Writing Helps Us Discover What We Think

By Susie A. Taylor | Story Strategist | Susie Taylor Marketing | Join the World Referral Network for FREE!

Sometimes a sentence surprises you.

You write it, read it back, and think:

I didn’t know I thought that until I wrote it.

That is one of writing’s quiet powers.

We often assume our thoughts are clearer in our heads than they really are. But once we try to put them into words, gaps appear. Connections become visible. Questions surface.

Writing forces us to choose.

What do I actually mean?

What belongs together?

What am I avoiding?

It also slows thinking down.

In conversation, we can react quickly. In our own minds, one thought can trigger another before we have examined the first. A page gives us somewhere to pause.

That pause can be revealing.

Writing can expose contradictions between what we say we believe and how we actually feel. It can show us when an assumption has been driving our thinking without being questioned. It can help us notice that two things we thought were opposites may both be true.

You do not have to consider yourself a writer to use writing this way.

A journal entry can help. So can a note in your phone, a list of questions, or a letter you never intend to send.

The goal is not polished prose.

The goal is discovery.

Try setting aside ten minutes and begin with this sentence:

What I really think about this is…

Then keep going without editing yourself.

You may confirm what you already knew.

Or you may find something you had been carrying without having words for it yet.

Sometimes we write because we know what we want to say.

Other times, we write to find out.

The page can show us thoughts we were carrying before we had words for them.