Linda Joy Myers
Writing heals! When you take out a notebook and pen to write about your feelings, you may not realize that you’re taking an important step in creating good health—not only emotionally but physically. According to research about writing and healing, writing not only heals the trauma brain and helps resolve inner and outer conflicts, but it helps to heal such conditions as asthma, arthritis, and chronic fatigue syndrome. This surprised me. Further studies revealed improvement for depression, and a better recovery from breast cancer and high blood pressure.
Writing helps to relief stress and sort out the things that wight heavily upon our minds. Too often, we get caught up in conflicts with friends, family, and co-workers. We wrestle with feelings of anger and frustration, sorrow, and feelings of isolation. If these are the demons you battle against, all you need is paper and pen.
This is the first day of the rest of your life
Do you remember that saying that popped up in posters in the sixties? It’s a call to action, an invitation to take this one day and make a difference. Even a small one. Writing about your feelings can offer a renewed perspective on your life. Perhaps it sounds too simple.
You may say, I’m not a writer, I don’t have time for this. It’s interesting—in school we’re trained to learn math, history, English, and science. At home, our training is whatever emotional or philosophical nuggets our parents can share. But most people learn through family, school, and society to suppress their feelings. To keep silent about their truth. We need to find an appropriate way to speak our truth. We’re taught to be nice and polite, and to suppress and repress feelings that get tangled up inside us, with no model for how to solve them. We pass our math exams, but end up with our feelings making us sick.
Feelings are fleeting, they need an outlet that doesn’t hurt anyone. We can’t fly off at the boss, we’re supposed to treat our parents with respect. But what about the way the boss gave another person a raise instead of you? What about parents who don’t play fair, have favorites, and refuse to discuss what matters? What about a husband and wife who don’t know how to resolve issues, and who don’t consider therapy an option.
Pen and paper are your best friends. It’s a silent way to grapple with truth. And to create a more conscious relationship with yourself.
The method:
- Write down all the things that bother you, let ‘er rip..
- Give yourself permission to say it like it is, don’t be polite.
- Write from your point of view.
- Write for 10 minutes without stopping—in flow. Don’t take your pen off the page.
- If you are not sure what’s next, write: “I’m sick of writing, I don’t know what to say, I’m finished with this—oh yeah, now I remember…” and keep writing.
- Tell the truth. Your truths.
- Let your anger out.
- Reveal what brings you sorrow.
- Keep a secret journal.
- Create a safe space for your feelings.
It matters to learn more about yourself and your feelings and your truths.
You might feel better in twenty minutes by creating a safe space where you can be you.
Write freely like this once a day.
This is the first day of the rest of your healthy life.
I totally agree. This is what I did when I cared for my mother for six years after a stroke and heart attacks. It was the basis of my memoir, Invisible, Until I’m Not: Essays on Illness and Care which I published in May of this year. Living with Fibromyalgia, Degenerative Disk Disease, and a myriad of other ailments, the journey was terrifying, but when I turned to writing, the act of writing itself helped me to heal. Especially after her death in 2024.
Thank you so much for your post here, Kathryn. I’m sure the messages in your memoir will be helpful to others who have had similar challenges with health and family. Congratulations on your book! Yes, writing seems such a simple act, and simple authentic expressions, which the world tends to shy away from, allows us to integrate and more deeply understand our experiences. And free expression is a way of letting go of trapped pain and energy.
What a timely message for me. I considered going back to Therapy when I realized that old issues still lurk in dark, dusty corners & raise their ugly heads in disturbing ways -I still may do so! But how could I forget how healing it is to express feelings honestly & honor my thoughts by journaling? This is a big tool right under my nose, well worth the time & effort. Honoring self is a priority! I will begin journaling again. Thank you for this important reminder.
Hi Linda–thank your for you insights here. I think that journaling is one of the major foundations that support writing a memoir. It is the first place we go to let go. To meander with our thoughts–after all, no one else is reading it! During my years of teaching, I have found that many people are drawn to have a safe place to process what comes up through writing. I have taught therapists who have worked on their “stuff” for years who wept and laughed in workshop from the new insights that arose from the deep. Good luck with your writing!