009 The Power of Writing Things Down

The seeds of creation begin in our thoughts, and writing helps us harness these ideas into reality. Richmond Camero explores how the simple act of putting pen to paper—whether through to-do lists, social media posts, or journal entries—can transform our relationship with ourselves and our future.

• Writing gives us something tangible to look back on, serving as bookmarks in our journey
• The act of writing forces us to clarify what we truly want and need
• Writing helps set our intentions by expressing what matters most to us
• Our writing shapes who we become by reflecting our priorities and values
• The way we write reveals both our conscious choices and unconscious influences
• When we understand the power of words, we recognize we can write our own story

Episode Transcript

Richmond (00:05):
Hi, you're listening to Pockets, a podcast about
finding joy, meaning and purposein life's simplest moments.
I'm Richmond Camero.
Let's dive into today's journey.
Do you know where the seeds ofcreating begin?

(00:28):
From our thoughts.
When we start to think aboutthings, when we imagine what our
lives would be in the next fewyears, we begin the process of
creation.
And what could help us harnessthose seeds of ideas?
We turn to writing.
Today, we'll talk about how toharness the power of writing

(00:53):
things down.
Maybe most of us would thinkthat we're not writers, that
maybe we're not writing in ourjournal or different forms of
literature, but most of us writetexts, compose emails, we
create lists and we're postingor interacting in social media.
There are little forms ofwriting that might be automatic

(01:16):
for most of us, especiallysocial media.
Imagine if you put all yourposts, comments and tweets in a
page.
How long would that be?
We might also prefer to writeour goals and plans for the week
.
I've shifted between usingmanual and digital planners, and

(01:37):
I figured that both of themhave their own benefits.
We're also hearing many peoplesay that we have to write our
goals in order to be successful.
That line doesn't convince me.
As it is, it seems too simple,but I'll break it down to you
later what that really means.
Finally, there's also writingin our journal Writing stories,

(02:03):
essays, poems and otherlong-form narratives of
expression and introspection.
These are my favorite things towrite, those ways where I can
feel creative, regardless ofwhat you usually write, writing
shows its power And these arefour reasons how.

(02:27):
First and probably the mostpractical reason is that it
gives us something to look backto, a list of our grocery and
tasks for the day.
Gives us something to checkNotes and journal entries from a
few years ago.
Gives us something to reflecton.
I have used notebooks andpapers throughout the years for

(02:48):
different purposes, and one time, while I was cleaning my room,
I saw a stack of loose papers inmy handwriting.
I had a sense of what it was.
Then I read it.
It showed the outline of thevery first fiction book I
published.
It showed the outline of thevery first fiction book I

(03:08):
published Guardians of Lakaya .
It's fun to look back at whereI am now and it is also humbling
to see where I can stillimprove.
Writing keeps us in check andserves as a bookmark in our
lives where we can look back to.
Second, it helps us clarifywhat we really want.

(03:29):
The act of putting into writingis inherently a question.
Writing a task list, forexample, is a question of what
are the things that I need to dofor the day.
Perhaps posting in social mediaasks us how do I want to be
seen?
Writing in our journal involvesa lot of questions, but it

(03:50):
mainly asks what do I want toexpress today?
The act of writing makes uspause and think about what
exactly is the next step that wewant to take.
Yes, there's always an optionto rewrite them, but once we
rewrite something, it coulddictate what our next steps
would be.

(04:13):
Related to the previous point iswriting's third power.
It helps us set our intention.
As much as writing is aquestion, it is also a form of
an answer.
Once we write something, we setour intention that it is what
we want to do, or this is who Iwant to be.
At the beginning of thispodcast, I mentioned that

(04:37):
creating begins in our thoughts,so writing, then, is an
expression of the things that webelieve in and the things that
matter to us.
It might not be obvious, butwriting taps our conscious and
unconscious mind.
The way we write reflects whichkind of books and media we are

(04:58):
exposed to.
The things we write about is areflection of our innermost
triggers and desires.
Thus, when we explore throughour writing, we set our
intention on what we want to do.
With what's inside us, we saywhat we want our life to be,

(05:18):
which ultimately leads us to thefourth point that writing helps
to shape how we want to be.
I think this is also the resultof the previous points.
We look back, we ask a question, then we try to answer it
through writing.
In the cycle of going throughthese steps, we are making

(05:40):
different choices.
Our to-do lists reflect whatmatters to us.
Our social media posts showwhat we find exciting or
triggering.
Our journal entries show thatwe have control over our
feelings and, bit by bit, weshape the path we're headed.
I think, with knowing thesethings, it's a relief to know

(06:05):
that, to an extent, I can takecontrol on some areas of my life
.
When we start to see that wecan design our own lives, the
feeling that we are trapped inour circumstances start to
change.
Words have power, Names havepower.
Once we claim that, we start tosee what's possible, we start

(06:28):
to understand, we can write ourown story.
You've been with Pockets.
Thank you so much for sharingthis space with me.
Now go embrace the moments,build your pockets of meaning
and keep curiosity a s yourguide.