Conscious Living doesn’t require that we ignore the past. In fact, it encourages us to embrace it, accept it, and honor it, even the parts we don’t like or that we want to change. No matter how we feel about events or people from earlier in our lives, they are part of what makes us who we are. Ideally, we can learn to recognize our past without letting it control our present.

For a writing practice today, consider what elements of your past are integral to who you are today, even if the memories aren’t the greatest. While you embrace your full experience – positive and negative – think of one word that you often use to describer yourself.

I am ­­­­­­­­__________.

Embrace this idea about yourself and take a moment to celebrate it. Consider how this word supports your creative practice or appears in your writing as a theme, motif, or obstacle.

I suspect you’ll discover that this word is an important part of your writerly voice. This strong concept of yourself comes through in the kind of stories you choose to write, the themes you explore, and how you craft your sentences and scenes. Voice is difficult to define and develop, but at heart, voice is who you are.

I write, because I am ________.