Let me make a small confession: writing is not always good for me. Like a lot of people these days, I’ve got a job that involves doing a lot of mental labor on a computer. I think, I type, and I stare at a screen until my work is done. As a result, I’m in my head all day, and I’m not very connected to my body or the world around me. When writing keeps me in my brain and on my screen like this, it can be a path to disconnection rather than recovery.
So, what would the opposite kind of writing practice look like—a practice that gets us out of our heads and away from our screens, one that connects us to our bodies and the natural world?
This month, a Recovery Writing reader brings us exactly such a practice: small stones.
My name is Catherine, and I am in recovery. At the beginning of my sobriety journey I began a process of writing a "small stone," a short poem that was an observation of something. My initial intention was to do it for 30 days. Twelve years later I have never missed a day.
The small stone writing exercise was invented by Satya Robyn, a Buddhist teacher, writer, and psychotherapist working with Internal Family Systems therapy. In her post that describes the practice, Robyn explains that a small stone is “a short piece of writing that precisely captures a fully-engaged moment.” The emphasis here is on the engagement—the mindful moment—rather than the end product. Small stones have no fixed form. According to Robyn, their primary value lies in the way that writing them helps us attend to our bodily response to the world around us:
When we translate something we’ve seen or experienced into words, it is necessary to pay more attention than we usually would. A few minutes of mindful attention (even once a day) helps us to engage with the world in all its beauty….The process of finding small stones is more important than the finished product. Searching for them will encourage you to keep your eyes (and ears, nose, mouth, fingers, feelings and mind) open. Your short written piece (and learning to enjoy writing & the deliciousness of words) is simply a happy by-product of this process. (satyarobyn.com)
On her website, Catherine shares that her practice of writing small stones nurtured her through early sobriety and sustained her into long-term recovery. She also added a creative twist of her own:
I followed her prompt of writing a short observation each day for a month – and then just never stopped. I decided to take a photograph of what I observed as I communed with nature each day and pair it with my words…it was helping me stay connected, aware, hopeful and grateful. States that improve the quality of life for anyone but especially someone with the life-long work of managing clinical depression and addiction recovery. (leafandtwig.org)
In her note to Recovery Writing Catherine offers the following advice for capturing small stones from the stream of daily life:
Be on the look-out for beauty. It can be anything. Sunlight in the sink, the curl of a discarded sock, the colors in a leaf. Take a photo of it. Spend a few minutes really looking at the photo and then write a few short lines about it. It doesn't have to be sentences — or even make sense. Just write about what you observe — details or things that sparked your imagination, a feeling you get from the image. Date each one and keep a record of them, they are wonderful to go back through. The longer you practice — the more the beauty of the world will leap into your path.
You can find a sampling of Satya Robyn’s small stones on her blog. And you can read some of Catherine’s small stones and see her photos at her website, leaf and twig.
Satya Robyn’s original directions for the practice are wonderfully simple. You can read her in-depth discussion of the practice, but if you want to get started right away, here’s all you need to know:
1. Keep your eyes, nose, mouth, fingers, ears & your mind open.
2. Notice something.
3. Write it down.
Try to do this practice everyday for 30 days and see where it takes you. Add a photograph or some other form of expression if you like, but use these stones to anchor you in the world and honor it with your attention. What you’ll gain in return is a sense of connection, and a little trail of poems marking your progress along the way.
If you have a recovery writing practice that you’d like to share with me and my readers, please reach out to me using this form on my website. I’m looking forward to writing and growing with you.
Be well, stay connected, and keep your pen to the page.
-James
By the time someone is sober enough to write, they probably don't need much more recovery.