Writing is a way of seeing

The above is a great quote from writer Matt Haig, he mentions it in his book The Comfort Book in relation to people asking him if writing about his trauma and even dark thoughts was actually helpful, he explains in that excerpt how for him it was a means of shedding light upon his own darkness.

In an earlier entry on how silence can keep us imprisoned he makes the point of how someone like writer Maya Angelou, who went through devastating experiences of abuse and trauma and then became silent for years, in time by reclaiming her own voice and telling the story in her book I Knnow Why the Caged Bird Sings was able to empower herself and others as well.

Matt claims that even writing down our desires and wants may help us to come to grips with the fact that sometimes wanting a particular something that we do is not about that thing at all but about a mistaken idea of what its attainment may lead to like popularity, approval or even a sense of belonging. Through a process of questioning ourselves as to why we believe we may want to have that particular something we may actually begin to see it is about deeper insecurities within us that need loving attention.

I loved the following quote from Matt that I wanted to share here with you

Writing then is a way of seeing. A way to see your insecurities more clearly. A way to shine a light on doubts and dreams and realize what they are actually about. I can dissolve a whole puddle of worries in the bright light of truth.

Writing in essence may be a way of listening more deeply to our soul as well as the deeper hungers it carries that sometimes lead us to misguided wanting and imagining.