Tue, 18 Jul 2017 15:25:23 +0000

I’ll be teaching a writing workshop in Portland, OR in August for people who want to write books aimed at nurturing peace and light in the world, whether about personal or global healing or both. It’s got me thinking about how writing our deepest truths surrounding universal peace and love can be used to help shift the narrative. What ways can we do this, including but not limited to writing an entire book? Here are five ideas:

1. BLOGS. Write about your own personal path to healing. Blog about the specific struggles. We all live such isolated lives, but your solitary struggles are actually universal ones. Writing about your own healing will help escalate that healing, help you feel more connected with others, and help heal the world.
2. SOCIAL MEDIA. Spend a week being a “voice for peace” on social media. Find loving quotes that speak to you. Use Canva to create spectacular graphics. (I used Canva on the image in this blog.)  We all want to rail against the violence, but the real paradigm shift comes when we glory in the beauty of this exquisite planet we live on.
3. WRITE ABOUT LOVE. If you’re working on a book, or writing essays or short stories, find some way to write about love. Universal love. I work with clients who are writing memoir about abuse and trauma. What creates a significant shift is when we can find the beautiful, loving stories beneath the trauma. This doesn’t mean denying the difficulties. It means not denying the love and beauty. I believe we’ve all fallen into a trap, myself included, where we pick and pick at the bad things that have happened or are happening in the world. After 20 years of coaching, I see now that yes we must tell our stories, however difficult they are, but we must also shift our focus to the light. What “light” story can you include in your writing practice?
4. TEACH. If you are a teacher for children or adults, do a writing exercise that focuses on “peace”. This could take many forms. You could ask students to focus on examples in their lives where they felt great peace in the world. Or where they witnessed an event of great caring and love. This could be an exercise used in writing groups. Telling the stories of love and peace can raise the vibration level, and help to restore peace in an epic way.
5. READ. Read books about peace! Read that which inspires you toward your peaceful, everlasting soulful self. I could list mine, but we all must find our own. Poetry, spirituality, philosophy, fiction — whatever it is that centers your heart in peace. Mine include poetry by Mary Oliver, Rumi’s poetry, Adrienne Rich’s work, A Course in Miracles, Marianne Williamson’s self-help books, and so much more…

Caroline Allen is founder of Art of Storytelling, a book coaching service. For a free intro consultation, contact info.artofstorytelling@gmail.com or go to artofstorytellingonline.com.