every morning I set my alarm of 15
minutes before the time I actually have
to get up I sit up in bed take my
notebook and pencil which I always leave
on my bedside table the night before and
start writing in that zone of being half
awake and half asleep I write for 15
minutes
I write before I get up before I've had
a chance to talk to anyone before I've
had a chance to wash my face most of the
time I don't even know what I'm writing
about and it doesn't really matter what
does matter is not the content of what I
write but the very fact of putting pen
to paper I'm involved in two disciplines
that have fancy names ethnomusicology
and life writing SNF in a musicologist I
study people playing music I meet
musicians I interview them I learn about
their music and then I write about them
as a life writer I write about people's
lives sometimes they're musicians
sometimes they're not
sometimes I write about other people's
lives sometimes I write about my own the
thing that binds my two seemingly non
agreeing disciplines together is writing
before turning to writing I studied
music in Thessaloniki Vienna and London
as part of my PhD in ethnomusicology I
had to come to Cyprus for a year of
fieldwork I spent a year here
interviewing musicians talking to them
about their lives playing and singing
with them and learning how they thought
about the music that they played and
sang after that year was over I went
back to London to write up the results
of my research
there were all these stories that I
wanted to share all these experiences
that I wanted to write about but I
didn't know how the problem was not that
I couldn't write the problem was that I
didn't really know what my own voice
sounded like and that's when I first
came across the idea that I'd like to
share with you today the idea of writing
that teaches you to hear and trust your
own voice so reflecting on the theme of
this conference what I'd like to talk
about today is whether writing can make
us look deeper can writing make us reach
feelings thoughts and desires that
perhaps we didn't even know we had can
it connect us with what it is that we've
always wanted to do in life but were
somehow too scared to admit when I ask
people this questions the answer I very
often get is I find writing scary but
what is it about writing that people
find scary on the face of it writing is
just a simple act you take a piece of
paper you take a pen or a pencil or you
switch your computer on and you write
yet most of us here today have
experienced the fear of the blank page
the fear of not knowing what to write so
what exactly is so scary it's not the
simple act of writing that's scary of
course but what lies behind it
expectation and hearing and I mean
really hearing your own voice
expectation is a great vice when I ask
people whether they think that writing
could change their lives another version
of the answer I get is I'd done right so
when I ask back ok so what do you mean
you don't write the answer I get then is
not a writer but remember the question
here wasn't whether you could write the
next great European novel know whether
you could win the Nobel Prize in
Literature the question here was whether
the simple though I admit not easy act
of writing can make us look deeper so
there's a feeling of expectation lurking
about when we talk about writing in ways
that it doesn't exist when we talk about
other things if I ask you for example do
you cook you won't necessarily think
that what I'm implying is whether you've
won a Michelin star for your cooking by
contrast though in my question about
writing what people seem to assume is
that I want to know whether they want
the equivalent of a Michelin star for
their writing most of us think of
writing as something formal something
done only when we apply a certain number
of rules and regulations and something
that should bring about very concrete
results a book a poem a piece of
research but here we're talking about
writing that will connect you with
nothing
other than yourself something that you
do in order to come closer to who you
really are when you write with any
degree of regularity and again I don't
mean when you write in order to become a
novelist but simply when you write
something wondrous begins to happen
after training yourself to write without
thinking for one two or three weeks then
you suddenly begin to hear your own
voice much more clearly than before our
mind is normally cluttered by a variety
of thoughts and voices which we don't
actually hear and which likely we don't
actually lead but they're always there
in the background if any of you have
ever tried yoga or meditation before and
you are asked to keep your mind still
for as little as two minutes you know
how difficult this really is according
to data provided
the Institute of neural resources
approximately 70,000 thoughts per day
other research shows this number to be a
bit smaller or a bit bigger but this is
more or less the average the Buddhists
call this incessant
movement of thoughts in our head monkey
mind just as a monkey constantly jumps
from one branch or from one tree to the
other so does a monkey mind constantly
jump from one thought to the other
seemingly without ever being able to
stop alright so this is not exactly a
scientific metaphor but our mind
resembles a big nor is a highway with
hundreds of cars passing through it
every day what the practice of writing
does is that it slowly gets rid of all
the extra noise in our head making it
resemble a rural street instead and
that's when it gets really scary for
many people why because in all that
peacefulness when you're finally able to
hear your own voice you might suddenly
discover that you don't actually like
the job that you do or that you don't
really want to live in that huge house
that you've just bought or that you'd
rather get a parrot other than the dog
that you already have the feeling of
being scared comes from our being too
close to ourselves
in fact this closeness to ourselves this
opening up to see things that we didn't
even know we're there is why there's a
therapeutic side to writing as well to
the extent that it now forms part of
psychology there's a form of therapy
called writing therapy this is not of
concern to us here today but it goes to
show that writing does something to our
way of looking at ourselves and other
people that's truly transformative
something more familiar to us perhaps in
writing therapy might be the figure of a
person who keeps a journal or a diary
his or her innermost thoughts and
feelings are recorded these diaries are
more often than not not meant to be seen
but they serve the purpose of connecting
their author to their feelings thoughts
and desires okay so how could we use
writing in our own lives in order to
look deeper and come closer to ourselves
how could any one of us here in this
audience today use writing in order to
listen to our own voice you might think
that this doesn't really concern you
that your life or job has absolutely
nothing to do with writing yet even if
what you have to do is write a
professional email or compose legal
document you'll be surprised at how much
more convincing and efficient you'll
sound if you know what your own voice
actually sounds like the practice is
very simple and very cheap - and many
people have already written about this
all you need is a notebook and a pen or
a pencil you may wonder whether you
could do all this in a computer well you
could but it won't be the same
experience recent studies have shown
that children's brain develops
differently when writing by hand as
opposed to writing on the keyboard and
there's evidence to suggest that there
are cognitive benefits and adults
writing by hand too what's more writing
is not only an intellectual activity if
you write by hand your whole body gets
involved in the process your hand
becomes an extension of your mind and so
the whole process of writing it becomes
a mind and body activity ok so back to
the practice you go and sit somewhere
quiet somewhere you're less likely to
have any interruptions and you start
writing without thinking now this is the
difficult part you do not think about
writing you do not think about
anything so while you're writing you're
not thinking he I wonder what I'm gonna
cook tomorrow for lunch nor are you
thinking well I wish I'd bought the
black coat instead of the red one no
you're right without thinking you keep
your hand moving that is the key you do
not stop to check you do not stop to
correct you do not care about your
spelling you do not care about the lines
on the paper you're right in whatever
language dialect or idiom that you like
or in a combination of languages or
idioms you keep your hand moving you're
right without thinking for 15 minutes
that is the key when you're done you do
not go back to check what you've written
you simply close your notebook until
your next writing session so what do you
write about anything you try to catch
your thoughts and put them as on paper
as quickly as you can
after all the clutter in your mind is
gone you might suddenly discover that
the where things that you wanted to
write after all those stories your
grandfather used to tell you those
letters that your parents gave you or
love or loss or the feeling of Traum al
happiness in your life if you write with
any degree of regularity the question of
discipline becomes crucial remember that
you're not writing for an audience here
but for yourself yet the repetition is
vital for cutting out any resistance
that you may have to writing Tolstoy
once wrote in his diary I must write
each day without fail not so much for
the success of the work as in order not
to get out of my routine I understand
that perhaps not all of us might be able
to keep up with such a demand but even
if we don't write each day without fail
the important thing is to keep the
practice of writing despite all the
difficulties that may and that will
arise in the process
I can almost hear some of you saying
this is hard yes of course it is no one
ever said this was going to be easy but
it's also all about practice if you
decide to run the marathon you won't
simply show up on the day of the race
you'll start training yourself little by
little until finally you're able to run
the whole thing it's exactly the same
with writing we don't expect to run the
marathon on the first day but we
practice each day each day taking it a
little bit further for those of you who
may wonder what the point of all this is
or why you should devote any of your
precious little time to writing I can
tell you it's because this will
transform your lives so if you would
really like to look deeper both within
yourselves and within other people if
you would really like to get to know
what your own voice sounds like if you
would really like to get to know what it
is that you truly want to do in life
then give writing a chance right with no
expectations and no demands right simply
with the curiosity to see what will
happen and with the conviction that
something will happen look deeper and
keep writing
you