As promised on Writer Ninja Podcast Episode Three, here’s a thought-provoking set of insightful tools for thinking about that “block” you keep having. Maybe you’re clinging to it! Let go!
The toolkit appeared online in early 2011 in the New Yorker. Therapists Michels and Stutz have been getting a lot of media play recently for their work with helping creative folks get back on the wagon of writing/producing/acting/developing.
Thank you to John Cusack for the great Twitter tip-off!
Check out great blog reflections on this toolkit from Wolf Pascoe at http://justaddfather.com/2011/09/22/how-i-got-the-detachment-spell/.
There are so many ways to apply these ideas! Please send in your own!
What is truly interesting about these tools and Michels approach is that this sort of insight has been happening for hundreds of years.
Consider Epitecus, who wrote: “There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will. ” and “People are not disturbed by things, but by the views they take of them.”
in the 80’s I came across the wonderful book on Creative Visualisation by Shakti Gawain, and she wrote: “Let us imagine that life is a river. Most people are clinging to the bank, afraid to let go and risk being carried by the current…at a certain point, each of us must be willing to simply let go and trust the river to carry us along safely. At this point we learn to “go with the flow”…
I think Michel and Stutz’s drawings are wonderful. I use something like this when I work with young people to explain how anger works. But I think I want to share the ideas of “cosmic rage” and “detachment spells” as well.
Thank you very much for sharing!