Writing Circle

In my writing class today we had a guest speaker. He's a local seventh grade English teacher and he goes around and does what he calls "writing circles" with various groups of people. He visits prisons, hospitals, rehab centers, youth detention centers, classrooms and a variety of other facilities and asks people to just "tell the truth." He has them start with "I remember ..." and go from there. He told some powerful stories of some of the responses he got. We write for about 5-7 minutes, or however long he feels like letting us go and then he asks if anyone would like to share. While the writer speaks, he jots down notes that show off powerful images, strong points in the writing, patters, etc. and then shares them afterward. We went through this exercise today.

I surprised myself. I wrote something that I probably should have wrote a very long time ago. I'm quickly approaching the two-year mark of my ankle injury. I'm still having complications. Apparently I have a lot of pent up feelings about it. They came out in my writing today. Also, in one week from today I will be visiting what was my dream college all through high school. I went there for a year and then transferred home. Subconsciously, it seems, I question myself on my decision daily. This also came out in my writing.

I found myself not thinking -- just going. Write. Write. Write. He says to write as fast as you can -- keep your hand moving. I haven't been that free in a long time. I knew as soon as I started that I had to share. It was something I had to get out, not just on paper but OUT. Spoken. Release it into the world for all to hear. Afterward I couldn't look at anyone. My soul was bare for all to see; I was exhausted from the effort. My soul slowly closed back up and I realized there was relief there. I had been honest with myself about my emotions and thoughts on these two subjects and now I can move on, really heal, and not just brush over the marks where I was cut. Surprisingly, it was a very powerful few minutes that I was not expecting when I woke up this morning.

Lesson learned? God allows everything for a reason.