How are you feeling today? No, how are you really feeling?
My weekly letter to you
Hello, friends!
Welcome to Friday and the end of what, for many of us, is the first full week back. Back to work, back to school or, as my Grandma used to say, ‘back to earth with a bump.’
How are you feeling?
I’ve been thinking about how we so seldom ask this question of each other - or of ourselves.
The typical British exchange - How are you? Fine, thank you - doesn’t leave much room for real exploration. How often do you respond, ‘Oh, I’m fine, thanks,’ when really you’re feeling something other than ‘fine,’ whether it’s sadness or despair or excitement or just a fog of not-knowing.
One of the wonderful things about writing is that it can help us to notice how we’re feeling.
One of the most challenging and difficult things about writing is that it can help us to notice how we’re feeling.
But this is why journals and notebooks are so helpful. We can ask ourselves how we’re really feeling, gently and in private. We can practice being compassionate with ourselves about what comes up.
I’ve been writing in spirals this week - which always seems to help me to tap into my feelings. You could put pretty much anything in the centre of the page and ask yourself how you’re feeling about it. You could even begin with ‘How are you feeling?’
I’ve also been writing lists.
And I’ve been asking myself: What would Vivienne Westwood do?
I thought this piece by Eva Wiseman was one of the best bits of writing I read this week on why the old you - and not some new, new year version - is perfect as it is.
Is ChatGPT just a clever toy or the end of writing? Discuss. Or maybe type a prompt into ChatGPT and find out what kind of essay it writes for you.
But I’ve been thinking that the current conversation about AI and writing overlooks the very thing about writing that is so crucial to so many of us. Writing isn’t just about producing an end product. Writing is a process. Writing can help us to notice what we feel and perhaps even to feel better. Or as Joan Didion once wrote:
I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I see and what it means.’
What does writing mean to you? How is the process of writing helpful to you?
Do share in the comments.
I’m wishing you a week with space to write and to check-in and ask yourself how you’re feeling from time to time.
With love,
Sophie x
PS Please do help me to keep writing by subscribing to this letter, if you haven’t already. And if you know someone who would enjoy this letter, please do share so that they can subscribe too. Thank you.
AQ, Thank you so much for taking the time to share this.
Yes, in some ways, this is extraordinary when you consider that AI has arranged these lines and patterns. In my opinion, this is not a great poem. It's full of cliche - hardly surprising, since pattern recognition or algorithm works on the basis of imitating or simulating... But as there is so much 'bad' and not very original writing out there, and we actually teach students in primary schools to write in this way, and we all to an extent learn by imitation, this is why I think some people are in a bit of a tizz about ChatGPT...
John Warner has written a really good article on this here, that I really think is worth a read...
https://biblioracle.substack.com/p/chatgpt-cant-kill-anything-worth?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share
For me process is always going to be much more important than end product.
I do agree that the process of writing is as rewarding as the outcome. The organization of thoughts, the choice of words, the self-editing, and re-editing. That personal reward can't be substituted by AI, yet. My first winter back in the northern hemisphere was depressing to me so I asked ChatGPT to write me a poem about winter earlier this week for some motivation. Each time I give it this question, I get a new poem. This latest one is not as good as the one earlier this week but still not bad for an automaton.
Winter's grip, so cold and stark
Lays a blanket on the park
Bare branches reach to touch the sky
Nature's beauty, there on high
Frozen ponds, a winter's sheen
Glass-like surface, so serene
A world of white, a winter scene
Nature's art, a dreamlike dream
Ice sculptures, grand and tall
Nature's sculptures, standing tall
A winter wonderland unfolds
A magic story yet untold
With each flake, a tale to share
A story written in the air
Winter's magic, all around
A peaceful hush, a tranquil sound.