Take it From a Writer: Your Unconscious is Not What You Think
- zoeferraris
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
Hi everyone. This month I’m doing a series about a pretty important topic—you.
Specifically, your Inner Self—a.k.a. your unconscious mind.
This subject has obsessed me for years, because it is connected to every aspect of our creativity.
So I’m going to share my insights on the Inner Self, and I think they’ll surprise you.
We think of this space as one of repression and dark impulses—it is not.
We think of this space as inaccessible or difficult to access—it is not.
We think of it as filled with clutter—also no.
And most of us think of it as “locked away” or sealed off inside ourselves.
We need an entirely new paradigm for understanding it, which means pushing back against some entrenched beliefs.
And if it’s not any of these things, then what is it?
I’m going to share my views of the Inner Self, which are based on my experience as a writer, and guide you to some novel ways of understanding it that I hope will inspire you to more creativity, integration, and inspiration—and maybe even a fresh insight on what it means to be human.
Let’s start with inspiration.
Before you skip off thinking “I don’t need this, I already know what lights me up,” I want to tell you that what writers call inspiration is much more than you think.
Traditionally, inspiration was a religious concept. The word itself meant “divine guidance,” and to be inspired meant receiving a sacred revelation.
Later, it came to its current meaning. Cambridge Dictionary is almost funny in its avoidance of specificity: “someone or something that gives you ideas for doing something.”
This duality still flows around the idea of inspiration: it’s a basic human state, but it’s also sacred.
We tend to think of inspiration as an “a-ha” moment, but in fact, there’s a huge sliding scale of experience.
On the easy end, you suddenly remember that word you were looking for.
In the middle, you’re sitting at your desk, unaware of time passing because you’re so engrossed in your work.
At its more sublime levels, your mind gets blown.
In other words, inspiration is not just a eureka moment—it’s a state of being that can last for hours.
Long considered to belong to the realm of the mystics, inspiration is now seen as an optimal state of flow, where you are truly on top of your game.
When I’m in that state, I feel engaged and vibrant. My senses feel heightened. I don’t think as much—answers just come.
For most people, it’s usually somewhat accidental. But you can do it on purpose. It can even, with practice, become an ongoing state.
So inspiration is typically a few things:
Your skill or creative output comes easily.
You lose track of time and start doing the thing just to do it—not necessarily for any other purpose.
It can lead to discovery, invention, and insight.
It often causes a feeling of connection—with a task, a person, an object, a place, or even a sense of oneness with the bigger world.
It is characterized by joy or even bliss.
Inspiration feels like the fulfillment of a wish, and you have a sense, although you may not know why, that it will lead you to everything else you want, too.
I’m sure you can see how this thing can be in every part of your life—your relationships, your job, your finances, your house, your car.
That’s because what we’re calling inspiration is actually something much bigger.
It’s the flow that happens when you get in touch with your Inner Self.
You don’t need brainwave training or chemicals to unlock all of the potential inside you, but you do need a clear understanding of your Inner Self, and like I said, that’s going to involve disassembling some of our assumptions about the unconscious mind.
Look for my next post in a few days, and I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Zoë