Archive for the 'Wellness and Writing Connections' Category

Journaling and Mindfulness

Published on November 1, 2010 in Author Blog, Baby Boomers, Journaling, Journals, Notebooks, Wellness and Writing Connections, Writers and Their Notebooks, Writing for healing and Writing, journaling.

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“Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally.”

Jon Kabat-Zinn

A few weeks ago presented at the Writing and Wellness Connections Conference in Georgia and attended a wonderful workshop there lead by Lucille Allegretti-Freeman. It was called, “The Three A’s of Mindful Journaling: Attention, Awareness and Acceptance.” She offered many useful tips that I’d like to share with you.

You might ask, “What is mindfulness?” Basically, mindfulness means being aware of your present experience and accepting it, being open to an entire experience, whether negative or positive. It is to understand that thoughts come and go and that feelings are to be felt. To be truly mindful, it is important to pause between and during activities.

To illustrate how mindfulness can be brought to an experience and transformative, the facilitator had us perform an interesting task. She passed around a box of raisins and asked us to pick out three and place them on our desks. She asked us to examine and tell her what we thought. Of course my first thought was “that’s what my skin will look like in twenty years!” She then told us to pick one up—touch it and roll it in our hands. Then she told us to smell it and bring it to our mouth. Once in our mouth she asked us to roll it from side to side and observe how our mouth waters and what happens to the raisin. She then told us to note how it tastes. She then advised us to gently chew it and note how the consistency changed in our mouths. We were then told to swallow it.

This was a fun exercise in the sense that it slowed us down in the moment which is what mindfulness is all about.

She then spoke about why mindfulness is so helpful in journaling. She said it brings with it curiosity, compassion, acceptance to self, and helps us recognize that thoughts are not facts and feelings are to be felt and that awareness is important to feel the fullness of the moment.

The effect of mindfulness on journaling is that you give up wanting to control your writing. You acknowledge that your life is worthy of your time and you increase your capacity to have strong emotions. As the struggle to change your thoughts and feelings decreases, you become more at peace with yourself and the world

In summary, she shared this wonderful poem by Derek Walcott:

Love After Love

The time will come

when, with elation

you will greet yourself arriving

at your own door, in your own mirror

and each will smile at the other’s welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.

You will love again the stranger who was your self.

Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart

to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored

for another, who knows you by heart.

Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,

peel your own image from the mirror.

Sit. Feast on your life.

Writing for Wellness and Health

Published on October 26, 2009 in cathartic writing, Health, Health and Wellness, inspiration, Journaling, Journals, Notebooks, Wellness and Writing Connections, writing, Writing for healing and Writing, journaling.

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This past weekend I attended a conference in Atlanta — the Wellness and Writing Connections Conference. My dear friend and colleague, Julie Davey also the author of  Writing For Wellness (a fabulous book) was the keynote speaker. I conducted a workshop entitled, “The Healing Notebook.” It’s the second year I have taught this workshop and the crowd is always very enthusiastic and includes writers, therapists, and clinicians. The premise of my workshop is to discuss not only the healing power of words, but how regular notebook-writing can empower us. Recent studies have shown that writing down your feelings can help you  come to terms with difficult situations. The good thing is that there are no rules to the healing notebook. You can dictate your own method and do at your own pace. By doing this you will gain control of your life.

Quite a few writers have used their notebooks as a way to heal and they have also gone on to publish their work, including Walt Whitman, Andre Lorde, May Sarton, Hilda Raz, Donald Hall, Elizabeth Berg, Jane Kenyon, Isabel Allende and my favorite diarist, Anaïs Nin who began her first journal as a letter to her estranged father who left the family when she was ten years old. Writing that letter was her way of healing from the pain of losing him. Since that day, Nin became an avid diarist and today has numerous published volumes.

I am also a big advocate of letter writing in the notebook and novelist Isabel Allende began her writing career by writing a letter to her grandfather when he was nearly 100 years old. At the time he was dying in Chile where her novel House of Spirits was set. She admits that in many ways, writing that novel saved her life.

The Healing Notebook has numerous benefits including: it’s a place to capture and record memories, a place to clear the mind, a place to build self-confidence, a place to empower and a place to witness the healing process. I always suggest using proper tools—that is, a notebook and pen which inspires and resonates with you. You want to be motivated to use your journal. I suggest starting with free-writing first thing in the morning, with 15-20 minutes and increasing the time as needed. Basically, this is writing without lifting your pen off the page and seeing where your mind goes. Begin by writing about an experience which has deeply affected your life or which has obsessed you for quite some time.

In general, my only suggestion is that when you sit down to write, you should write as long as you like, but if the pain gets too great, it is probably a good idea to stop. This would be an appropriate time to take a break and do something different like walking or some other form of exercise. The best part about keeping a healing notebook is the ability to turn a negative into a positive and what can be so bad about that?