You’re beautifully entangled with everything. With everyone you love. When you feel it, life is better than good. But, of course, it doesn’t always feel like it. Life can be HARD, confusing, chaotic. Here’s a spiritual writing exercise to get you out of your own head and into your heart.

Jotting down your feelings, positive and negative, reduces stress and its impact on your physical health. While it might seem counterintuitive, journaling about tough feelings like anger and sadness lessens their intensity.

When you release what’s pent-up inside your head and heart, you give yourself space to stay in the present moment.

The spiritual writing exercise I’m sharing today is from my new book, Sleep Rituals: 100 Practices for a Deep and Peaceful Sleep.

If you haven't already, get your copy for a ton of inspiration and comfort!

As you can guess, this ritual is soothing enough to help you fall sleep but it's also versatile: you can use it anytime to release the stress and reconnect with the present moment, with your higher power, with your loved ones who have passed, and with the entire universe.

Above your struggle, there's joy. Beneath your pain, there's peace. In the middle of everything, there's love.

This doesn’t require any talent with the pen and paper.

All you need is the willingness to open your mind a bit. That willingness is the key to your healing, by the way.

Here's what you'll be doing: in a meditation like way, you ask the higher power of your own understanding, your loved one, or just a higher level of awareness to write to you. Then, you write a letter to yourself from that greater perspective.

It's okay if it feels awkward at first. It won't feel that way forever.

Through your writing sessions, you'll regain a sense of peace and connection that goes beyond any single emotion. You'll feel connected again, or for the first time in a lifetime. The edges of regret and worry will soften. Guidance -- even grace -- can enter.

If you've lost someone you love, this can be a way to sense their spiritual presence. You can sense it, in part, because you are present.

Note: I pared down this ritual to its bare essentials. To have it in its wholeness, order your own copy of Sleep Rituals and open it up to page 227.

Letters from the Sky: A Spiritual Writing Exercise

1. Create a comfortable atmosphere where you can sit and feel supported and safe.
2. Open up your journal to a blank page.
3. Close your eyes, think about a discomfort or struggle you need help with, and summon assistance and a compassionate observation from above: the moon and stars, a loved one who has passed, the universe, or any higher power of your own understanding.
4. Be curious and confident in your connection as you listen for answers. Meditate on what you feel in your heart. Trust in the intelligence that wants to come through to greet you on this page.
5. At the top of the page, write an introduction: “Dear soul, this is what I/we would most like you to know tonight...” or “Dear guide, I welcome you to write through me now.”
6. Begin writing a letter to yourself, in the second person, from the point of view of the sky. What comfort or hope might this greater perspective grant you? How vast is the vision from up here? Write from this place.
7. Capture words, feelings, or visions that come to you. Your handwriting might change or you might notice a change in energy, like your guide is holding your hand in this process.
8. When you feel you're finished, close your eyes and thank your guide for helping you.

“Writing is medicine. It is an appropriate antidote to injury. It is an appropriate companion for any difficult change.” — Julia Cameron

Tell me:

What did this ritual help you with?

Tell me in the comments. I read every single one, and I'd love to know!

Only love,

Jen

P.S. Make sure you order your copy of Sleep Rituals! You deserve the rest you need to heal. To grow. To follow your dreams when the sun is shining. You 100% do.