You have seven minutes – creative memoir

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“If the forest goes silent—move. You have seven minutes,” said Arto Kallio, a trapper from Lapland who spent forty winters in the taiga. The concept of seven minutes is hugely revealing in creative memoir writing.

THE HUNTER AND THE HUNTED

The University of Helsinki tested this phenomenon using sound sensors placed across 200 square kilometres of boreal forest. Before any major predator movement, the frequency of bird calls and insect buzz dropped by nearly 60% for approximately seven minutes.

Researcher Dr. Lehto explains that this is a coordinated freeze response—a bio-network alarm older than language. When a predator moves, small mammals release faint distress pheromones. These trigger silence in birds and insects, and the silence spreads through the forest like a shockwave.

Humans evolved out of sync with this signal. “You simply feel uneasy,” Dr. Lehto says. “That crawling sense that something is wrong—that’s the mammal part of you detecting the drop in acoustic pressure.

HEIGHTENED AWARENESS

From a different perspective, Maria Popova gives a powerful reminder of the transient nature of our existence. She emphasizes the power in using our senses: “Imagine parting the bars and stepping out. Imagine waking up with a rush of gladness at everything we were never promised but got anyway — trees and music, clouds and consciousness.”

Popova invites us to explore Rachel Hébert’s poetry in her anthology The Book of Thanks: A Catalogue of Gratitudes. It is literally a manual for how to live with gratitude.

“It cannot be always comfortable.

So love the thousand knives as they enter

and see your shape still sitting.

See that you too belong to paws

of soft silent hungers, to thirst-tangled

roots, to silver-spun constellations.

Know you’re no sicker than the rest of us.

The big secret is this: No one else can brave you.

Messy, yes. And marvellous.”

CREATIVITY IS RIGHT THERE FOR US

Take a deep breath and exhale slowly. Do it a few times. When we connect with our innermost knowing, creativity is right there for us. At the height of fear, or pain, or extasy, remember that you are living and experiencing your life story. These memories form the core when you translate your perception of your life into words.

YOU HAVE SEVEN MINUTES – CREATIVE MEMOIR

As an author coach, I can assist you to put your memories into poetry and stories. Contact me when you are ready to explore the vivid world curled up inside you!