Writhink

I have always thought that when I do my writing, I am writing down my thoughts. Sometimes, my thoughts are clearer as i write them down, but I have never thought of using writing to think, despite having done so unconsciously on countless times.

I believe this idea came when I was reading about Richard Feynman that his notebooks are for this very purpose, to help him think. He writes so that he can think.

Thus begins my quest to consciously build up this habit of writing in this manner. Not just regurgitating the day in minute detail, but to use the written word as a tool to help me go through stuff that I haven’t been able to process consciously. How? There’s normally some problem that I am trying to solve but failing that, I will choose a topic to write about, and go deep to see where it leads me. Sometimes I stay on topic, sometimes the questions that I ask on the topic throw me into a totally different direction. The trick is to let the mind go and not be afraid of what may come. After all, I am writing in a private journal for this, so to me at least, it is a safe space.

This has yield quite unexpected results:

• I have finally overhauled my investment portfolio
• My gifts are more thoughtful than before
• My experiments are more conscious and less on a whim
• My career has taken a surprising turn into a field I did not expect
• I have finally sent out a Christmas card which I promised myself to send out more than a year ago

Because of the high impact this form of writing has on me, I have coined this way “writhink”. If you haven’t tried writhink before, do try it. It will feel weird initially, and if you haven’t built up the writing muscle, you might want to start building that habit first. Write without judgement every day. It might not be a deep thought piece. As long as your writing muscle gets stronger every day, writhink will come.