Everything you learn will help you in your writing. Here’s a particularly oddball tidbit for writers.

My father believed in the religion of science. He was a wonderful dad, and taught me about gardening, carpentry, and—despite my protests—mathematics. He would not, however, have much use for the many alternative therapies I try for my fibromyalgia .

My friend Mary does something called Sound Healing , in her beautiful studio in the woods. After we talked for awhile, she said “Okay, Judith, now I’m going to ask you to dowse in order to choose the tuning forks and Tibetan bowls I’ll use to heal your body’s vibrations.”

Somewhere in Scientific Heaven my father said, “This is not Science.” He sounded disgusted.

I told him science believed in controlled experiments.

Mary gave me a small, heavy glass bead suspended on about six inches of thread. I held it over my palm and told it a lie: “My name is Fred.” I did this with my eyes closed so I wouldn’t skew the experiment. When I looked, the bead was swinging left and right.

Then—eyes closed--I told it a truth: “My name is Judith.” Now the bead swung toward me and away, toward and away.

“Welp,” said my father.  (“Welp” is New England for a very noncommittal “Well.” *)

I held the bead over a Tibetan bowl. With my eyes closed. When I opened them, the bead was swinging toward and away. “Yes,” said Mary, and picked up the bowl.

It went on like that. Close eyes. Hold string. Bead swings. No. Yes. No.

Then it stood still. Hah, I thought, it isn’t working. “That’s a No,” Mary told me. When I tried again, I got a definite swing. Yes. No. Yes.

My father gave up and went back to Scientific Heaven.

Sound Healing also works. But I was going to tell you how learning about dowsing helped my writing biz.

A few months after my experience with Sound Healing, I was hired by a woman to help her put together her memoirs. She is the opposite of my rational, father-trained self. Using her formidable intuition, she has healed herself of the physical and mental ailments brought on by difficult parents and an early, abusive marriage.  

Every day, she uses her dowsing bead to learn what supplements to take. Because I’ve learned that there are many things Science can’t explain—like dowsing, like Sound Healing—and because I am still the rational, organized person my father trained--she chose me to help her put together her memoirs.

We make a good team.

Meanwhile, I’ll keep learning about new things. Because you never know.