Do you write from your head, your heart, your soul – or a combination of the three?
I know that for some, writing is a chore and a challenge.
Finding and/or creating words is not something the comes easily for everybody. But if you are a writer, do you know where the words you write come from?
What’s the difference? I have some thoughts on this notion. This is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a one-size-fits-all concept. There are other ways and means, and this can and will take on a different look for different people.
Also, please note – I do not believe that anyone COMPLETELY writes from only one space. There is a bleed between these because you are a human being. As a human, you work with heart, head, and soul – or body, mind, and spirit in everything you do. So while the point of origin for your writing may be singular, aspects of all have at least a small role to play.
Writing from your head
You have ideas. They are concepts, and they root themselves in your brain full of logic and reason.
This may be akin to the majority of scientific work. Writing from the head involves a great deal of analysis, consideration, and overall thought.
Writing from the head tends to be where topics like politics, business, do-it-yourself step-by-step instruction, and similar notions originate. It’s based in reason, logic, facts, and figures. Writing from the head is not without passion or lacking in interest. It is just the central point of origin where the work comes from.
When you write from your heart
You have feelings. They are of varying depths, and some of them need to be released in the form of words to the page or screen.
Everyone has emotions – some wear their hearts on their sleeve while others where their hearts buried deep, deep within – and they are revealed seldom and to a select few. But writing from the heart is when you are writing from a place of feeling and emotion.
Writing from the heart tends to be where topics like self-care, coping with difficult situations, self-help, psychology, depression, love, and any other emotion come from. This is about feeling, and how to work with it, experience it, release it, and so on.
When you write from the heart, you are opening yourself up to your readers. The emotions you feel are being expressed and shared for whatever reason you feel like sharing them. This can be some pretty deep, expressive work.
Writing from the soul
You are a complex being composed, at your core, of light and energy. There is a depth to you that goes beyond thought and feeling, often somewhere hard to quantify and explain.
This is where abstract ideas may be expressed. It is both from within yourself but also the Universal consciousness that is in touch with your subconscious. Yes, this includes a great deal of the hooky-spooky.
Writing from the soul tends to be where topics like mindfulness, philosophy, self-improvement, conscious reality creation and similar, deep notions come about. This is, for some, a scary place to venture because it covers Universal theorems, practices, and out-there ideas.
When you write from your soul you will, inevitably, also touch on heart and mind. This is because the soul is the overall vessel in which the heart and mind are contained.
True, all of these are part of every single human being. But the meat popsicles we run around the planet encased within are not more than shells. The real you, the person who perceives the world in your own way, is your soul.
Mixing the heart, mind, and soul
It’s easy to argue that all writing is a mix of heart, mind, and soul. You have an idea – mind. You put your heart into the writing of it. That, in turn, nourishes the soul to be the expression of yourself.
This is true, but by the same token what you write may well reflect which of these dominates the place of your work. For example, I put a great deal of my work in mindfulness, positivity, and conscious reality creation. Though mind and heart are a part of these, overall, they are works of the soul, as explained above.
I would argue that Tony Robbins mostly writes from the head. Yes, there is soul and heart in what he does – but his main focus and point of origin are all about the mind. Along this same line, I’d argue that Rumi and Khalil Gibran mostly write from the heart. Jen Sincero mostly writes from the soul.
That’s not to say that there is not a HUGE portion of heart, soul, and mind in all of these writer’s work. However, it is arguable that there is a dominance of one over the others.
That’s not to say that you cannot work from a mix of them all. You totally can. In fact, I think a lot of works of fiction are very much a mix of heart, mind, and soul.
Writing fiction
Before I began to work on my non-fiction, my focus was fantasy and sci-fi. Since childhood, this has been my favorite thing to write.
I have published several works thus far and am working on more now. For the most part, they come from my soul – but they are still filled with mind and heart, too.
Much of my earlier works are a lot more soul and mind than heart. That’s because for a long time I was not much in touch with my heart. I won’t get into the specifics, but suffice it to say I was not good at working with emotions in real life – nor with my words.
Still, fiction can also be dominated by heart, head, or soul. Paulo Coelho and Neil Gaiman write mostly from the soul, for example. I think JRR Tolkien has a dominance of writing from the head in most of his work. Charles Schultz’s Peanuts were written largely from the heart.
Your opinion on these ideas may well vary from mine. And that’s okay. There is no One True Way™ to write, and it’s pretty much impossible to prove the dominance of heart versus mind versus soul.
Does where you write from matter?
No. Why bother examining and exploring it? Because I love to analyze these things from my head, understand them emotionally, and get at the soul of the art and its creation.
All of this has been about writing. However, it is equally applicable to all other arts and, really, sciences. Painters, sculptors, actors, graphic artists, woodworkers, chefs, and every kind of artisan you can think of works with heart, mind, and/or soul in their creations.
Frankly, so do scientists. Mathematicians, astronomers, biologists, chemists, and practitioners of all sciences are not just working out of their heads. Their passion for learning the workings of the Universe in fact and figure still comes from heart, mind, and/or soul.
Why does knowing if there is a dominance matter? Because when you are aware of the main place from which your creativity originates, if you are stuck, blocked, confused, or seeking something new – you might gain insight about where to begin.
I know that if I am stuck in some way, I need to meditate to get in better touch with my soul. Most of my writing starts here. You might know you need to get in better touch with your heart. Someone else might need to focus on what’s in their head.
This opens you to see where to place focus when you desire to create. Heart, mind, soul, or any combination therein is very powerful. Everyone can be a creator in some form or another. Knowing what dominates helps you understand and find where to begin.
Do YOU create from your head, your heart, your soul – or a combination of the three?
Thank you for being a part of my ongoing journey. Thank you for joining me, and for inspiring me and my art.
This is the sixty-ninth article exploring the creative process. Please take a moment to check out the collection of my published works, which can be found here.
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