Energy medicine and the thing we don’t call “writer’s block”
In September 2024 my family took the train down from DC to visit us in Richmond. We went to the science museum (where Todd and I each managed to beat the air-hockey robot!) and in the art room, my brother-in-law helped my (then-)five-year-old niece cut out and tape together a Brain Hemisphere Hat.
She left it at our apartment and I put it on one of our bookshelves. It’s fun looking at which part of our brain is in charge of which functions, not that I really gave myself more than a few seconds at a time to browse.
A few weeks later, as previously blogged, I went to visit Heather and her husband Zach in Minnesota. Heather had recently finished a reiki training, so she offered me a session. Though I no longer consider myself a member of the “woo-woo crew,” I am also not going to say no to a dear friend showering me with loving intention. I should mention that my first reiki experience (back in early 2013) led to a significant a-ha moment followed by an awesome new chapter in my life. Several years after that, I had a ho-hum experience with a different practitioner. So I figured it would be relaxing but beyond that, no expectations.
Here’s how I recounted the experience with Heather in my journal:
I laid down on the bed and had sort of lost myself for a moment in the comfort and contentment when I felt a “SHOOMF!” around my head, like a dome of energy. She had put her hands above my head. A little later on, she returned to my head and I started to feel weird on the right side of my forehead and crown, like she had dredged up something unpleasant. I breathed with it and in a little while it dissipated and I felt totally peaceful again. Felt sure she helped me release something.
WHAT WAS IT, I WONDER?
Back home in Richmond the following week, I laid out my scene-by-scene/beat-by-beat index cards on the table at my co-working space. For the first time, I felt like I had a logical, inevitable line of dominos, start to finish.
I was euphoric. Surely Heather really had jogged something loose?!
Three days later, I remembered the Brain Hat. I went home, plucked it off the shelf, and peered at the spot where I’d felt the weirdness dissipating: at the very front of my right frontal lobe.
What did I find there?
Story ideas: “Once upon a time…”
Understanding “the big picture”
⚡️“Eureka!”
I know this must sound too incredible to be true, but I promise I am not making this up. In my next post, Dear Reader, I shall tell you HOW I WROTE MY UNWRITABLE NOVEL!
P.S. The International Rescue Committee is the humanitarian aid organization to which I contribute on a monthly basis. Here’s a link so you can click through and donate if you feel so inclined.
