Entering the Flow

My work with the teens began in April 2020—at the start of quarantine. Zoom was a foreign experience to most. The anxiety from the pandemic ran high. We needed a grounding exercise to remotely gather and to ignite our creativity. We began each session with this breathing animation:

We then did 8 minutes of stream of consciousness writing in our journals. The task was to keep our pens moving without taking it from the page until the timer went off. We started with the following as possible prompts at the beginning of the page:

1.)   I feel/felt…

2.)   I see/saw…

3.)   I remember…

The teens did not have to share what they wrote, yet what they shared was always profound.

Set a timer for yourself. Sit down and write for 8 minutes continually. What comes up for you?