Welcome to our Writers' Haven! This program manual has all the information you need to:
- Reiki heart-write every day
- receive your daily prompts by email
- utilize the prompts
- keep track of your heart-writes
- stay connected with our Reiki heart-writing tribe throughout our program
- enjoy yourself.
Set yourself up in our Writers' Haven as soon as you can. It only takes a few minutes, and then you'll be ready to write on.
If you haven't already, this is the perfect time to introduce yourselves to your fellow writers by leaving a comment on the Introductions page.
If you ever want to change your password, click "update profile" in the top right.
Let's keep our private space safe
This is our private space. People take risks and develop a new skill best in a safe environment. Let's agree that what happens here stays here, so we can all feel free to express ourselves among friends, albeit ones we are just meeting.
In the interests of keeping this a safe space, please be mindful if you choose to comment on someone else's comment. Let's be kind and supportive, and not make assumptions about anyone, or engage in "helping" or "fixing." You know what I mean. It can be helpful to ask yourself why you want to comment.
Please do not share the articles written for this program or quote any comments made by either your co-writers or me.
Daily prompt emails
Once you've registered, you are automatically subscribed to our program mailing list. Your daily prompts will be sent to the email you've given us.
If you want your daily prompts sent to a different email, change your email address by clicking "update subscription preferences" at the bottom of the welcome email you received after signing up.
If you don't receive emails right after signing up, check your spam filter. If you find them there, then you need to add my address to your Safe Senders list and/or mark them as not spam, according to your email service.
And remember, the links to the articles and day pages are listed under RECENT POSTS on every page of our Writers Haven, so even if you don't have the email, you can still engage.
All hands on — yourself!
If you don't already practice hands-on self Reiki every day, please start now and practice daily at least until the end of the program.
Of course daily self practice is not a requirement; it's an enthusiastic suggestion to enhance your experience and maximize your benefit. If you need support for daily practice, click here for an article that will help.
I also encourage a brief self-treatment before at least some of your writing sessions to see how it supports your writing experience. It can be a few minutes on a favorite placement, or a minute or so on the crown, chest, and abdomen. Or as you wish. The idea is to shift your state before you start writing, so that you are present and aligned with yourself.
Reiki heart-writing is easy
Reiki heart-writing is simple and easy. You sit down, self practice, set your timer, and heart-write. Yes, it's that easy.
Your commitment is to heart-write each day during the two+ weeks of our program, using the prompt, or as you prefer. I encourage you to heart-write for 15 minutes.
Here are my suggestions to facilitate your heart-writing experience:
Set a timer for 15 minutes and have it ready to start when you finish your hands-on self practice. Start the timer when you are ready to heart-write, forget about it, and heart-write until you hear the timer (or a little longer if you're in the middle of something). Your timer is the container for your writing.
Starting a new practice is easier if you practice at the same part of your day, every day. You don't have to be punctual, but if you get used to writing write after breakfast, or when you come back from walking the dog, your schedule and your expectations will soon support your heart-write habit. When you finish the thing that comes before writing, you'll find yourself anticipating your heart-write time. You don't have to do it that way, but it helps.
If you skip a day, please don't tell me! I'm joking. Of course you can mention it, but don't make a big deal of it. Just be sure to heart-write the next day. We only have only so many days, you know. Don't waste your time with regrets and self-recrimination. Or if you're going to rag on yourself, don't keep ruminating in your head — write about it!
The heart-writing class replay is available for you throughout the program.
And now, the instructions!
This program develops your Reiki heart-write skill and guides your heart-writing to explore various facets of your Reiki experience.
How is Reiki heart-writing different than other writing? Good question! First of all, it's different in that it starts with self Reiki practice. And there's more.
heart-writing is totally unconstrained. It flows. No concerns about grammar or punctuation or what anyone is going to think, or even if you're making sense. Who ever told you that you need to make sense? Maybe you do in other situations, but not when you heart-write. Let yourself heart-write with a sense of adventure and you will discover "sense" you didn't know you have.
I encourage you to heart-write with a timer set for 15 minutes. (You can set it for 10 if you need to.)
Once you set the timer, keep writing. Don't. Stop. Not. Once. Just keep going, even if you're not making sense. I know I already said that, but it can be a challenge to let it in.
As with your Reiki self practice, don't judge your heart-writes. There is no good or bad Reiki practice and no good or bad heart-write. There are only the practice sessions you show up for.
Like Reiki, heart-writing is a practice. That means you actually do it. And that it's all practice.
None of your heart-writes will be a masterpiece. Heart-writing isn't about perfection or creating a publishable piece. It's about writing to an open way to connect with yourself and find your authentic voice, your creativity, and your content — the words that only you can write, the words that will never be known if you don't write them.
Stay the course. Go where your heart-write takes you.
Write however you like, pen/pencil and paper or typing on your computer or device. All that matters is that you write. You'll discover the content later. And you will not be sharing your writing, so there is no "other" to worry about.
Heart-write and put your writing away. Don't read it when your session ends. Go on with your day. You can read it later if you want, but keep the reading time separate from the writing time. That helps you let go of any sense of grading yourself.
Then come online to our Writers' Haven and share your three words and, if you like, something about your experience of writing on that day's page. Or come online later if that's more convenient. Take some time to read what others have shared.
You can also watch the Inside Peek video.
Writing prompts are your friends
And like a good friend, the prompts are here to support you, not to constrain you. We'll give you a new prompt each day. We'll send an email, but the prompt is also published on the day page in our Writers Haven. So if the email hasn't arrived when you're ready to practice, you know where to find the prompt.
You don't have to stay with the prompt during the whole session. The prompt gives you a place to begin, a place to start writing.
Writing from the prompts, letting the day's prompt be your springboard into each day's heart-write, is the simplest way to participate. If you are participating in a Reiki heart-writing program for the first time, I encourage you to use the prompts for the first five days or so while you're getting comfortable with the heart-write experience.
Some days, your writing will take you away from the prompt, in another direction. Not a problem. Go with it. This is, after all, heart-writing. The prompts are here to help you get started. What happens next is between you and your heart. What's important is that you write.
Three little words and keeping track
After you finish your heart-write session, choose three words that describe your experience. Keep it simple and spontaneous. Just three words (as distinct from three perfect words). Write them at the top, with the date. Then put your writing aside.
Marking each day that you practice — in your calendar, on the wall or wherever you will see it often — might boost your sense of accomplishment and help you write even on the days you are, ahem, less inclined to.
You could write your three words on each day of your calendar, or a smiley face. If you are writing in a paper journal, you could put colored tabs on each entry. Or use any simple method that appeals to you (and please share it in your comments!).
Revisiting your accumulated three words at the end of the program will remind you of the wide range of writing experiences you've had.
As with Reiki practice, there's no right or wrong way to write. Just keep showing up to write. Notice anything that helps you write, and use it.
Comment where?
If you want to start a new stream, as when you introduce yourself on the "Introductions, Please" page, scroll down until you see the box with "Leave a Reply."
If you want to reply to a comment in an existing stream, look for "reply" directly below that comment to the left. If you don't see one there, then scroll up to the first "reply" and click that.
It can be tricky to see exactly where you are on the smaller screen of your phone, but no worries. If your comment winds up in the outfield, post it again where you want it and I'll delete the first one.
If you have any tech questions about posting or finding your way around our Writers' Haven, ask Cori at coriwestfield@gmail.com.
Write on!
Pamela