The Power of Your Words Writing Workshop at Perth-Andover Library

Posted On August 14, 2013

The Perth-Andover Public Library recently hosted a fascinating and inspiring writing workshop led by author M.J. Domet.
 
M.J. is traveling across the country with her husband. She visited Perth on August 6 and led the four workshop attendees (of which I was one!) through lively and interactive exercises aimed to help us understand the effect of our emotions and our words.
 

Our words have an impact on anyone who reads them or hears them. They can enlighten, entertain, sadden, anger, teach or inspire laughter. M.J. explained that writing to evoke emotion is something every author hopes to accomplish so that readers remember what they have read.
 

We engaged in some interesting exercises designed to loosen us up and get us to emote in our writing. We began by making a basic list of what we had done during the first hour of our morning after we woke up. Just the facts, no embellishments or descriptions.
 

In part two of the exercise, we re-wrote the list, but this time we were instructed to add some description to what we had done.
 

And then, we were each assigned an emotion (like love, guilt, regret, happiness, etc) and were asked to re-write our list once more, but this time to infuse our writing with the emotion we had been assigned.
 

When we read each other`s list, the third exercise was of course the most compelling….because it evoked emotion. Stories become memorable when they express heartfelt emotion, even if they are merely a description of your morning!
 

Connecting with our own emotions allows us to express it through our writing, and reading emotional writing allows people to access their own emotions and feelings.
 

M.J. is also a Deep Cellular Healing facilitator, a Reiki Master Teacher in four disciplines, and a Psychosomatic Practitioner.
 

As an “Èmpowering You” workshop facilitator she leads classes and seminars for awareness and enlightenment.
 

As part of this series she leads classes teaching people the art and practice of Face Reading. The energy of our thoughts and personality is reflected in our face and body.
After we got done with our writing exercises we were all gung ho to learn more about face reading, and M.J. generously gave us a little mini workshop on the practice.
 

Everything about our bodies is an expression of who we are at a cellular level. Even the way we walk says something about our inner selves!
For instance, those who walk with their feet pointed straight forward are walking their paths. People whose feet turn out as they walk are seeking outside confirmation, and those who walk with inward pointing feet are expressing repression and internalization.
 

The face reading tutorial, even though not a full workshop, was nonetheless quite informative. And, funnily enough, some of what we learned affirmed commonly held perceptions of facial features.
For instance, our noses reflect our beliefs about work and money. A pointed nose denotes curiosity and is frequently found on reporters and journalists and people in general who like to stick their nose in other people’s business!
 

A thin nose denotes someone who likes to work alone, whereas folks with broader noses like to work with other people.
 

Our mouths speak, but their shape and texture is another facet of our verbal expression. Folks with full lips tend to be very vocal, and folks with thinner lips tend to be less so.
Folks with straight mouths tend to take things as they are, while people whose mouths turn down at the corners can be judgemental and critical.
 

We could start out life with an upturned mouth, meaning we have a positive and optimistic outlook but the vicissitudes of life might cause our mouths to take a downward turn as we age.
As we experience life, and make judgements upon our experiences, our bodies reflect our perceptions.
 

This is why it is so vitally important to pay attention to what you say and think….your subconscious mind is listening and it takes what you say and think entirely literally.
 

Negative emotions are reflected in our bodies and you can check this for yourself by using simple muscle testing techniques.
Kinesiology or muscle testing has been known for centuries and has been used as a diagnostic health tool in a number of ways.
 

It works by testing the strength or weakness of the electrical circuits in our bodies. A negative thought or emotion will make you weaker. You can use kinesiology to test whether or not a certain food or supplement will support your health, or even if a specific colour is good for you to wear!
 

A basic method to do alone is to stretch one arm straight out in front of you, palm down. Make sure you are properly hydrated first, though. Dehydration knocks our electrical circuits out of whack so it helps to drink a big glass of water before doing muscle testing.
 

Take your other hand and press down on the back of your hand to test how strong it is. Then say “love” and press down. Your arm should remain strong.
 

Now say the word “hate” or “fear” and press down…. usually these words will cause your arm to become weaker and you can press it down easily.
Muscle testing offers direct proof of the power of words and emotions on our bodies!
 

Our words affect others in the same manner, and they even dramatically affect the world around us.
 

Dr. Masau Emoto is internationally known for his research into the power of words and thoughts directed at water. He devised a fascinating experiment using rice instead of water to further test the effects of words.
 

He filled three containers with rice mixed with water to cover. Container one was told “thank you” and “I love you” each day of the experiment. Container 2 was told “I hate you” and “You’re an idiot”. He ignored container 3.
 

After a month the rice in container one began to ferment, giving off a pleasant odour. The rice in Container 2 turned black, and the rice in container 3 was rotting!
 

As M.J. led us through various exercises, her writing workshop gave us some tools to empower ourselves.
 

Her book “Waves of Blue Light: Heal The Heart And Free The Soul” is a self help book capturing spiritual essence in in prose, pictures and poetry and reflects M.J.’s own inner journey.
 

The Perth Library has acquired a copy if you’d like to read it yourself, or you can order a copy from M.J.’s website at www.expecttobeempowered.com
You can also log on and follow M.J.’s journey across Canada and find out more about her work.
 

We all enjoyed meeting M.J. and loved the workshop…it was indeed inspirational!
 

Frances Lawrence, one of the participants, has written poetry and short stories and she gave us permission to print her poem “A Gift Of Hope For You” for our readers.

Stephanie Kelley