Over the past few months I’ve been connected to a non-profit organization called Art from Ashes here in Denver. It all started with an 6-week adult poetry workshop, which to be totally honest, isn’t exactly my jam (although don’t get me wrong, I was interested). A friend recommended the organization - they work with youth experiencing homelessness, trauma (think Columbine students) or just those interested in the arts - and given my season of ‘exploration’ I decided I’d give it a shot and test the waters by starting with this workshop (which then sets you on the path to becoming an ‘official’ volunteer with the youth).

During the first session of the workshop, the facilitator (also the executive director) asked us what we hoped to get out of it. I inwardly rolled my eyes thinking, “Can’t I just be here? Isn’t that enough?” But I thought, and I came up with something to the effect of wanting to change my relationship with writing… kind of kick-start the creative juices again, and a la Nike, just do it. Writing is my creative outlet, but damn, things have gotten stale over the years and my old “go-to” had become a big, fat “meh” that I was actively avoiding.

As it turned out, I didn’t really have a choice to “just be there,” and I’m grateful. The whole point of the workshop (perhaps part of the point I should say) is to get out of your left brain (logical, predictable, process-oriented, practical, etc.). It’s where most of us live day-to-day. We’re ruled by our calendars, getting to work on time, scheduled meetings throughout the day, knocking out the to-do list when we’re not in meetings, and then God only knows what happens after work. Maybe it’s shuttling kids to sports or music practices or play dates, grabbing the 16 things from the grocery store, racing home to get the dog out… you get the point. It’s pretty much one thing after another — Western society at its finest. That’s all good. We all need to function on a daily basis. But that right brain, as teens and adults, gets shut down pretty consistently. Unless we proactively make time to cultivate it, it just withers like a muscle in a perpetual cast, long after the bone heals.

I’m not going to go as far as the old adage “you don’t use it, you lose it” because I truly don’t believe you straight up lose it. I do think however, that it gets harder to access. Hand 10 kids some crayons and a piece of paper and what you’ll get in 10 minutes is gloriously all over the map. Hand crayons to 10 adults, and 9 out of 10 will sit there paralyzed for the first 8 minutes staring at the blank page and nervously chattering with others about the task at hand. Maybe some will scribble their names in cursive to see what it feels like to use a crayon again. And maybe some will spend the last few minutes just shading areas of the page because “what the hell would I draw anyway?!”

Give those adults a couple of glasses of wine and you might start to get some interesting stuff out of them. But why does it take liquid courage for adults to engage the right brain? Think about the rising popularity in the ‘burbs of “Sip and Paint” nights. You literally have to numb the left brain to let the right side kick in and have some fun and do its thing. The left side is the great EDITOR. And it comes in super handy as we all know. It prevents us from being rude to people we may want to punch in the face. It helps us not shoot the first draft of the ragey email back to our co-worker, and it stops us from being inappropriate with that hot co-worker. In my case, it also helps turn articles and novels from meh to kick ass. I love editing! It truly is an art. But, I don’t love editing to the point of squashing creativity.

So with the pressure off, the facilitator led us into writing with a brief but thoughtful prompt, and she literally set her phone timer for for 3 minutes. The only real stipulations were that the pen had to keep moving and you couldn’t really edit (i.e., cross out) what you wrote during or after the fact. Stream of consciousness. Train the left brain to take a seat and the right brain to let go. And then we’d share among the 6 participants. And we were actually encouraged to write filler words in order to keep the pen moving if our brains locked up. Fudge, poop, shit… truly whatever came to mind during the brain freeze. And when we shared, we were allowed to simply skip those words in the reading. People shared some powerful stuff!

Sounds simple, right? It actually is. It’s not easy, but it’s simple. And the more you do it, the easier it flows. You’re not writing the next great American novel. But damn, all the sudden, you are a poet. And some really insightful stuff comes up and out when you let your inner policeman have a donut break.

So that’s my encouragement for today. Let your right brain play. And know that it’s going to be uncomfortable and weird at first. And if it takes a glass of wine or a beer to get going initially, it’s all good. But at some point (soon, you lush) just let it be. I promise you will be very pleasantly surprised. Whether you’re writing, drawing, woodworking, doing photography, or some other vaguely artistic pursuit, just do it. Do it in short, time-bound spurts and stop the judgment, editing, policing, and all the pressure on yourself for the final result. Let go and have fun. I’m pretty sure your right and left brains will thank you for it!