Writing and Healing Idea #42: Making Peace with the Body

Sparked by Sara Yates’ Call for Submissions, which appears below, I thought I’d offer some ways to begin writing about making peace with the body. It also occurs to me that there may be a way to tie this in to the practice of revision.

Here then are some questions that might spark writing on Making Peace with the Body

Question 1: When you hear the phrase, Making Peace with the Body, what image pops into your head? What word? What picture? What scene? What body?

Question 2: Is there anything you’ve already written—ever—that touches, even remotely, on making peace with the body? Can you find it? Would it be worth digging up and looking at again? Might it provide the clean copy of pages that you could look at again and use to practice revision?

Question 3: Have you written anything—ever—that touches, even remotely, on the topic of someone or something making war with the body? Would this piece be worth digging up and looking at again? Could it become a springboard for writing about making peace with the body?

Question 4: Might one of these lines offer a springboard to writing?

I remember a moment when I made peace with my body—–

I remember a moment when I felt at peace with my body——

I remember a moment when I really needed to feel at peace with my body—–

I have never made peace with my body——

A person I know who has really made peace with her/his body is———–

I started to make peace with my body when——

The next step to making more peace with my body would be———