Celebrating 5 years of mind-blowing magic

Last Friday was the 260th weekly meeting of the original Soul Writing group, which, I later realized, means we've been meeting every week now for five years straight.

I offered that first session in July 2020 assuming it was a one-time experiment, not the seed of what it now is. That day’s writing prompt came from a news story about how an amusement park in Japan was discouraging people from spreading COVID on the roller coaster. "Please scream inside your heart," the invitation on one sign read.

How could we not run with something so... perfect? Not only was it our first prompt, it eventually became title of our first anthology, and a pretty unforgettable way to mark the beginning of something that has persisted, evolved, and deepened in all the ways it has.

Last week, for the second time ever—not fully realizing the significance of the date—I gave the group another headline, this time from the NYT Cooking newsletter:

"I owe angel hair pasta an apology."

Again: you can’t let a line like that just sit there without trying to, well, cook something with it.

And, if we still needed proof that we can start literally anywhere and write in profound, healing, synchronistic ways, we have responses like this one.

Hopefully you are now itching to give it a go. Do it! Set a timer for 8 minutes and write "Please scream inside your heart" or "I owe angel hair pasta an apology" at the top of the page, and see what comes out if you keep your hand moving and don't stop to second guess yourself.

I am so, so grateful we haven't stopped to second guess ourselves—not even once—in the last five years. Let's keep expressing, keep reaching for the truth, keep holding each other in kindness and love.

Thank you for being part of the ride, beloved Friday OGs and every single one of you who has hopped on this heart-screaming roller coaster since then.

So much love. So, so much love. 🖤