December 16, 2024 • 33 mins
The Science of Writing to Heal with Nneka Denise
In this episode of Embracing Intensity, we’re excited to share the Q&A portion of our powerful conversation with Nneka Denise, founder of the Write to Heal Project. This discussion offers timely tools and insights as we reflect on letting go of the past year and preparing for a fresh, intentional start in the new year.
Nneka shares her transformative approach to healing through writing, addressing grief not only as it relates to loss but also to life transitions, personal growth, and emotional clarity. Whether you’re navigating stress, seeking emotional release, or exploring creative outlets, this episode provides practical strategies to help you move forward.
About Nneka Denise
Nneka Denise is the founder of the Write to Heal Project and a trained end-of-life and bereavement doula based in the Portland-Vancouver area. Through journaling, visualization, and somatic practices, Nneka helps individuals process grief, trauma, and life’s emotional challenges. She also runs the New Wellness Center in downtown Portland, a collective of holistic healing practitioners offering vibrational sound baths, Reiki, massage, and emotional wellness support.
In This Episode:
- The Science of Writing to Heal – How writing can help process emotions, grief, and transitions in life.
- Practical Writing Strategies – Tips for using gratitude journaling, brain dumps, and affirmations to create a daily healing practice.
- Ceremonial Release – The power of burning or shredding written emotions as a symbolic act of letting go.
- Affirmations for Healing – How to create affirmations that feel believable and achievable, guiding you toward positive change.
- Navigating Writing Challenges – Nneka’s advice for those with ADHD, dyslexia, or writing apprehensions, including voice dictation and alternative methods.
Resources & Links:
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Connect with Nneka on Instagram: @nneka_denise
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Contact Nneka via email: nneka.denise@gmail.com
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Learn about the New Wellness Center in Downtown Portland (10th & Morrison)
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Explore the Embracing Intensity Community and Memberships.
-
Preorder Aurora’s workbook, Energy Balance (Kindle edition), available this Friday, December 20th.
Nneka’s work offers invaluable tools for self-reflection, healing, and emotional growth through the simple yet profound act of writing. Whether you’re a lifelong journaler or just beginning your healing journey, this episode is packed with actionable insights to help you process emotions and step into the new year with intention.
Listen now and take the first step tow
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Nneka (00:00):
Emotional maturity is a range and there's not an age range where all of a
(00:06):
sudden, oh, we're all emotionally mature.
We got this now.
We're constantly evolving andlearning and grief is not, I
don't care who's written the book.
Whether it's seven stages, 12 stages,you check all the boxes and you're
done, that mess comes right back aroundand will slap you right back into
the moment that grief onset occurred.
Aurora (00:31):
Welcome to the Embracing Intensity podcast.
I'll be sharing interviews and tips forgifted, creative, twice exceptional,
and outside the box thinkers whouse their fire in a positive way.
My name is Aurora Remember Holtzman.
After years of feeling too much, Ifinally realized that intensity is
the source of my greatest power.
(00:52):
Now, instead of beating myselfup about not measuring up to
my own self imposed standards.
I'm on a mission to help people embracetheir own intensity and befriend their
brains so they can share their giftswith the world through the Embracing
Intensity community, coaching, educationalassessment, and other tools to help you
use your fire without getting burned.
(01:14):
You can join us at embracingintensity.
com.
Hello.
This week, I am thrilled to sharethe Q and a portion of our talk with
(01:38):
the incredible Nneka Denise divinginto the science of writing to heal.
This conversation comes at theperfect time as we reflect on what
we're ready to let go of with theyears close and step towards a
brighter, more positive new year.
Before we dive in, I wanted toshare some exciting updates.
I've recently transitioned my plannerclub into the neurodivergent toolkit,
(02:01):
offering expanded tools to support yourjourney, including a brand new stress
processing journal and an upcoming visionbook journal launching in the new year.
Additionally, I'm wrapping up finaledits on my physical and Kindle
workbook on energy balance,which is set to be published
this Friday, December 20th.
You can even, pre-orderthe Kindle version now.
(02:23):
As I prepare for 2025, I'd like to includemore interviews, aiming to return to two
episodes a month, once it's sustainable.
If you'd like to support this workand access, amazing resources,
consider joining one of the embracingintensity memberships, the guests
call library, neurodivergent toolkitor the all access membership.
As a part of the all accessmembership I'll be running my ignite
(02:46):
your power course live in 2025.
Along with an expanded group mastermindfor deeper community and accountability.
The full video discussion recordingincludes further exploration on processing
grief, not only from physical loss,but also life transitions and self
evolution, interactive healing practiceslike pairing gratitude, journaling
(03:09):
with brain dumps and affirmations, howfiction and personal narratives help
reimagine futures and process experiences,and ceremonial writing practices such
as burning or shredding emotionalwritings for catharsis and closure.
Nneka's insights are invaluable,and I can't wait for you to hear her
thoughtful and practical approachesto emotional healing through writing.
(03:33):
If you'd like to watch the full recording,you'll find it in the guest call library.
Enjoy.
Welcome, everybody.
I'm so glad to see some awesome folksjoining us here today and great to have
Nneka coming back who is an amazingfriend of mine and every experience we've
done with her has been fantastic.WellI'm going to introduce Nneka and then.
(03:57):
We can circle back inthe discussion portion.
Nneka is somebody thatI know in real life.
We met at some networking events.
I remember the first time weconnected, we talked for hours
and totally lost track of time.
And we only see each other infrequentlyright now, but every time we kind of
lose track of time and it's awesome.
(04:17):
And I think her first call onwriting to heal was probably my
most attended call of all times.
Even with people with millionsof followers and stuff Nneka's
first call was one of my biggest.
So, she draws an amazing group ofpeople and she just started a local
Healing community and does allsorts of stuff in the community.
(04:39):
So I'm so thrilled to have youhere Nneka Why don't you go
ahead and introduce yourself?
Nneka (04:45):
Thank you for having me Aurora again, and Hello everyone.
Thank you for being on the callthis morning Like Aurora said
my name is Nneka Denise I am thefounder of the write to heal project
based out of Portland, Oregon.
I typically work with Oregonand Southwest Washington.
I technically live in Vancouverjust over the river, but with
(05:06):
the write to heal project, Ihelp people navigate their grief.
Caused by death, tragedy and trauma,as well as transitions, because not
all grief comes about due to loss,like getting a new job or transitioning
up, evolving in life that can alsocause some heavy emotional feelings.
(05:27):
I use transformative prompts forjournaling, meditation, visualization,
somatic practices and intuitiveguidance to help people get the heavy
emotions off of their body, and out.
Emotions and stress, as we allknow, cause illness and all
kind of detriment to our body.
In addition to the Write to Heal project,like Aurora said, I did just open um,
(05:51):
It's called the New Wellness Center indowntown Portland, with a collective of
holistic healing practitioners, wheretogether we offer holistic healing
from vibrational sound baths, toReiki energy, massage, touch emotional
guidance, but also spiritual guidance.
(06:12):
What else?
I am a trained end of lifedoula and bereavement doula.
So grief, loss, emotionalwellness is my jam.
And I've been writing sinceI could pick up a crayon.
It has been my biggest healing tool.
And we'll get more into that later.
But if we want to circle around orpause, maybe this is a good time.
Aurora (06:33):
Awesome.
So if you guys have any specificquestions for Nneka when it comes to
writing to HEAL, like her approach anyquestions about the science around it,
she's been doing this for many years.
You could also circle back to someof my past episodes with Nneka.
The last one we did was actuallykind of an interactive experience.
So that one didn't go on the podcast.
She's a wealth of knowledge.
(06:53):
Would you recommend some researchbooks, articles that under your work?
I have a stack and I'malways looking for more.
If you have specific recommendations.
Nneka (07:05):
I was just looking at the American psychological association.
They've shared some studies on writingto heal and how it has improved
those with terminal illnesses.
So physically, it has shown somegreat improvement in health.
What I had prepared for you all, is toshare my background with Writing to Heal.
(07:26):
And Some tools and benefits and how Iintegrate it into my wellness practice
and teach folks how to integratedifferent transformative writing prompts
and stuff with their clients and thendialogue so we can talk a little bit
more because as much as I've been doingit, I love research, but I don't quote.
(07:47):
I like to speak through personalexperiences and give examples like that,
I'm not one that's huge on research inthe sense that I can just pull out of my
brain and just quote I'm hoping to geta good dialogue with you all, because
as much as I've been using writingas a tool, I know you all use it too.
So I'd love to kind of engagea little bit in conversation,
(08:11):
and just see where it flows.
Aurora (08:13):
Yeah, absolutely.
I'm going to read a couple questions here.
I'll let you go into the part thatyou had prepared, and then we'll
let people have some more questions.
But the second half willdefinitely open for broad
discussion as well and reflection.
So just a couple of things inthe chat how to get into writing
when you have dyslexia and ADHD.
I do write, but also use voicedictation as I find physical
(08:35):
writing can slow the process down.
Any thoughts on facilitating that process?
Nneka (08:41):
Yeah, I love that second part of that.
So every write to heal circle thatI do, I always have one or two
individuals that are like, okay, Icame because I knew I was supposed
to be here, but I am not a writer.
And it's like during the headlights,I have apprehension around it.
I am a creative writer, right?
And I have a background in publishing,but when I show up in healing spaces,
(09:06):
it's to hold space for the emotionsand all the things that come up.
No judgment.
I'm not an English teacher.
I don't have a red pen.
I'm not going to mark up your work.
It's for you, but it's really justto kind of guide you along for you to
sit with the emotions that are comingup and provide you with an outlet.
(09:27):
That gets you to start building thatrelationship with those emotions and
allowing yourself to let them go.
So the fact that you record your voiceto get out of your own way, that's huge.
When I'm doing specific promptsand for those people that find that
writing Just causes extra layersto getting it out to process.
(09:49):
I tell them to doodle.
Literally, it's literally the motionof writing is just getting you out of
your own way and getting you out ofyour head and to the to the process
of just processing the prompt at hand.
So the fact that you know that andyou're aware of other tools so that
you can get your voice out there.
I commend you for that.
Aurora (10:11):
Awesome.
I'm going to read a couple ofthe chat things and I'll let
you dive into the other stuff.
I love the coincidences in theneurodivergent world and how
often at least two ND peeps aredoing and thinking the same thing.
Totally.
And then hot tip of the various zeitgeistcollective consciousness for the win.
Yeah, I would love to hear moreabout your personal experience.
I know you've shared some, but most ofthe people here are new to your work.
(10:31):
I would love to hear, whatyou have to share on that.
Nneka (10:35):
Yeah, so as a child, I was the inquisitive being and in my household
being raised by a very, I mean, Ilove my daddy to death, but he was
dominant and very much an alpha male.
And if you ask questions that was abovehis head He didn't know what to do
with it, so it was more of a shushing.
(10:55):
Children are to be seenand not heard, so to speak.
So I learned at a young age,especially being biracial, growing
up in the Pacific Northwest, wheredo you fit in, where do I belong?
And being inquisitive withlots of questions and gifted.
I found solace in my journals.
So, when I had heavy questions, Inoticed that if I couldn't get the
(11:17):
answers from my community, my supportsystem, I would get lost in my journals,
and eventually, miraculously, and Ididn't know why, as a kid, the answers
would come, and I would be guided.
I created this alter ego, or not alterego, but this ulterior universe where I
could just pour my heart, all my pain,all my emotions, all my questions into
(11:41):
the pages of my journals and the end.
Create my own community, so to speak,because I could be myself there.
I knew who I was there.
And even if I didn't know thereasons why or the answers, I
felt comfort and comforted there.
Throughout life my whole adulthoodhas been filled with heavy loss.
(12:04):
So 22 years ago, I lost myson at five and a half weeks.
11, nine years after that lost myboys as father, I've lost a parent and
throughout all those heavy grief riddentime periods in my life again, I found
myself either running as my tool orwriting in my journal and I didn't know
(12:28):
it then, but my son Khalil who passedaway he gave me the greatest gift of all.
He gave me purpose.
And in hindsight, as hard and as harshas that was, being a sheltered kid
who had never experienced loss andto have to, you know, say goodbye to
your offspring, it was devastating.
(12:50):
But again, he gave me purpose.
So everything that I do isfrom a different look on death
and loss and emotions and.
Emotional maturity is a range andthere's not an age range where all of a
sudden, oh, we're all emotionally mature.
We got this now.
We're constantly evolving andlearning and grief is not, I
(13:12):
don't care who's written the book.
Whether it's seven stages, 12 stages,you check all the boxes and you're
done, that mess comes right back aroundand will slap you right back into
the moment that grief onset occurred.
And it can happen timeand time again, right?
There's triggers.
But anyway, throughout my wholejourney throughout the last,
(13:33):
whatever, I just turned 44 last month.
So, I've always found solace.
in writing.
I've always gotten lost in it.
I just released a poetry album a yearago, and throughout each one of those
pieces, it's my pain to purpose journey.
It's looking at life, all aspects oflife, and what can I learn from it?
(13:55):
How do I feel?
How can I create art as an outlet and notonly heal myself, but pour into others?
Throughout my wellness work, I use promptsfor healing in a way that it gets people
to sit with the heaviness, to writeabout it, get it off of their person.
Again.
I always do this prompt.
(14:16):
I like to call dump itout or take out the trash.
And when they come in and they havethat moment, whatever is plaguing them
or whatever, They couldn't leave at thedoor before entering the sacred space.
I just have them write it out.
It doesn't matter what it is.
It could be even positive things likethey could be up and vibing high,
(14:40):
but yet they're trying to settletheir space so that they can fall
into this writing circle, right?
So whatever it is that'shindering the process, I tell
them to just put it on paper.
And getting it out, because sometimeswhere we may not have voice, we have pen
and imagination we have communication, andwriting just allows you to still get that
(15:05):
voice out there, but maybe not verbally.
Aurora (15:08):
If there's specific questions that you guys have for Nneka, I
will read those out loud, okay.
Oh, this is a good one.
So, what do you do with a paperwhen you've taken the trash out?
Nneka (15:19):
Ah, good question.
Okay, so when I'm in my healing spacea writing to heal, sacred ceremony
like space all that negativitythat we write out, I like to burn.
I like to go outside and burn it.
So literally, metaphorically, it's gone.
It's in the ethers.
It is away.
When I am doing like a, a non spiritualor non ceremonial writing class and we do
(15:45):
that, I'll encourage them to either shredthat page in their journal or loose paper
and because even shredding it physically,I mean, when we rip stuff, when we throw
stuff, when we scream and we get thoseemotions out, it again, it helps us.
So I encourage them to not leavethat negativity in their books.
(16:07):
Because then it's just sitting there.
Then you can go back to it.
But I like the physical aspect ofletting it go and removing it completely.
Did that answer your question?
Aurora (16:18):
Awesome.
You know, one question that I have,because I think both of us similarly
have, started With mostly womenin our community and have grown to
include more men in our communityas we realize that there's things
that, you know, are universal, right?
But I noticed that too, with your healingcommunity, the live community as well.
(16:40):
I'd be curious to see, if you haveseen any specific things that are
helpful for the men that you'veworked with versus the women.
Nneka (16:49):
Yeah, that's a really good question.
So when I popped on and I saw the menin this circle, I was really excited
because men need healing spaces too.
And our society.
Well, especially in America I say.
Men aren't encouraged toseek out support women.
We lean on each other.
(17:09):
We find our tribe.
We find our soul sisters.
We find what we need.
And we're resourceful.
Men are taught to go to work,provide, do all these things, but
y'all carry some heavy stress.
And if you don't find your outlets,Where does that leave our men?
Right.
So I always, I do my one on onegrief work, small group work,
(17:31):
even family work with men as well.
And every first Wednesday I hold agrief circle at the new wellness center.
And I've been seeingmore and more men coming.
I'm on 10th and Morrison.
If you're in Portland, comesee me on the first Wednesday.
I also find that men, if we createand hold that space, they will
pour out with their words andtheir emotions, just like women do.
(17:54):
And I find it, and it could be inmixed, male, female spaces as well.
But I think it's aboutproviding the opportunity.
And inviting those to lean intotheir emotions and men need healing.
Just as much as we do.
So I will never limit my practiceto just serving women ever again.
(18:16):
I'm a boy, mom.
Well, I have a daughter now, but Ihave three little men that I'm raising.
If I don't teach them how to lean intotheir emotions and heal themselves
so that they can pour into anduplift their community as well.
What am I doing as a mother?
Back to real quick.
Burn those pages, baby.
But before you do that, if I encourageyou, if you would like to journey with
(18:39):
yourself, flip back to those pages.
And before you get to burning, Maybe dosome redirection or turn those negative
sentiments into a positive affirmation.
And then, so you can collectthat and start working through
those emotions in positive light.
But once you do that, then burn it andlet it go and have a whole ceremony.
(19:01):
Because that no longer serves you anymore.
And you can let that be.
So I just wanted to share that.
Aurora (19:08):
Nice.
I have a couple more questions I'llcircle back to, but one of the reasons
that came to my mind was like I said,I started out mostly with women in my
community, but then I found when I wasat the ADHD conferences last week, I
spent most of my time with the men'ssupport group, the ADHD men's support
group created by Mark Almodovar,who's spoke on leadership earlier this
(19:29):
year, because he's just created suchan amazing supportive environment.
And so I just thought it wasinteresting that the people I
connected with the most were.
The ones that were there fromthe men's group, which was great.
And someone asked what if burning whatyou wrote isn't an option or not allowed?
Nneka (19:48):
Yep.
That's where the shredding comes in.
So you can physically hand shred.
I used to do that all thetime with my journals.
You can get a paper shredder if you want.
I just like the physical touchaspect of actually tearing but you
can always shred them it's paper, soit's biodegradable, you could bury
it what else have I done in the past?
(20:09):
I think that's pretty much it, but Iwould just encourage you, again, like I
just said, to look back, see if there'sanything maybe you need to work with
still, And reframe it, put a positivespin on it, rewrite it because we get
to rewrite the trajectory of our lives.
So all those negative narrativesand whatnot we can change it up
(20:30):
because the future hasn't comeyet and we get to set that.
So if you can't burn it, shred it or bury
it
I don't know if you guys haveseen The Secret Life of Bees.
In that movie, one of the things thatI really loved about it is one of the
characters, she would get really griefridden and emotional, and every time
(20:53):
she would, she would write a prayer orwrite whatever it was that was plaguing
her, and she must have been some sort ofempath or something, because she could
feel it really heavy on her person,but she would write it out, and then
she had this place out in the garden orwhatever, and she would stick it there.
So yeah, if you got beautifulroses, give it to the roses.
Roses are there to protect andbe, they're there for beauty.
(21:17):
So if, if, you know, anyway, maybethey can turn those things into
beautiful blooming aromas of roses.
Aurora (21:24):
I want to open up for open discussion shortly, but before we do
that, I wanted to talk a little bitmore about the affirmation part of it.
I know you talked about that lasttime on the one that we did share.
I'd love to hear you.
Share a little bit moreabout the affirmation aspect.
Nneka (21:40):
I love affirmations because when you can create a sentence, a
positive sentence, and share it aboutyourself and you repeat that, so,
let me, let me step back a minute.
So, back to the dump itout, take out your trash.
With that, another prompt that I useis having guests write down all the
(22:01):
negative titles, roles, things that peoplehave said about them or that they've
internally said about themselves, right?
I'm fat, I'm ugly, I'm stupid,or whatever the case may be.
So they write it all out.
And then I asked them, were there anyof those traits or whatever commentary
(22:22):
that you had reservations writing, right?
Whatever ones that made you feellike, Oh, I still have work to do.
Take out two or three of those.
And then with those.
Negatives or even positive things.
Like when people say, Oh my God,you're so gorgeous or whatever
the case, but yet you're like,Oh, you brush off the compliment.
(22:43):
You know what I mean?
Cause you're not owning it yourself.
So again, it could be a positive,but anything that has you like there
being reservation or some work thatyou need to do, then I'll have them
take that statement and then we'llwork with creating it into your
affirmation statement with that.
I like doing that.
Because once you have a clear, conciseaffirmation, I'm smart, intelligent, and
(23:08):
I can move mountains, or whatever it maybe, you create that statement, then you
can start practicing repetitive writing.
And then you start putting thoseaffirmations into practice.
Visually on your mirrors or on evenlike little stickers on your computer
because the more you state claim to thosestatements, the more you will be kind
(23:28):
of like the old saying, fake it till youmake it there's some truth behind that.
And when it comes to, manifestation,it's not just, oh, I want this.
Can I have that?
You have to be in that energyand like, attract, like.
So when you write that affirmationstatement, it takes a while,
but you can learn to own it.
(23:50):
And the more you see it, the more youread it, even using your voice recorder
and recording your voice, stating itand repeating it and listening to it.
The more you interact with thatstatement, the more you be and become.
Aurora (24:04):
So oftentimes with affirmations, sometimes if we jump
to something that we really don'tbelieve, they're not as effective.
So I know there's, takingsmall steps towards saying
something that you could believe.
I'm wondering if you have somethoughts and strategies around creating
affirmations that you can get behind andactually believe, rather than jumping
(24:26):
to something that's so far out ofyour comfort zone that you reject it.
Nneka (24:31):
Right.
So with manifestation,you can dream big, right?
You can dream out of this world, right?
And you can create thatbig affirmation statement.
But if it causes you pause when youshare that with others, let's say.
I'm a trillionaire.
Before you can be a trillionaire,you got to be a millionaire, right?
So you can backtrack and makesmaller statements that lead
(24:54):
up to, so like I said, okay Iwant to say i'm a trillionaire.
That's not one of my affirmations, bythe way but Before that, I have to claim
that I'm a millionaire before that.
Maybe I need to be a thousand ora hundred thousand-ere, right?
But you can backtrack it andcreate smaller it's like goal
setting, you create smaller goalsthat lead you to the bigger goal.
(25:18):
And you can definitelydo that with affirmation.
Cause like I touched on manifestationis about being in that energy.
And if you truly today.
Can't own it in all aspects ofyou and it just doesn't feel real.
I mean, again, you couldfake it till you make it, but
faking it doesn't get you far.
I like that Aurora.
I like the idea of taking asmaller affirmation that maybe
(25:40):
you can own tomorrow instead ofnext month or whatever it may be.
Aurora (25:46):
Yeah, and I think sometimes just even entertaining the
possibility that this could be true.
That's even a step towards that direction.
If you aren't even sure itcould be true, you know.
I'm noticing we're gettingclose to the halfway mark.
So I would love to startopening up for discussion.
Before we do that, did you haveany final thoughts on the tools and
stuff that you've shared so far?
Nneka (26:07):
Yeah, I did want to share as far as the science behind writing to heal,
we do know, and there is studies thatspeak to writing, like journaling, daily
journaling, it lowers stress and cancalm your nervous system it also can,
there's studies that speak to boostingyour immune system cause it raises your
(26:29):
vibration It can also remove, like we'vebeen talking about, the stuck emotions.
And it can help you gain clarity.
So I just wanted to point out thosefive things, relieving stress, calming
anxiety and resetting the nervoussystem, boosting the immune system,
removing stuck emotions from thebody and helping you to gain clarity.
Aurora (26:53):
Awesome.
I think that would be great to explore howwe could take this a little bit deeper in
some, maybe some sort of paid workshop.
We always have rich conversations.
And the one that we didn't recordbecause it was more personal, was
like an interactive experience,and I have to thank you.
Nneka is just amazing because I hadsomeone back out who had suggested
(27:14):
a two part writer's workshop.
So I had to skip that first oneand then Nneka circled back for the
second one and, and offered thisand it was a lifesaver, but it was
such a great interactive experience.
Because we wanted to keep it a moreintimate circle, we didn't record it.
But it was more where you actuallywould bring your journal and work
through some of these things together.
(27:34):
So, I think we just need tofigure out the logistics.
Nneka (27:38):
We can do, like I said, a two part, three, some kind of series,
because I'd love to do that at one again.
So basically, virtually, and thatwas my very first time holding a
write to heal circle, virtually.
So I walked the guests throughwhat I would do in person.
And it was beautiful.
It was still interactive.
It sold me on this whole virtualthing that we're all in, cause it
(28:02):
was beautiful and people stillgot amazing things out of it.
So, Aurora, we'll talk because Ithink doing something like that
as a one off would be great.
And then having some sort of two or threepart write to heal series, I think would
be really beneficial for the community.
Aurora (28:20):
Yeah, absolutely.
And we created a subgroup in theEmbracing Intensity community
for the write to heal stuff.
So that would be a great place tomaybe have discussions about what would
work for that community in terms ofexploring time, place, length, all those
details to see what would be worthwhile
Nneka (28:39):
thank you.
I was just gonna add that for theinteractive one, the healing circle,
because that was last minute, somebodydropped off, but this one, if we do
it again, I'd focus the prompts on,you know, some themes and stuff around
neurodivergence and things that come upand really cater it to the community.
I think that would be really lovely.
Aurora (28:59):
Absolutely.
Awesome.
Well, looking at our time,it's about wrap up time.
So Nneka, do you have any lastminute thoughts, reflections
that you'd like to share?
Nneka (29:09):
Yeah, so I just want to thank Aurora and this amazing
community for having me here again.
And I just encourage you all to giveyourself grace use some of the tools
that we talked about, write it out.
Write it out, stomp it out, just dowhatever you can to show yourself
(29:29):
that love and care that we all need,especially in these heavy times right now.
The end of the year can be stressful withholidays, but also it's a beautiful time
to set your intentions and really startstepping into the year that you want.
2025 to become it starts now.
(29:50):
So anything heavy on you work through it,sit with those emotions and for everything
that no longer serves you, let it go.
You got to move it out, out with the oldso that you can bring in the new right.
It's been a pleasure.
You can find me on socialmedia at Nneka Denise.
(30:11):
I believe it's Nneka underscore Denise.
And my first name is spelled N NE K A, and Denise is D E N I S E.
That's also my email address, Nneka.
denise at gmail dot com.
For those of you that are local toPortland, or if you are going to
be traveling in the Portland area.
(30:31):
The new wellness center is at10th and Morrison downtown.
It's a beautiful space.
It's like walking through the doors,like walking into a healing hug, like
seriously, mama G Graciela tail fieldwho founded the new wellness center.
She created this lovely,divine, energetic space.
for our collective, the ladieswithin the collective space.
(30:55):
We are part of ladies of the light,which you can find us on social
as ladies of the light as well.
And the holistic healing experienceand journey is beautiful.
And we just welcome you all forthose that you are not local
reach out, let's continue to buildcommunity and grow and connect.
So it's just been a pleasure.
And I thank you all forsharing space with me today.
Aurora (31:18):
Awesome.
And I will add that the local community,I went to their grand opening and it
was definitely the most diverse healingcommunity I've ever been in, in the
Portland area, in the Northwest area.
So that was another real healing.
I think having thatenvironment was really amazing.
Nneka (31:36):
In 2025, I'm also launching my doula practice.
My doula brand is Seraphim Rising.
It's doula care and grief spa.
That's my baby right now, andI'm really excited about it.
You'll all be hearing more about that.
But again, it's been apleasure this morning.
(31:56):
I just wish you all a spectacularSaturday and continue to give
yourself grace and love on you.
Aurora (32:04):
Thank you so much.
Looking for ways toembrace your own intensity.
Join our embracing intensitycommunity@embracingintensity.com where
(32:29):
you'll meet a growing group of like-mindedpeople who get what it's like to be gifted
and intense and are committed to creatinga supportive community as well as access
to our courses and tools to help youuse your fire without getting burned.
There's also a pay what you canoption through our Patreon where
you can increase your pledgeto help sustain the podcast or.
(32:50):
Or join us at a rate thatbetter fits your needs.
You can also sign up for my freeHarnessing the Power of Your
Intensity, a self regulationworkbook for gifted, creative, and
twice exceptional adults and teens.
All links can be found in the shownotes or on EmbracingIntensity.
com.
Emotional maturity is a range and there's not an age range where all of a
(00:06):
sudden, oh, we're all emotionally mature.
We got this now.
We're constantly evolving andlearning and grief is not, I
don't care who's written the book.
Whether it's seven stages, 12 stages,you check all the boxes and you're
done, that mess comes right back aroundand will slap you right back into
the moment that grief onset occurred.
Aurora (00:31):
Welcome to the Embracing Intensity podcast.
I'll be sharing interviews and tips forgifted, creative, twice exceptional,
and outside the box thinkers whouse their fire in a positive way.
My name is Aurora Remember Holtzman.
After years of feeling too much, Ifinally realized that intensity is
the source of my greatest power.
(00:52):
Now, instead of beating myselfup about not measuring up to
my own self imposed standards.
I'm on a mission to help people embracetheir own intensity and befriend their
brains so they can share their giftswith the world through the Embracing
Intensity community, coaching, educationalassessment, and other tools to help you
use your fire without getting burned.
(01:14):
You can join us at embracingintensity.
com.
Hello.
This week, I am thrilled to sharethe Q and a portion of our talk with
(01:38):
the incredible Nneka Denise divinginto the science of writing to heal.
This conversation comes at theperfect time as we reflect on what
we're ready to let go of with theyears close and step towards a
brighter, more positive new year.
Before we dive in, I wanted toshare some exciting updates.
I've recently transitioned my plannerclub into the neurodivergent toolkit,
(02:01):
offering expanded tools to support yourjourney, including a brand new stress
processing journal and an upcoming visionbook journal launching in the new year.
Additionally, I'm wrapping up finaledits on my physical and Kindle
workbook on energy balance,which is set to be published
this Friday, December 20th.
You can even, pre-orderthe Kindle version now.
(02:23):
As I prepare for 2025, I'd like to includemore interviews, aiming to return to two
episodes a month, once it's sustainable.
If you'd like to support this workand access, amazing resources,
consider joining one of the embracingintensity memberships, the guests
call library, neurodivergent toolkitor the all access membership.
As a part of the all accessmembership I'll be running my ignite
(02:46):
your power course live in 2025.
Along with an expanded group mastermindfor deeper community and accountability.
The full video discussion recordingincludes further exploration on processing
grief, not only from physical loss,but also life transitions and self
evolution, interactive healing practiceslike pairing gratitude, journaling
(03:09):
with brain dumps and affirmations, howfiction and personal narratives help
reimagine futures and process experiences,and ceremonial writing practices such
as burning or shredding emotionalwritings for catharsis and closure.
Nneka's insights are invaluable,and I can't wait for you to hear her
thoughtful and practical approachesto emotional healing through writing.
(03:33):
If you'd like to watch the full recording,you'll find it in the guest call library.
Enjoy.
Welcome, everybody.
I'm so glad to see some awesome folksjoining us here today and great to have
Nneka coming back who is an amazingfriend of mine and every experience we've
done with her has been fantastic.WellI'm going to introduce Nneka and then.
(03:57):
We can circle back inthe discussion portion.
Nneka is somebody thatI know in real life.
We met at some networking events.
I remember the first time weconnected, we talked for hours
and totally lost track of time.
And we only see each other infrequentlyright now, but every time we kind of
lose track of time and it's awesome.
(04:17):
And I think her first call onwriting to heal was probably my
most attended call of all times.
Even with people with millionsof followers and stuff Nneka's
first call was one of my biggest.
So, she draws an amazing group ofpeople and she just started a local
Healing community and does allsorts of stuff in the community.
(04:39):
So I'm so thrilled to have youhere Nneka Why don't you go
ahead and introduce yourself?
Nneka (04:45):
Thank you for having me Aurora again, and Hello everyone.
Thank you for being on the callthis morning Like Aurora said
my name is Nneka Denise I am thefounder of the write to heal project
based out of Portland, Oregon.
I typically work with Oregonand Southwest Washington.
I technically live in Vancouverjust over the river, but with
(05:06):
the write to heal project, Ihelp people navigate their grief.
Caused by death, tragedy and trauma,as well as transitions, because not
all grief comes about due to loss,like getting a new job or transitioning
up, evolving in life that can alsocause some heavy emotional feelings.
(05:27):
I use transformative prompts forjournaling, meditation, visualization,
somatic practices and intuitiveguidance to help people get the heavy
emotions off of their body, and out.
Emotions and stress, as we allknow, cause illness and all
kind of detriment to our body.
In addition to the Write to Heal project,like Aurora said, I did just open um,
(05:51):
It's called the New Wellness Center indowntown Portland, with a collective of
holistic healing practitioners, wheretogether we offer holistic healing
from vibrational sound baths, toReiki energy, massage, touch emotional
guidance, but also spiritual guidance.
(06:12):
What else?
I am a trained end of lifedoula and bereavement doula.
So grief, loss, emotionalwellness is my jam.
And I've been writing sinceI could pick up a crayon.
It has been my biggest healing tool.
And we'll get more into that later.
But if we want to circle around orpause, maybe this is a good time.
Aurora (06:33):
Awesome.
So if you guys have any specificquestions for Nneka when it comes to
writing to HEAL, like her approach anyquestions about the science around it,
she's been doing this for many years.
You could also circle back to someof my past episodes with Nneka.
The last one we did was actuallykind of an interactive experience.
So that one didn't go on the podcast.
She's a wealth of knowledge.
(06:53):
Would you recommend some researchbooks, articles that under your work?
I have a stack and I'malways looking for more.
If you have specific recommendations.
Nneka (07:05):
I was just looking at the American psychological association.
They've shared some studies on writingto heal and how it has improved
those with terminal illnesses.
So physically, it has shown somegreat improvement in health.
What I had prepared for you all, is toshare my background with Writing to Heal.
(07:26):
And Some tools and benefits and how Iintegrate it into my wellness practice
and teach folks how to integratedifferent transformative writing prompts
and stuff with their clients and thendialogue so we can talk a little bit
more because as much as I've been doingit, I love research, but I don't quote.
(07:47):
I like to speak through personalexperiences and give examples like that,
I'm not one that's huge on research inthe sense that I can just pull out of my
brain and just quote I'm hoping to geta good dialogue with you all, because
as much as I've been using writingas a tool, I know you all use it too.
So I'd love to kind of engagea little bit in conversation,
(08:11):
and just see where it flows.
Aurora (08:13):
Yeah, absolutely.
I'm going to read a couple questions here.
I'll let you go into the part thatyou had prepared, and then we'll
let people have some more questions.
But the second half willdefinitely open for broad
discussion as well and reflection.
So just a couple of things inthe chat how to get into writing
when you have dyslexia and ADHD.
I do write, but also use voicedictation as I find physical
(08:35):
writing can slow the process down.
Any thoughts on facilitating that process?
Nneka (08:41):
Yeah, I love that second part of that.
So every write to heal circle thatI do, I always have one or two
individuals that are like, okay, Icame because I knew I was supposed
to be here, but I am not a writer.
And it's like during the headlights,I have apprehension around it.
I am a creative writer, right?
And I have a background in publishing,but when I show up in healing spaces,
(09:06):
it's to hold space for the emotionsand all the things that come up.
No judgment.
I'm not an English teacher.
I don't have a red pen.
I'm not going to mark up your work.
It's for you, but it's really justto kind of guide you along for you to
sit with the emotions that are comingup and provide you with an outlet.
(09:27):
That gets you to start building thatrelationship with those emotions and
allowing yourself to let them go.
So the fact that you record your voiceto get out of your own way, that's huge.
When I'm doing specific promptsand for those people that find that
writing Just causes extra layersto getting it out to process.
(09:49):
I tell them to doodle.
Literally, it's literally the motionof writing is just getting you out of
your own way and getting you out ofyour head and to the to the process
of just processing the prompt at hand.
So the fact that you know that andyou're aware of other tools so that
you can get your voice out there.
I commend you for that.
Aurora (10:11):
Awesome.
I'm going to read a couple ofthe chat things and I'll let
you dive into the other stuff.
I love the coincidences in theneurodivergent world and how
often at least two ND peeps aredoing and thinking the same thing.
Totally.
And then hot tip of the various zeitgeistcollective consciousness for the win.
Yeah, I would love to hear moreabout your personal experience.
I know you've shared some, but most ofthe people here are new to your work.
(10:31):
I would love to hear, whatyou have to share on that.
Nneka (10:35):
Yeah, so as a child, I was the inquisitive being and in my household
being raised by a very, I mean, Ilove my daddy to death, but he was
dominant and very much an alpha male.
And if you ask questions that was abovehis head He didn't know what to do
with it, so it was more of a shushing.
(10:55):
Children are to be seenand not heard, so to speak.
So I learned at a young age,especially being biracial, growing
up in the Pacific Northwest, wheredo you fit in, where do I belong?
And being inquisitive withlots of questions and gifted.
I found solace in my journals.
So, when I had heavy questions, Inoticed that if I couldn't get the
(11:17):
answers from my community, my supportsystem, I would get lost in my journals,
and eventually, miraculously, and Ididn't know why, as a kid, the answers
would come, and I would be guided.
I created this alter ego, or not alterego, but this ulterior universe where I
could just pour my heart, all my pain,all my emotions, all my questions into
(11:41):
the pages of my journals and the end.
Create my own community, so to speak,because I could be myself there.
I knew who I was there.
And even if I didn't know thereasons why or the answers, I
felt comfort and comforted there.
Throughout life my whole adulthoodhas been filled with heavy loss.
(12:04):
So 22 years ago, I lost myson at five and a half weeks.
11, nine years after that lost myboys as father, I've lost a parent and
throughout all those heavy grief riddentime periods in my life again, I found
myself either running as my tool orwriting in my journal and I didn't know
(12:28):
it then, but my son Khalil who passedaway he gave me the greatest gift of all.
He gave me purpose.
And in hindsight, as hard and as harshas that was, being a sheltered kid
who had never experienced loss andto have to, you know, say goodbye to
your offspring, it was devastating.
(12:50):
But again, he gave me purpose.
So everything that I do isfrom a different look on death
and loss and emotions and.
Emotional maturity is a range andthere's not an age range where all of a
sudden, oh, we're all emotionally mature.
We got this now.
We're constantly evolving andlearning and grief is not, I
(13:12):
don't care who's written the book.
Whether it's seven stages, 12 stages,you check all the boxes and you're
done, that mess comes right back aroundand will slap you right back into
the moment that grief onset occurred.
And it can happen timeand time again, right?
There's triggers.
But anyway, throughout my wholejourney throughout the last,
(13:33):
whatever, I just turned 44 last month.
So, I've always found solace.
in writing.
I've always gotten lost in it.
I just released a poetry album a yearago, and throughout each one of those
pieces, it's my pain to purpose journey.
It's looking at life, all aspects oflife, and what can I learn from it?
(13:55):
How do I feel?
How can I create art as an outlet and notonly heal myself, but pour into others?
Throughout my wellness work, I use promptsfor healing in a way that it gets people
to sit with the heaviness, to writeabout it, get it off of their person.
Again.
I always do this prompt.
(14:16):
I like to call dump itout or take out the trash.
And when they come in and they havethat moment, whatever is plaguing them
or whatever, They couldn't leave at thedoor before entering the sacred space.
I just have them write it out.
It doesn't matter what it is.
It could be even positive things likethey could be up and vibing high,
(14:40):
but yet they're trying to settletheir space so that they can fall
into this writing circle, right?
So whatever it is that'shindering the process, I tell
them to just put it on paper.
And getting it out, because sometimeswhere we may not have voice, we have pen
and imagination we have communication, andwriting just allows you to still get that
(15:05):
voice out there, but maybe not verbally.
Aurora (15:08):
If there's specific questions that you guys have for Nneka, I
will read those out loud, okay.
Oh, this is a good one.
So, what do you do with a paperwhen you've taken the trash out?
Nneka (15:19):
Ah, good question.
Okay, so when I'm in my healing spacea writing to heal, sacred ceremony
like space all that negativitythat we write out, I like to burn.
I like to go outside and burn it.
So literally, metaphorically, it's gone.
It's in the ethers.
It is away.
When I am doing like a, a non spiritualor non ceremonial writing class and we do
(15:45):
that, I'll encourage them to either shredthat page in their journal or loose paper
and because even shredding it physically,I mean, when we rip stuff, when we throw
stuff, when we scream and we get thoseemotions out, it again, it helps us.
So I encourage them to not leavethat negativity in their books.
(16:07):
Because then it's just sitting there.
Then you can go back to it.
But I like the physical aspect ofletting it go and removing it completely.
Did that answer your question?
Aurora (16:18):
Awesome.
You know, one question that I have,because I think both of us similarly
have, started With mostly womenin our community and have grown to
include more men in our communityas we realize that there's things
that, you know, are universal, right?
But I noticed that too, with your healingcommunity, the live community as well.
(16:40):
I'd be curious to see, if you haveseen any specific things that are
helpful for the men that you'veworked with versus the women.
Nneka (16:49):
Yeah, that's a really good question.
So when I popped on and I saw the menin this circle, I was really excited
because men need healing spaces too.
And our society.
Well, especially in America I say.
Men aren't encouraged toseek out support women.
We lean on each other.
(17:09):
We find our tribe.
We find our soul sisters.
We find what we need.
And we're resourceful.
Men are taught to go to work,provide, do all these things, but
y'all carry some heavy stress.
And if you don't find your outlets,Where does that leave our men?
Right.
So I always, I do my one on onegrief work, small group work,
(17:31):
even family work with men as well.
And every first Wednesday I hold agrief circle at the new wellness center.
And I've been seeingmore and more men coming.
I'm on 10th and Morrison.
If you're in Portland, comesee me on the first Wednesday.
I also find that men, if we createand hold that space, they will
pour out with their words andtheir emotions, just like women do.
(17:54):
And I find it, and it could be inmixed, male, female spaces as well.
But I think it's aboutproviding the opportunity.
And inviting those to lean intotheir emotions and men need healing.
Just as much as we do.
So I will never limit my practiceto just serving women ever again.
(18:16):
I'm a boy, mom.
Well, I have a daughter now, but Ihave three little men that I'm raising.
If I don't teach them how to lean intotheir emotions and heal themselves
so that they can pour into anduplift their community as well.
What am I doing as a mother?
Back to real quick.
Burn those pages, baby.
But before you do that, if I encourageyou, if you would like to journey with
(18:39):
yourself, flip back to those pages.
And before you get to burning, Maybe dosome redirection or turn those negative
sentiments into a positive affirmation.
And then, so you can collectthat and start working through
those emotions in positive light.
But once you do that, then burn it andlet it go and have a whole ceremony.
(19:01):
Because that no longer serves you anymore.
And you can let that be.
So I just wanted to share that.
Aurora (19:08):
Nice.
I have a couple more questions I'llcircle back to, but one of the reasons
that came to my mind was like I said,I started out mostly with women in my
community, but then I found when I wasat the ADHD conferences last week, I
spent most of my time with the men'ssupport group, the ADHD men's support
group created by Mark Almodovar,who's spoke on leadership earlier this
(19:29):
year, because he's just created suchan amazing supportive environment.
And so I just thought it wasinteresting that the people I
connected with the most were.
The ones that were there fromthe men's group, which was great.
And someone asked what if burning whatyou wrote isn't an option or not allowed?
Nneka (19:48):
Yep.
That's where the shredding comes in.
So you can physically hand shred.
I used to do that all thetime with my journals.
You can get a paper shredder if you want.
I just like the physical touchaspect of actually tearing but you
can always shred them it's paper, soit's biodegradable, you could bury
it what else have I done in the past?
(20:09):
I think that's pretty much it, but Iwould just encourage you, again, like I
just said, to look back, see if there'sanything maybe you need to work with
still, And reframe it, put a positivespin on it, rewrite it because we get
to rewrite the trajectory of our lives.
So all those negative narrativesand whatnot we can change it up
(20:30):
because the future hasn't comeyet and we get to set that.
So if you can't burn it, shred it or bury
it
I don't know if you guys haveseen The Secret Life of Bees.
In that movie, one of the things thatI really loved about it is one of the
characters, she would get really griefridden and emotional, and every time
(20:53):
she would, she would write a prayer orwrite whatever it was that was plaguing
her, and she must have been some sort ofempath or something, because she could
feel it really heavy on her person,but she would write it out, and then
she had this place out in the garden orwhatever, and she would stick it there.
So yeah, if you got beautifulroses, give it to the roses.
Roses are there to protect andbe, they're there for beauty.
(21:17):
So if, if, you know, anyway, maybethey can turn those things into
beautiful blooming aromas of roses.
Aurora (21:24):
I want to open up for open discussion shortly, but before we do
that, I wanted to talk a little bitmore about the affirmation part of it.
I know you talked about that lasttime on the one that we did share.
I'd love to hear you.
Share a little bit moreabout the affirmation aspect.
Nneka (21:40):
I love affirmations because when you can create a sentence, a
positive sentence, and share it aboutyourself and you repeat that, so,
let me, let me step back a minute.
So, back to the dump itout, take out your trash.
With that, another prompt that I useis having guests write down all the
(22:01):
negative titles, roles, things that peoplehave said about them or that they've
internally said about themselves, right?
I'm fat, I'm ugly, I'm stupid,or whatever the case may be.
So they write it all out.
And then I asked them, were there anyof those traits or whatever commentary
(22:22):
that you had reservations writing, right?
Whatever ones that made you feellike, Oh, I still have work to do.
Take out two or three of those.
And then with those.
Negatives or even positive things.
Like when people say, Oh my God,you're so gorgeous or whatever
the case, but yet you're like,Oh, you brush off the compliment.
(22:43):
You know what I mean?
Cause you're not owning it yourself.
So again, it could be a positive,but anything that has you like there
being reservation or some work thatyou need to do, then I'll have them
take that statement and then we'llwork with creating it into your
affirmation statement with that.
I like doing that.
Because once you have a clear, conciseaffirmation, I'm smart, intelligent, and
(23:08):
I can move mountains, or whatever it maybe, you create that statement, then you
can start practicing repetitive writing.
And then you start putting thoseaffirmations into practice.
Visually on your mirrors or on evenlike little stickers on your computer
because the more you state claim to thosestatements, the more you will be kind
(23:28):
of like the old saying, fake it till youmake it there's some truth behind that.
And when it comes to, manifestation,it's not just, oh, I want this.
Can I have that?
You have to be in that energyand like, attract, like.
So when you write that affirmationstatement, it takes a while,
but you can learn to own it.
(23:50):
And the more you see it, the more youread it, even using your voice recorder
and recording your voice, stating itand repeating it and listening to it.
The more you interact with thatstatement, the more you be and become.
Aurora (24:04):
So oftentimes with affirmations, sometimes if we jump
to something that we really don'tbelieve, they're not as effective.
So I know there's, takingsmall steps towards saying
something that you could believe.
I'm wondering if you have somethoughts and strategies around creating
affirmations that you can get behind andactually believe, rather than jumping
(24:26):
to something that's so far out ofyour comfort zone that you reject it.
Nneka (24:31):
Right.
So with manifestation,you can dream big, right?
You can dream out of this world, right?
And you can create thatbig affirmation statement.
But if it causes you pause when youshare that with others, let's say.
I'm a trillionaire.
Before you can be a trillionaire,you got to be a millionaire, right?
So you can backtrack and makesmaller statements that lead
(24:54):
up to, so like I said, okay Iwant to say i'm a trillionaire.
That's not one of my affirmations, bythe way but Before that, I have to claim
that I'm a millionaire before that.
Maybe I need to be a thousand ora hundred thousand-ere, right?
But you can backtrack it andcreate smaller it's like goal
setting, you create smaller goalsthat lead you to the bigger goal.
(25:18):
And you can definitelydo that with affirmation.
Cause like I touched on manifestationis about being in that energy.
And if you truly today.
Can't own it in all aspects ofyou and it just doesn't feel real.
I mean, again, you couldfake it till you make it, but
faking it doesn't get you far.
I like that Aurora.
I like the idea of taking asmaller affirmation that maybe
(25:40):
you can own tomorrow instead ofnext month or whatever it may be.
Aurora (25:46):
Yeah, and I think sometimes just even entertaining the
possibility that this could be true.
That's even a step towards that direction.
If you aren't even sure itcould be true, you know.
I'm noticing we're gettingclose to the halfway mark.
So I would love to startopening up for discussion.
Before we do that, did you haveany final thoughts on the tools and
stuff that you've shared so far?
Nneka (26:07):
Yeah, I did want to share as far as the science behind writing to heal,
we do know, and there is studies thatspeak to writing, like journaling, daily
journaling, it lowers stress and cancalm your nervous system it also can,
there's studies that speak to boostingyour immune system cause it raises your
(26:29):
vibration It can also remove, like we'vebeen talking about, the stuck emotions.
And it can help you gain clarity.
So I just wanted to point out thosefive things, relieving stress, calming
anxiety and resetting the nervoussystem, boosting the immune system,
removing stuck emotions from thebody and helping you to gain clarity.
Aurora (26:53):
Awesome.
I think that would be great to explore howwe could take this a little bit deeper in
some, maybe some sort of paid workshop.
We always have rich conversations.
And the one that we didn't recordbecause it was more personal, was
like an interactive experience,and I have to thank you.
Nneka is just amazing because I hadsomeone back out who had suggested
(27:14):
a two part writer's workshop.
So I had to skip that first oneand then Nneka circled back for the
second one and, and offered thisand it was a lifesaver, but it was
such a great interactive experience.
Because we wanted to keep it a moreintimate circle, we didn't record it.
But it was more where you actuallywould bring your journal and work
through some of these things together.
(27:34):
So, I think we just need tofigure out the logistics.
Nneka (27:38):
We can do, like I said, a two part, three, some kind of series,
because I'd love to do that at one again.
So basically, virtually, and thatwas my very first time holding a
write to heal circle, virtually.
So I walked the guests throughwhat I would do in person.
And it was beautiful.
It was still interactive.
It sold me on this whole virtualthing that we're all in, cause it
(28:02):
was beautiful and people stillgot amazing things out of it.
So, Aurora, we'll talk because Ithink doing something like that
as a one off would be great.
And then having some sort of two or threepart write to heal series, I think would
be really beneficial for the community.
Aurora (28:20):
Yeah, absolutely.
And we created a subgroup in theEmbracing Intensity community
for the write to heal stuff.
So that would be a great place tomaybe have discussions about what would
work for that community in terms ofexploring time, place, length, all those
details to see what would be worthwhile
Nneka (28:39):
thank you.
I was just gonna add that for theinteractive one, the healing circle,
because that was last minute, somebodydropped off, but this one, if we do
it again, I'd focus the prompts on,you know, some themes and stuff around
neurodivergence and things that come upand really cater it to the community.
I think that would be really lovely.
Aurora (28:59):
Absolutely.
Awesome.
Well, looking at our time,it's about wrap up time.
So Nneka, do you have any lastminute thoughts, reflections
that you'd like to share?
Nneka (29:09):
Yeah, so I just want to thank Aurora and this amazing
community for having me here again.
And I just encourage you all to giveyourself grace use some of the tools
that we talked about, write it out.
Write it out, stomp it out, just dowhatever you can to show yourself
(29:29):
that love and care that we all need,especially in these heavy times right now.
The end of the year can be stressful withholidays, but also it's a beautiful time
to set your intentions and really startstepping into the year that you want.
2025 to become it starts now.
(29:50):
So anything heavy on you work through it,sit with those emotions and for everything
that no longer serves you, let it go.
You got to move it out, out with the oldso that you can bring in the new right.
It's been a pleasure.
You can find me on socialmedia at Nneka Denise.
(30:11):
I believe it's Nneka underscore Denise.
And my first name is spelled N NE K A, and Denise is D E N I S E.
That's also my email address, Nneka.
denise at gmail dot com.
For those of you that are local toPortland, or if you are going to
be traveling in the Portland area.
(30:31):
The new wellness center is at10th and Morrison downtown.
It's a beautiful space.
It's like walking through the doors,like walking into a healing hug, like
seriously, mama G Graciela tail fieldwho founded the new wellness center.
She created this lovely,divine, energetic space.
for our collective, the ladieswithin the collective space.
(30:55):
We are part of ladies of the light,which you can find us on social
as ladies of the light as well.
And the holistic healing experienceand journey is beautiful.
And we just welcome you all forthose that you are not local
reach out, let's continue to buildcommunity and grow and connect.
So it's just been a pleasure.
And I thank you all forsharing space with me today.
Aurora (31:18):
Awesome.
And I will add that the local community,I went to their grand opening and it
was definitely the most diverse healingcommunity I've ever been in, in the
Portland area, in the Northwest area.
So that was another real healing.
I think having thatenvironment was really amazing.
Nneka (31:36):
In 2025, I'm also launching my doula practice.
My doula brand is Seraphim Rising.
It's doula care and grief spa.
That's my baby right now, andI'm really excited about it.
You'll all be hearing more about that.
But again, it's been apleasure this morning.
(31:56):
I just wish you all a spectacularSaturday and continue to give
yourself grace and love on you.
Aurora (32:04):
Thank you so much.
Looking for ways toembrace your own intensity.
Join our embracing intensitycommunity@embracingintensity.com where
(32:29):
you'll meet a growing group of like-mindedpeople who get what it's like to be gifted
and intense and are committed to creatinga supportive community as well as access
to our courses and tools to help youuse your fire without getting burned.
There's also a pay what you canoption through our Patreon where
you can increase your pledgeto help sustain the podcast or.
(32:50):
Or join us at a rate thatbetter fits your needs.
You can also sign up for my freeHarnessing the Power of Your
Intensity, a self regulationworkbook for gifted, creative, and
twice exceptional adults and teens.
All links can be found in the shownotes or on EmbracingIntensity.
com.
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