The Unexpected Gift of Summer Heat
The dog days of summer have arrived. Temperatures are climbing into the nineties, the humidity is relentless, and by midafternoon even the dogs seem to have decided that nothing important needs to happen before sunset.
The heat has, however, given me a gift. It has kept me indoors, where I’ve had long, uninterrupted stretches of time to write. I’ve recently finished three chapters of my new book, and my students and colleagues are also making wonderful progress on their projects. Attendance at my Start Writing Now webinars has been steadily growing as both beginning and experienced writers use these slower summer days to discover or return to the page.
Five Minutes Can Open a Door
Monday night’s webinar brought together a wonderful mix of new participants and returning writers. Although we met virtually, the connection among the group was real. The stories people wrote in only five minutes were so vivid and moving that I kept thinking about them long after the webinar ended.
As always, we began with the Self-Acknowledgment Hug and our affirmations. This helps the nervous system settle before the mind is asked to create. Most of us try to do the opposite. We pressure ourselves, compare ourselves to other writers, and then wonder why the blank page feels so difficult.
The prompt was simple: Ask for a memory that brings you joy.
We closed our eyes and waited for an image. Then, using the Word of the Day Cluster, we followed the associations wherever they led. There was no forcing and no trying to sound impressive. We simply allowed one image to lead naturally to the next.
Once the clusters were complete, participants used the words and images they had discovered to write a five-minute story. The memories that surfaced were beautiful. Some people wrote about the birth of a child. Others remembered family vacations, childhood adventures, unexpected kindnesses, or small experiences that had quietly shaped their lives.
Joyful Memories Are Evidence
One of our regular participants, Sandeep, wrote a sentence that has stayed with me all week: “If I didn’t have my early memories, I wouldn’t have made these wonderful newer ones.”
That sentence contains an enormous truth. We tend to think of joyful memories as pleasant things to look back on, but they are more important than that. Joyful memories are evidence.
They remind us that we have felt safe before. We have loved and been loved. We have laughed, recovered, connected, and found our way through difficult moments.
Why the Brain Prefers Bad News
Our brains, however, are not naturally balanced record keepers. They have what neuroscientists call a negativity bias. Painful experiences receive more attention because remembering danger once helped keep us alive.
That may have been useful for survival, but it means we often remember criticism more easily than praise. We revisit failure more often than success. We replay disappointment, embarrassment, and fear until they begin to feel less like individual experiences and more like the story of who we are.
Every replay strengthens the path back to that memory. The good news is that the brain also strengthens the paths we choose to revisit. When we deliberately return to memories of joy, safety, courage, pleasure, and connection, we are not pretending that painful things never happened. We are correcting the record.
Pain is part of the story. It is not entitled to narrate the whole book.
Giving the Body a Different Message
The Self-Acknowledgment Hug helps interrupt the endless replay of disappointment, worry, and fear by giving the body a physical signal of safety. This matters because the nervous system does not always respond to reason. You can tell yourself that everything is fine while your body continues to behave as though you are in danger.
The hug gives the body another message. You are here. You are not alone. You are safe with you.
As the nervous system begins to calm, our response to stress can change. The inner critic becomes less powerful. We stop treating every mistake as proof that something is wrong with us. We begin to see ourselves through a wider and more truthful lens.
The goal is not to deny pain or force ourselves to feel happy. It is to remember that painful experiences are not the whole of who we are. We acknowledge what hurt us, but we also reclaim what sustained us. We remind ourselves that fear is not the only thing we have survived, and sorrow is not the only thing we know.
Writing from Curiosity Instead of Fear
Once you have practiced the Self-Acknowledgment Hug, you are in a much better position to write. Instead of writing from panic, self-judgment, or the need to prove yourself, you can begin with curiosity. You can follow an image. You can allow the story to surprise you.
The Word of the Day Practice supports that shift by beginning with something small: a joyful memory, a delicious meal, a moment of kindness, or a place where you once felt free.
Small does not mean unimportant. A single remembered image can open an entire world. The smell of sunscreen can bring back a summer. A chipped blue bowl can return a grandmother. One song can restore the exact person you were at another moment in your life.
Writing allows us to recover these moments and look at them again, not as sentimental decoration, but as evidence of who we have also been. The more clearly we can see that person, the more possible the future becomes.
The Next Webinar
To experience the process yourself, join me on Monday, July 27, for the next Start Writing Now webinar. You’ll learn the Self-Acknowledgment Hug and the Word of the Day Practice step by step. You’ll write alongside a warm and encouraging community, and you’ll leave with tools you can continue using long after the webinar is over.
You may also discover that you have much more to write about than you thought.
I would love to have you join us.
Here’s to your personal success.
Professor Marilyn Horowitz
Reserve Your Spot for Start Writing Now!
Monday, July 27 at 7:00 pm EST
Stay cool and write!
Long summer days invite us to slow down. The pace is a little quieter, the evenings a little longer, and there’s finally a chance to pause, reflect, and create. If you’ve been thinking, One day I’ll write that story, perhaps this is your moment.
In this encouraging, hands-on webinar, you’ll learn simple yet powerful techniques to quiet your inner critic, let go of perfectionism, and enter a calm, creative state where ideas begin to flow naturally.
One first-time participant shared:
“The biggest struggle is getting words from my heart to the paper… and suddenly, I could write.”
You’ll leave with practical tools you can use immediately to connect with your creativity, transform everyday experiences into meaningful stories, and develop a writing practice that feels enjoyable and achievable.
Whether you’re writing your first sentence, returning to a story you’ve long wanted to tell, or simply looking for an hour of inspiration with fellow writers, we’d love to have you join us!
The webinar fills up fast, so reserve your spot here!
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Head on over to my Substack if you’d like to join the conversation. It’s a free community where I share thoughts on writing, creativity, personal growth, practical neuroscience, and the questions that keep us curious. I’d love to have you along for the journey.
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