Writing is the Song of the Soul: A New Series

I will be posting on the idea of this: Writing is the Song of the Soul, which is a workshop that I offered for the first time today. And it was wonderful!!

Let me begin by saying that the image of Writing is the Song of the Soul came to me in a completely unconscious way. One day I was going through an old journal and I came upon this:

“Sit, listen, hear the song of your soul. Always there. Always singing. Always waiting. Patient. Until the end of time. You. You. Only one you. Reach in now, through the channel of your art….”

This was my journal. Clearly I had written these words, but I had no memory of them, and my first thought was “Who wrote this?” Its wisdom filled my heart and its gentle guidance calmed me. I knew the words were a glimpse into the true offerings of the Muse and the gift of my writing. I thought, yes, it’s true, I have reached into myself and found myself in unexpected ways through my writing, found truths about myself and my life that would have remained hidden otherwise.

And so the journey began.

It is clear to me now, after a lifetime of writing, that writing is not about language anymore than the image is about the perfectly turned phrase. At first glance though it seems that writing or language drives the image. Nothing can be further from the truth. It is the image that energizes and gives birth to our writing, which is a visceral experience born of a deep longing for authenticity that carries us inward to a self we often do not consciously know. As creative people, we hunger for this self that dances to a song the outer world cannot hear much less understand.

Finding the authentic self, the writer’s true voice, is the journey that of great wonder.


Please let me know if you would like to be emailed of new installments of this series. email me: emily@emilyhanlon.com