culture they are interested in. Thus, it would help if you went on self-discovery in each moment while you interact with the world around you, whatever you might be doing or not doing.

Here is the clue about this way of study (I love this quote so much; so you will discover it in at least some of my articles, including the one above):

Self-discovery isn’t meant to be painful. If it is, then you’re working on yourself, lost in the story of your life, or simply resisting what is. –Ariel & Shya Kane, Practical Enlightenment

Let your subconscious do the work

So dissolving your writer’s block is about an effortless study of yourself. Because, if you let yourself see it, writing is also self-discovery.

But where does this effortless power for self-discovery and all things creative in our lives come from?

From our subconscious.

“The word subconscious represents an anglicized version of the French subconscient as coined in 1889 by the psychologist Pierre Janet (1859–1947), in his doctorate of letters thesis, De l’Automatisme Psychologique. Janet argued that underneath the layers of critical-thought functions of the conscious mind lay a powerful awareness that he called the subconscious mind.

“In the strict psychological sense, the adjective is defined as ‘operating or existing outside of consciousness.’

“Locke and Kristof write that there is a limit to what can be held in conscious focal awareness, an alternative storehouse of one’s knowledge and prior experience is needed, which they label the subconscious.” — Wikipedia

Your subconscious is a bridge

So your subconscious connects, or you could say, bridges, all the knowledge you gathered along the way — which embraces facts, fables you grew to believe in, feelings you experienced, and so much more — and your “conscious focal awareness.”

Suppose you unblock this bridge by dissolving your resistance of what is — including all the circumstances in your life — and letting the “traffic” flow freely. In that case, you will have your epiphanies, ideas, and words flowing quite effortlessly.

Just recall those times when you were in the flow, and words were pouring out of you. And when you later read what you have written, you thought something along the lines: Wow, did I write that? I really wrote that. Where did that come from?

Here are the keys

So the keys to stopping the vicious circle of self-critique and resistance, which build a brick wall to block your bridge of subconscious, are the following:

• Be kind and honest to yourself and don’t judge your resistance,
• Study yourself, including your resistance, non-judgmentally and with curiosity,
• Be aware that the knowledge you gather through this study adds to the other, which is currently outside of your focus.
• Trust your subconscious to lead you to the information inside and outside yourself.
• Anything else you become aware of. Trust your awareness. It connects directly to your subconscious.

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this article, then in addition to the stories quoted above, you might also enjoy this one:

P.S. To stay in touch, join my e-mail list, Optimist Writer.

About the author:

Victoria is a writer, instructor, and consultant with a background in semiconductor physics, electronic engineering (with a Ph.D.), information technology, and business development. While being a non-gamer, Victoria came up with the term Self-Gamification, a gameful and playful self-help approach bringing anthropology, kaizen, and gamification-based methods together to increase the quality of life. She approaches all areas of her life this way. Due to the fun she has, while turning everything in her life into games, she intends never to stop designing and playing them.