Flow Writing Technique

This simple writing technique helps you get into a state of flow, relaxation, and clarity and express your thoughts on paper.

You can use flow writing to establish journaling habit and post your entries in a Facebook group https://mindgifts.org/group or in a discord channel specifically for this https://discord.gg/7rxbvXpV3W  

This method can help you to solve problems, brainstorm ideas, clear your mind and remove feelings of overwhelm, make better choices, work through life issues disturbing you and come up with content for your business or social media.

You can also extract negative thoughts and work on them during such sessions…

There are many ways to use these techniques.

If you do it consistently for a few weeks and better for 30 days, you will see some significant results, but even 1 session can be impactful.

The flow writing process consists of several simple components that are the keys to a successful writing session.

Let's look at these components so you will understand how to make the best of this tool.

Time 
For most cases, 5-15 minutes of writing is enough, or you can write longer if needed.

The ideal time of the day to do flow writing is early in the morning or in the evening before bed. 

Pick your best time, and experiment with this. 

Time constraining your flow writing is perfect practice.

It makes you more conscious about the here and now and will help you not be distracted.

It is beneficial for you if you don’t have much time in the day for journaling.

Thus you will spend only the planned time for your journaling.

Also, don’t forget to turn off all your gadget notifications for this session.

If you have a kitchen timer, it can be better to use it (or buy it for 1-5$) or you can use your phone if there is no other option.

Time blocking will help you to go into a focused and flow state.

Topic
Choose your topic for writing beforehand.

It can be a prompt, question, idea to ponder, decision to make, feeling to express, etc.

If you want to create a piece of content and do some research, then do it beforehand.  

Breathing 
Before starting flow writing, do a breathing session to bring yourself into a good state of mind.

As I already mentioned, the quality of our breathing influences our energy, thinking, emotions, and all processes in the body, including metabolism. 

So it can be a good idea to breathe in a place with fresh air: go outside or if you can’t, then open the window or go on a balcony.

Do some 3-5 minutes of deep breathing.

Freewriting 
Don’t overthink what you will write about in detail. 

You can turn on some relaxation music for it.

Your task is to start writing, see where it will take you in a process, and go with the flow.

Don’t criticize yourself for what you are writing.  

There is a creative part of ourselves and a critic.

It is easier to say than do, but you must write without criticizing your style, grammar, or mistakes during freewriting.

If you wrote something that could be better, move on to the following line and write it better instead of correcting it.

Your creative part of the brain and critical thinking can't function simultaneously, so concentrate on writing itself.

If you wrote a little bit and got stuck, then just continue writing something to keep going, like “I don’t know what to write, but just in a moment idea will come.”

How to start your first Flow Writing Session in a nutshell 

• Decide on what topic you want to write: it can be a problem, decision, piece of content to create, a question of how to improve life, or just clear your mind, etc.
• Do the box breathing exercise or use other breathing practices for 3-5 minutes to get in a peaceful, energized, and clear state.
• Put a time constraint: 5-15 minutes using a kitchen timer or phone alarm.
• Write without stopping or analyzing too much, and don’t criticize what you write and how you write it. Simply write until the timer rings.