The Intangible Benefits of Writing a Book

Last week, I talked about the financial and career benefits of writing a book to build your personal brand.

This week, I want to emphasize all the other reasons there are to embark on the process.

• Writing is a way of healing your wounds by revisiting past events and retelling them in a way that empowers you.
• Writing can strengthen bonds with your friends and family members, giving you an opportunity to offer your unique perspective on what's happened in your life.
• Writing can bring great joy, allowing you to relive your most triumphant moments and share your stories with future generations.
• Writing, according to scientific research, can actually rewire your brain.
• Your writing can also inspire others, enhance their empathy, help them heal their traumas, and show them a new way of viewing the world.

In other words, the process of writing brings you into a deeper, more authentic connection with yourself and others.

WRITING TIP OF THE WEEK: Share Your Story

You don't even need to write this week. Just pick someone in your life to talk to about your story.

• If you're a parent, caregiver, grandparent, teacher, healthcare worker, nonprofit leader, volunteer, first responder or anyone else who serves others, what insights do you have to share about what the experience has taught you?
• If you're a survivor of abuse, violence or war, if you've recovered from a substance use disorder, a mental health crisis, a personal injury, or if you've gotten out of prison or out of a tough situation, what lessons did you learn that others might benefit from hearing?

Tell someone. Feel the floodgates open up. Let the words flow.

How does it feel?

I'd love to know if you tried this. 

Aloha,

MeiMei

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

A writer—and, I believe, generally all persons—must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art. 

– Jorge Luis Borges, Author