Words of Phoenix

If you have gone through something emotionally painful, you enjoy writing for 15-20 minutes straight and love fire rituals, give this technique a try. It is a tool I created by combining the ancient wisdom of a priest called Dandapani and modern scientist called James W. Pennebaker.

The reason why this wonderful technique works so well is because every experience has emotions attached to it.

The world we live in is made up of energy, frequencies and vibrations. From our atoms, to the words we speak (or think) and even our emotions. When we experience something, we store it in our mind and attach it to an emotion. These can either lift us up or bring us down. As we can’t time travel into the past and “delete” the event, we will work on the attached emotions instead. Without emotions, the experiences we live through can not control us.

As an example we can take a look at “Coulrophobia”, which is defined as an “extreme fear of clowns”. This could be caused by an event that happened during a child’s upbringing, in which she/he experienced a traumatic situation with a clown. Most likely, people who have never had an issue with clowns, will not have this fear. This shows that it is the emotions we attach to “things”, which lead us to see the world the way we do. If we are able to release our confining emotions, we become more free in fully experiencing what life has to offer.

In order to release these emotions, writing them down on paper is, for one, bringing them back from our subconscious mind, into our conscious mind (as we are practically reliving it), second, we are transferring these emotions, through our nervous system, onto the piece of paper and third, we are releasing the emotional energy through burning the handwritten piece of paper. The act of consciously noticing this emotion is a bit like an alcoholic noticing that he has a problem. Only when we accept it, can we work on it. The transfer of the vibrations onto the paper is the method of letting it go and the last part will transform the emotional energy into flames, giving you the ability to rise up from the ashes.

As this exercise deals with clearing up painful attachments/memories etc., strong emotional discomfort might occur during or even after partaking in it. Depending on the situation you are “re-living” through your written words, your feelings might get overwhelmingly strong. In that case, it is advised to stop the exercise and try again the day after. That being said, you should feel, at least a little bit better, within a few hours of the exercise. Another thing to consider is that you might want to work your way up to the really tough things you have faced/are facing. Please listen to yourself and see if you are ready for such an exercise. If you like, you can start with something less severe and see how you feel. To get the full benefit, this ritual needs to be repeated once every day for 4 consecutive days.

1. Find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed. Choose a pen and a loose piece of paper (not your journal, as we will burn it later).

2. Decide what you would like to let go off. Is there anything you feel is holding you back? Have you experienced a traumatic event in your life? Is there anything you are worried about in your future? Is there something or someone that has deeply hurt you? What keeps you up at night? Find the subject you would like to address. It can even be something you feel like you have already worked through. If something just popped up in your mind, which you thought you had already dealt with, maybe there is more to be released? Give it a try!

3. Set your timer to 20 minutes.

4. Start writing and don’t stop until your timer goes off. Write without worrying about grammar or spelling, just write whichever emotions flow through you. Go into as much detail as possible, including all of your senses: What did you smell/see/hear/taste/feel? If you at some point you feel like you don’t know what else to write, start again from the beginning. Repeat the story, maybe with slightly different words, but keep the flow going. If at any point during the exercise you feel like you absolutely can not continue because the pain is too strong, stop the exercise immediately.

5. Once your timer goes off, finish the sentence you were writing. If you feel like you haven’t been able to finish writing everything give yourself another 5 minutes, then stop. Crumble up your paper. Once more, imagine how all of your emotions have entered the paper, take a deep breath in and exhale deeply. Then light it and watch it go up in flames until it falls to ashes.

6. Repeat this exercise once a day for 4 consecutive days.