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Tag: psychological wellbeing
Write & Thrive, one day workshop – Sunday14th May 2017, 11.00 to 4.00 pm
Write & Thrive 2017
On Sunday 14th May 2017, between 11.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. Write and Thrive will be facilitating a one day creativity and wellbeing workshop in The Exchange workspace (next door to Matthews Yard). Cost £25 – Advance booking is required.
The workshop will have two main areas of focus.
Writing creatively
To enable you to start or return to writing, helping you to overcome barriers and develop a regular writing habit. There will be less emphasis on technique and skill and more on facilitating creativity, exploration and curiosity. I want you to have fun with this and to be surprised.
Writing for wellbeing
An introduction to the many health and wellbeing benefits of writing. We’ll explore how to use writing as a support mechanism; as an organising and problem solving tool; to facilitate emotional expression; as a means to developing greater self-awareness; to access memories; to make sense of things that have happened and as a flexible and varied tool that can support you through life’s up and downs.
What will you need?
• Paper/notepad
• Something to write with
• Curiosity and a sense of adventure
A common barrier to creativity is fear of criticism; a concern that what you produce will not be good enough.
For that reason, a key feature of the workshops is to provide a non-judgemental environment. You can try things out and it won’t be possible to get it wrong.
Where can I find a workshop?
This workshop will be running The Exchange workspace, next door to Matthews Yard, a vibrant arts, cultural and community hub in the centre of Croydon, just off Surrey Street.
Book your place here
Send me an email at writeandthrive@gmail.com if you’d like more information.
Write & Thrive, workshops – from September 2016
Write & Thrive September 2016
From September 2016, Write and Thrive will be offering two five week writing modules at:
The Exchange Workspace Croydon, CR0 1UH, (next door to Matthews Yard).
Advance booking is required.
The modules are designed to enable participants to build on learning from each workshop and develop from week to week.
Each module is self-contained. However, participating in both may provide additional benefit as one topic overlaps and enhances the other.
Modules are open to all, no prior experience is required.
Module 1 – Stories of your life: writing for personal development, self-discovery & well being
Starts on Tuesday, 27th September 2016. 7-9 p.m. for 5 weeks
An introduction to the many health and well being benefits of writing. This module is an opportunity to reflect on, make sense of, remember and celebrate aspects of your life and to explore some of the support and well being benefits that writing can offer. The workshops will provide you with the opportunity to develop a richer self-awareness, and experience writing as a flexible tool that can support you through life’s ups and downs.
Cost: £50 per 5 week module (£40 for Matthews Yard members)
Book your place here
Module 2 – Writing fiction: get started, keep going
Starts on Tuesday, 8th November 2016. 7-9 p.m. for 5 weeks
This module is designed to enable participants to start or return to writing fiction, helping to overcome barriers and develop a regular writing routine. The workshops are planned to encourage curiosity, experimentation and creative expression; helping participants to ignore the inner critic and unleash their creativity.
By the end of the module participants will have practiced techniques to generate ideas and material for writing fiction and have learned ways to establish a regular writing routine.
Cost: £50 per 5 week module (£40 for Matthews Yard members)
Book your place here
How can I find the location?
The workshops are based at:
The Exchange Workspace
Ground Floor, The Exchange
6 Scarbrook Road
Croydon, CR0 1UH. Accessed via Surrey Street Market through to Exchange Square or quickly found off Scarbrook Road. Based next door to Matthews Yard.
Send me an email at writeandthrive@gmail.com if you’d like more information.
Expressive Writing and Coping with Job Loss
Write & Thrive, new workshops – 2016
Write & Thrive 2016
From January 2016, Write and Thrive will be offering two new writing modules, in descART.es Lounge, Unit 1, The Exchange (next door to Matthews Yard). Advance booking is required.
The modules are designed to enable participants to build on learning from each workshop and develop from week to week.
Each module is self-contained. However, participating in both may provide additional benefit as one topic overlaps and enhances the other.
Modules are open to all, no prior experience is required.
Module 1 – Writing fiction: get started, keep going
Starts on Tuesday, 19th January 2016. 7-9 p.m. for 5 weeks
This module is designed to enable participants to start or return to writing fiction, helping to overcome barriers and develop a regular writing routine. The workshops are planned to encourage curiosity, experimentation and creative expression; helping participants to ignore the inner critic and unleash their creativity.
By the end of the module participants will have practiced techniques to generate ideas and material for writing fiction and have learned ways to establish a regular writing routine.
Cost: £50 per 5 week module (£40 for Matthews Yard members)
Book your place here
Module 2 – Stories of your life: writing for personal development, self-discovery & wellbeing
Starts on Tuesday, 1st March 2016. 7-9 p.m. for 4 weeks
An introduction to the many health and wellbeing benefits of writing. This module is an opportunity to reflect on, make sense of, remember and celebrate aspects of your life and to explore some of the support and wellbeing benefits that writing can offer. The workshops will provide you with the opportunity to develop a richer self-awareness, and experience writing as a flexible tool that can support you through life’s ups and downs.
Cost: £40 per 4 week module (£35 for Matthews Yard members)
Book your place here
Where can I find a workshop?
The workshops are running in descART.es Lounge, Unit 1, The Exchange (next door to Matthews Yard), CR0 1UH
Send me an email at writeandthrive@gmail.com if you’d like more information.
Write and Thrive Croydon – 2016 – new modules coming soon
From January, Write & Thrive will be offering two, themed, 5 week modules:
Module 1 – will focus on writing fiction
Module 2 – will focus on personal development and writing for wellbeing
Advance booking required.
Details and tickets available soon
Get your name on the mailing list. Email: writeandthrive@gmail.com now.
Steve Wybourn, creator of writeandthrive
Enable your creativity and beat your inner critic
A common barrier to creativity is fear of criticism. It can restrict and stifle us. When we feel like this its extremely difficult to write or want to write. It’s important as writers to find a way to free ourselves from this fear if we want to develop a regular writing routine. The criticism we fear is often internalised in the form of an inner critic.
Amber Lea Starfire’s article has five ideas to overrule your inner editor, her name for the inner critic.
Six ideas from creative thinkers, presented by Jessica gross, has some simple effective suggestions to facilitate creativity.
I think these articles combined have a lot to offer the writer who might be struggling to free their creativity and bypass the inner critic.
Let me know what you think, or if you have ideas of your own. Respond in the comments section.
Tweet this – Enable your creativity and beat your inner critic
The Superpower of writing
I started Write and Thrive because I have a great passion and belief in the many benefits of writing. This comes from personal experience and from helping others to write. Whether it’s for creativity, self expression, reflection or as a strategy to make sense of and overcome obstacles and challenges in life; writing can be transformative.
Today I’m going to focus on the use of writing to overcome obstacles, and, more specifically, how it can help overcome obstacles to writing. I think that my own experience of writing this post will illustrate the point.
The development of the Write and Thrive website and blog is a new project for me. In the early stages, my blog posts have been mainly writing prompts and links to relevant articles and topics. This is my first opinion piece for the blog and, as I approached it, the experience and knowledge I have of the subject matter appeared to vanish. I doubted myself and struggled to imagine that I could write something that would be valuable and informative.
What were my obstacles?
A rush of negative thoughts: I can’t think of anything; it won’t make sense; I will make a fool of myself. These were followed by uncomfortable feelings: churning in my stomach, shortening of breath. The cycle continued with further negative thoughts dressed up as rational responses: I’m still on holiday, I don’t need to do any work; maybe I should think of something else to write about; maybe I don’t need a blog. I couldn’t get started.
What did I do?
I prevaricated. The cycle continued. I distracted myself: made coffee, went for a walk, tried to read a novel, played a computer game, made a shopping list, went to the supermarket. I still wanted to do this though and the longer I avoided it the more uncomfortable and disappointed I felt. At times like this, I turn to my journal. I knew I had to write about the problem I was having with writing.
I wrote how I was feeling, what I was thinking. It was uncomfortable at first but fairly quickly I noticed a reduction in my anxiety. As I continued to write I moved from expressing how I thought and felt to reflecting on writing and how it can be helpful. Ideas were forming, content for the blog. I noticed a shift in my mood, a sense of hope and excitement – I was creating something. This was going to be OK. Of course I had ideas. Of course I had something valuable to contribute. I wrote for thirty minutes and when I read it back the next day I realised my next challenge was to focus. I had too much material, too many ideas for one blog post. It was a good feeling.
How it helped
When I started to write about this I noticed a change: less frequent negative thoughts, a settling of the stomach. I could think again. I developed a deeper understanding of why I was struggling. Not being clear about the nature of the obstacle was part of the problem. I noticed that ideas started to form as my pen continued to move. I had found a safe space for curiosity, play and creativity.
When I started to write…I developed a deeper understanding of why I was struggling – tweet this
Writing how I thought and felt gave me some distance and also meant I could revisit it. Reading it the next day was encouraging but also enabled me to see it with fresh eyes, gain new perspectives, make choices, plan next steps.
Each time I make use of writing in this way I’m reminded and further delighted by how calming and clarifying it can be.
The Superpower of writing – try it 
If you have something you want to do but can’t seem to start or complete it, try one or more of the strategies below. It doesn’t matter if your obstacle is about writing, eating healthily, making your day feel more satisfying, making choices about your career or finding time to do things that you want to do. This approach can be helpful with most obstacles. Try one or more of these:
1. Start writing about it. Give yourself a time limit, fifteen minutes. You don’t need to know what you’re going to write. Just start and see where it takes you.
2. Write a response to one or more of these questions:
• What is stopping me?
• How do I feel when I think about this?
• What can I think of that might help me with this?
Once you have completed one or more of these pieces of writing, put it to one side. Read it back the following day. Write about it. Put it to one side, read it back the next day. Then make a plan:
• What’s your next step and when will you take it? Write it down.
I hope you find it helpful.
How did you get on?
I’d love to hear about your experience of trying these strategies. Please feel free to let me know in the comments section.
The Superpower of writing – what else have you found helpful?
Please share any other ideas and strategies you’ve found to make use of the Superpower of writing in the comments.
Start writing and keep going – writing workshops for creativity and wellbeing
A supportive environment for your writing: Starting 8th September @matthewsyard #Croydon. Book your place here
Write and Thrive – Croydon workshops – now booking
Write and thrive, weekly writing workshops for creativity and wellbeing started on 8th September 2015.
Where can I find a workshop?
The workshops are running at Matthews Yard, a vibrant arts, cultural and community hub in the centre of Croydon, just off Surrey Street. Find details of the Croydon workshop here
How do I book or find out more?
Cost: £10 per person per session (£8 for Matthews Yard members)
Book your place here:
Send me an email at writeandthrive@gmail.com if you’d like more information.
Potential Health benefits of writing
- Reduced stress
- Improved emotional resilience
- Reduced blood pressure
- Improved mood
- Feelings of greater psychological wellbeing
- Improved immune system
Steve Wybourn, creator of writeandthrive
writeandthrive 