“All I need is a sheet of paper and something to write with, and then I can turn the world upside down.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

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Words are a magic force. They can both delude and dispel.

I was caught in an incantation once—a manipulation through words, which kept me locked in a cycle of mental and emotional abuse for several years.

The foolish sociopath had no clue that I myself was a master of words. Of writing. That in serving up a plate of pain and suffering, that conscienceless monster inadvertently handed me the means to reclaim my power.

I’ve leaned the art of dissolving spells—hexes which keep us locked in destructive patterns of behaviour.

Instructions to break said spell:

Stay loyal to the page.

Show up for yourself.

Write.

Practice presence.

Practice.

Keep writing.

Writing is considered a warrior’s path, because it takes a creative rebellion to confront what prefers to remain in the shadows.

Before we can heal and reclaim our power, we must identify and face our challenges.

Wasn’t it Terry Pratchett who said, “Before you can kill the monster you have to say its name”?

I had to metaphorically confront my monster on the page—it had to materialise there for me to really see it and slay it. Through the creative process, I uncovered something unexpected. Several monsters showed up. I identified each of them as aspects of my emotional body.

As I kept writing, I discovered that by personifying and communicating with these painful emotions, they would let go of the hold they had on me. I gained a deeper wisdom still—that to befriend the monsters that dwell within, rather than to slay them, is what it really means to get your power back, and to feel badass, to become an ass-kicking shero.

You truly conquer from within.

It is our resistance to these murky emotions that stop us from thriving and opening to the freedom we long for.

Do you resist feeling the guilt that comes from saying “no” to others? Do you resist feeling the fear of being seen and criticised for who you truly are and what you want? Are you resisting feeling your anger, doubt, shame, or grief?

These feelings long for connection. By giving them our undivided presence, by nurturing them with our unconditional love, they transform into the very elixir that we seek.

Writing is yoga, a path of self-realisation. It is the warrior’s path, but we won’t embody the warrior until we dissolve the spells others have cast upon us. And especially not until we remove those which we have cast upon ourselves!

We can journal until the cows come home—write a stream of consciousness daily or just write about our struggles, but no change will take place until we have the courage to look and re-evaluate, re-write, re-shape, and re-envision the cards that we have been dealt.

To re-write our story is the path of the fully-embodied warrior.

In this way, writing becomes a means to reclaim our power—our Shakti—the spark of our soul, the divine feminine.

Done in the right way, writing can offer structure and stability to our day. Like yoga, it grounds, centres, heals, and awakens. My writing practice nourishes me. I must write first thing in the morning.

When I don’t write, and that’s extremely rare, I am punished for it. My day doesn’t go as planned, it loses structure, I’m scattered, off centre, I lack clarity, and I feel time gets wasted.

I’ve therefore learned to make it a priority, honouring it like one worships a deity, offering it my presence and love.

We must make our transformation our priority, and make our creative self-expression our priority. I know this is hard. Putting other’s needs and other things before our own is the empathic person’s plague.

But focus instead on this idea: The world needs our unique, sensitive superpowers. And we can access these the more we invest in our healing and transformation.

The key to transformative writing is to move our body regularly. It’s important to have a routine physical practice, like yoga, to stretch out the stress, tension, or the deeply-embedded wounds.

We need to create a space that allows our prana-shakti, the cosmic breath, to flow fully, as this flow will affect the fluidity of our writing, the ease of the re-writing, and ultimately the transformation. Shallow breathing can be an obstacle to our writing. We cannot go deeper into expressing ourselves through our words without the depth and clarity of our breath—which comes from physical activity.

Each layer of our being affects the other. The mind will also gain clarity and focus if the body is allowed to shake off the clutter of energy that clings to it. Creating sound from our voice, singing or chanting has the same function.

I’ve come to learn that one of the most significant challenges us sensitive souls face is the implementation of structure.

We need to yoke the yin and yang within to find the stability we crave. This is a healing process, and the way I do it is through “conscious embodiment” practices of which include writing and art in combination with a somatic quality, like yoga and qigong.

Distractions are our downfall. And without a balance in the form of healthy structure for our excessive creative energy, we’re likely to be pulled off our path.

Are there “zeroes” in your life? Those things and people who don’t add any value? What needs to be removed for you to access your true power and activate your vision?

Do you have that courage within you? To not only re-write and re-envision your life without the obstacles in your path, but to take the necessary action to meet that vision, that ambition, that calling?

It’s time to step out from the shadows and think big. Play big. Breathe fully and exhale out the people and situations that stop you from shining your light onto this world.

Dispel the maya, the mental illusions, chant your own incantations and break free. Write, make art, and move your body! Practice conscious embodiment!

Sensitive soul, divine feminine, you are a giant among men! A warrior princess, a queen of darkness, a slayer of emotional vampires, a shero amongst zeroes. You have a path and a vision. Rise up to meet it.

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If you’re a sensitive soul on a quest for self-transformation and healing then join my private Facebook community: Warrior Training for the Sensitive Soul. 
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Author: Payal Patel

Image: Flickr/Oakley Foxtrot

Editor: Travis May