Giving Yourself Permission

You have something to say.

Maybe it’s a vision, some life-lessons, you want to share with others. Or some precious family lore you want to preserve for your kids and future generations. Maybe you’ve nurtured this dream of writing since childhood, but kept it snugly hidden away in your heart. Or maybe it’s occurred to you only recently, browsing in a bookstore, trolling an online booklist: “Hey, I know something about that,” you think. “Maybe I could…”

And then it happens. Suddenly, you’re not alone; you’ve got the whole Hallelujah Chorus chanting away in your head, dishing up all the reasons why this is the worst, the stupidest idea you’ve ever had: “You? A writer??” “Who do you think you are?” “Since when are you a writer?” “What gives you the right?” “What do you know about this anyway?” And pretty soon, if you’re not careful, you’ll be nodding “amen” right along with the rest of the choir, shoving that crisp new notebook back onto some back shelf, blunting the tips of those freshly-sharpened pencils on the week’s shopping list (which is important, yes, but…), filling your blank computer screen with the daily horoscope or the email flood or the million-and-a-half other distractions the internet provides at the flick of a finger.

And your dream…? Gathers dust, once again.

How do you face down the fears and the inner critics in order to reach for your dream? How do you give yourself permission to put pen to paper, cursor to screen?

How do you give yourself permission to write?

I know how this feels; I’ve been there myself, as a writer.

I know how daunting it is to wrestle with these fears, to confront those inner demons.

I also know it can be done.

You can work with fears like these. They can be tamed, overcome.

I know this because, as a psychologist, I’ve helped hundreds of people do just that.

And I’ve done that myself as well.

I’m happy to share what I’ve learned with you.

Would you like to see what might happen –if only… ?

Would you like to explore just how wide your horizons might stretch—if only…?

I’ll be posting material soon on these topics in this space, starting with some suggestions for “Giving Yourself Permission to Write,” so keep checking back. If you’d like to be updated when this material goes up, please fill your name and email in the appropriate box and I’ll be happy to notify you. I promise not to inundate you with emails and not to share your email with anyone else, and you can, of course, be removed from the list at your request at any time.