Writing is thinking
I don’t write because I have something to say, I write to find out what I have to say
Writing is thinking; thinking is strategy; strategy informs action; and action creates impact, along with progress, knowledge, and wisdom.
By this logic, then, thinking—and specifically, writing—is perhaps one of the most useful skills you could cultivate if your desire is to learn, grow, and create change. That’s why these notes are written for myself.
To write is to be present.
Sitting down to write, whether by hand or on a computer, is an act of immersing yourself in the present moment while letting yourself slip into deep, uninterrupted thought.
Especially in those times when you achieve the enigmatic state of flow, writing can be grounding and reflective, informative and insightful, perplexing and challenging.
The act of writing requires acute awareness, and awareness is a superpower because it is a form of enlightenment. Awareness—of oneself, of others, and of one’s surroundings—facilitates seeing situations from a multitude of perspectives, which in turn leads to deeper understandings, stronger relationships, and better decision making.
Of course, this is speaking specifically to non-fiction writing such as journaling, though fiction writing surely offers its own benefits since it engages dramatically different thought patterns, processes, and skills from those activated through reflective writing. Which, in and of itself, makes writing fiction a worthy practice on its own.
Writing can also be non-linear. Especially when “writing is thinking” holds true. Non-linear writing’s ability to jump from sentence to sentence, idea to idea, changes the way the mind thinks through ideas.