Earth Day was yesterday, April 22nd. To honor Mother Earth, let’s reflect on two ways she can guide us, not just in our personal lives but also in our writing. The strategies listed below are backed up by science and my personal experience!
Bilateral Movement & Nature
In 2024, I was struggling due to a death in the family, some very lonely time in Germany over the summer, and an agonizing breakup. The only thing that got me through this time was to get outside and move.
Bilateral movement (or stimulation) occurs when the left and right sides of the body are used simultaneously or sequentially. This is key in connecting the left and right hemispheres of the brain, and not just for motor purposes. There is recent evidence that bilateral movement is also helpful in connecting the dots in other areas of life, such as emotional processing. (For more on this, read “Bilateral Stimulation 101: What It Is and How It Helps” on Live Mindfully Psychotherapy, or, if you are looking for a research study, read Amano & Toich, 2016).
During this difficult time in my life, I was taking a writing class, and whenever I would be stuck while writing an essay, I would go for a walk or run to mull it over. With the leaves crunching beneath me with every step, I could feel my left and right hemispheres joining forces, and I was able to figure out what I was missing. But it wasn’t just running that helped me—it was running in nature, with Mother Earth.
Walking, running, or other forms of this movement in nature can help you think clearly and make connections. So if you are ever stuck in a writing slump, this can be a larger help than you think. Take a break from your laptop and get out there!
So Much To Write About!
Mother Earth is filled with beautiful things to write about, especially at this time of year, and each of these things can become a writing prompt!
On a beautiful day during my Introduction to Poetry 001* class, my professor brought us outside into the blossoming spring weather. It was still chilly enough to need a heavier long-sleeved top on, and I pulled my sweatshirt tighter around me as I wiped down a dew-covered chair to sit in. We gathered under tons of small pink and white flowers that had just started to bloom and smelled like a can of stale tuna. My professor told us to draw a chart with the five senses, and for feel, we were also allowed to include how we felt emotionally.
During this activity, I was forced to ground myself in the scene: I felt the damp metal chair beneath me, the rungs pressing into my legs. I saw the white spring-blossom trees, the petals pasted around me with the glue of a spring rain shower. I smelled—well, the trees, but it also smelled like dying fish. I could have written that I tasted leftover pieces of a granola bar from breakfast, but instead I wrote that I tasted the approaching warmer weather, and more poetic things like that. By pushing myself to describe the scene until I ran out of words, my imagery reached new limits.
All in all, getting outside for a walk as spring blooms can help you with your writing in more ways than one. Happy Earth Day, and remember to thank Mother Earth for all she gives us and to treat her with respect. Sometimes, it really does take getting out of your head and into the nature around you to achieve a breakthrough in your writing!
*For more on what I gained from this class, see my piece in Project Write Now’s The Imprint, Four Rules That Changed How I Write Poetry
Citations:
- Amano, T., & Toichi, M. (2016). The role of alternating bilateral stimulation in establishing positive cognition in EMDR therapy: A multi-channel near-infrared spectroscopy study. PloS one, 11(10). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0162735
- Live Mindfully Psychotherapy Blog Staff. (2025, May 2). Live Mindfully Psychotherapy. Live Mindfully Psychotherapy. https://www.livemindfullypsychotherapy.com/blog/bilateral-stimulation