We Have One Soul: A Guided Reflection on Creative Resistance and Spiritual Dryness
Daily Nourishment Read Time: 40 seconds
Pause/Prompt/Practice Time: 15 minutes
“One pattern that has presented itself in every single writer I’ve directed is: Whenever there’s an opening (or consolation) in the creative realm, there’s an opening in the spiritual realm. Whenever there’s a closing (or desolation) in one area, there’s a closing in the other. Since one soul holds all, it’s impossible to navigate the spiritual without affecting the creative, and vice versa.”
-Spiritual Direction for Writers: Everyday Rituals for Your Writing Life
Pause.
Sit in silence while taking a four deep breaths. Use the words below for a breath prayer or breath meditation on each of the inhales:
Inhale: My creative soul is my soul.
Exhale.
Inhale: I have one soul.
Exhale.
Inhale: My creative soul is my soul.
Exhale.
Inhale: I have one soul.
Exhale.
Repeat if you like.
Prompt.
I didn't set out to build a framework connecting creativity and spirituality. When I was training to be a spiritual director and needed practice clients, I went to my MFA program’s Facebook page to recruit practice clients.
After several one-on-one sessions over the course of several weeks and months, what I noticed (and continue to notice!) with every single person I met with was this: whenever there was an opening in their creative life, there was an opening in their spiritual life. Whenever there was a closing in one area, there was a closing in the other area.
I kept seeing this pattern again and again—especially in the early days of the pandemic. And eventually it became obvious to me why I was noticing all of these connections between creativity and the spiritual life. Of course these connections would exist because we have one soul. The creative soul is the soul.
If you tend to treat your creative resistance like a scheduling problem or a discipline problem, I’m here to tell you it’s so much more than that. When your writing (or painting, or music, or other creative expression) slows down or feels like it’s drying up, something deeper is happening. And the reverse is also true: when one area has more energy, the other area is primed for that boost of goodness, too.
Charlotte Donlon, Author of Spiritual Direction for Writers: Everyday Rituals for Your Writing Life
Practice.
Set a timer for 10 minutes and respond to the book quote from Spiritual Direction for Writers and my additional thoughts above and the reflection prompts and questions below.
Begin to notice the connections between your own creativity and spiritual life.
If you feel spiritually dry but you're reading a novel that's giving you a lot of creative energy, find a few paragraphs in the book that feel like a prayer for you right now and let them be a way back into spiritual intimacy with the divine.
If you feel creatively dry but your spiritual life is thriving, use a favorite religious text, prayer, or insight as a creative writing or journaling prompt.
The two paths lead to the same place because we have one soul.
Take notes on what you have noticed in your creative life and spiritual life over the past week.
Which parallel openings and closings have you experienced in your creativity and spiritual life?
If you’re feeling creative resistance or spiritual dryness right now, how might you navigate any openings in the other area to find your way back to your full self, your full soul?
Want More?
Read Spiritual Direction for Writers: Everyday Rituals for Your Writing Life—especially the section titled “Become Familiar with Openings and Closings”
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Today’s Daily Nourishment was provided by Charlotte Donlon. See more of Charlotte’s writing, work, and offerings at Flourish Anyway®.