Feeling grateful for the timely information and this community to whom I’m new - I’ve been close to starting a writing practice for some time now and this is the nudge that motivates the start. Hesitant largely due to self sabotage reasons and I’ve also ‘not known where or how to begin’ especially having been conditioned to live life as a perfectionist. That’s been unraveling now for a while. I’m also inspired by quotes in general - here Hemingway weighs in: “writing is easy. Just break out a pen and bleed”. At least that’s how I remember his quote.
This is the premise of Nicole Sachs Mind Your Body book. She calls it JournalSpeak and has healed many from chronic pain and anxiety. The book is outstanding.
I've read the researcher's work and the benefits of even just writing the same thing over and over. But here is how it unexpectedly worked for me. One day I just had to give my young adult son a piece of my mind :) I wrote a lengthy text to him without even taking a breath. I said it all. I had had it! But when done, poof the feelings were gone. I relaxed. I gained peace of mind! I didn't have to send it. I deleted it. Then I texted him friendliness. Relationship crisis averted. Now I just use the notes app if I have to get something out. I think it works best for me to do it spontaneously so then it's not a writing assignment. I wonder if we don't always have to express stuff verbally to resolve it.
this is wonderful! exactly what my Master’s In Ed, was about. (2011, age 59) and when/where I first found Pennebacker to support my thesis. How fun to recall the process and research of that degree.
Thank you! Love the message, the data, and the artwork, especially the art. Creates interest and offers invitation to engage with your composition. Blessings
Really interesting to read this. Thanks for sharing. I guess my posts here are a form of journalling. It's been therapeutic for me and sometimes, as a bonus, resonates with others.
Journaling has and continues to be an invaluable help/ally to me through the years. I’ve poured my heart out on those pages. I have a small chest I’ve kept them in and it is full right now. Ready to discard some of the old to make room for the ever evolving growth and changes of life as we experience them.
I have kept journals for a long time and eventually segued into keeping an online journal on an app called Day One. I copied emails into it because emailing my best friends thousands of miles away is also a kind of journaling. Sometimes I am actually too depressed to write in my journal but I know my friends get worried if they don’t hear from me so I will write an email. And that goes into Day One, that’s my entry. One excellent aspect of Day one is that it has a “on this day” option so I can see every entry that I have ever made on that particular day. Some go back 18 years and they have amazed me.
Years ago I took a class from Natalie Goldberg. She told us if we didn't know where to begin to start with, "I remember..." then just write. It has worked for me when I get stuck.
Oh boy, i gettit -- when stuck re how to begin, I learned to launch my pen/pencil with exactly that: the stifling blankness itself. Scrawling on about it, even repeating it, till something else may shake loose ... anything goes in free-writing, as no one else need ever see one syllable of it ... ☺️ [I got a few other ice-cracking strategies from the posts below too.]
When I was little I thought I would try writing a diary. I would get those daily planner notebooks with limited line space and try and write down what I had done that day. I actually started to feel like it was a bit of a burden to remember to write down daily events every day and squeeze them on into those limited lines. But I realize now that I did not understand the free writing nature of journalling. Now I appreciate and crave the idea of writing about various topics, writing about ideas, musings, feelings and some days perhaps writing nothing at all.
I aspire to journal like that regularly, and procrastination holds me back, but I really want to make it a habit. Perhaps based on my childhood experience, I also still feel a bit at a loss when I open a journal now, so I really appreciate prompts or a goal for want of a better word to at least get me started and. Susan's last two paragraphs were particularly helpful. Does anyone have suggestions for prompts or themes they apply when journalling?
I like to think of myself as a writer, or at least someone who expresses themselves best through writing. I have kept a journal over the past few years, although not consistently. In recent months, actually almost approaching a year, life has been really challenging, and with that I have just not felt like writing. I cannot find the energy and motivation to sit down with pen and paper and put thoughts down. I have just been trying to survive until the next day. I have known about the benefits of journaling, and this serves as a reminder and perhaps a bit of a nudge to try and find the energy to write again, even if sporadically.
I’ve been writing since my youth. It has been more abundant in adulthood as a way to speak about my observations; my struggles, the beauty of nature, ideas, and epiphanies. They fill notebooks, computer pages, loose paper.
Writing makes me feel like I’m speaking to the abstract universe; like unspoken camaraderie and silent reciprocity. A nurturing companion.
I can't help but think that the "expressive writing" you describe, might be especially beneficial for introverts. We inherently value the paced reflection that takes time before giving birth to our written expression. We may not have that luxury if we are rushed to "talk it out" to another person, though that seems to help as well.
Feeling grateful for the timely information and this community to whom I’m new - I’ve been close to starting a writing practice for some time now and this is the nudge that motivates the start. Hesitant largely due to self sabotage reasons and I’ve also ‘not known where or how to begin’ especially having been conditioned to live life as a perfectionist. That’s been unraveling now for a while. I’m also inspired by quotes in general - here Hemingway weighs in: “writing is easy. Just break out a pen and bleed”. At least that’s how I remember his quote.
This is the premise of Nicole Sachs Mind Your Body book. She calls it JournalSpeak and has healed many from chronic pain and anxiety. The book is outstanding.
I learned to journal through the work of Nicole Sachs and it's been very helpful to me.
I've read the researcher's work and the benefits of even just writing the same thing over and over. But here is how it unexpectedly worked for me. One day I just had to give my young adult son a piece of my mind :) I wrote a lengthy text to him without even taking a breath. I said it all. I had had it! But when done, poof the feelings were gone. I relaxed. I gained peace of mind! I didn't have to send it. I deleted it. Then I texted him friendliness. Relationship crisis averted. Now I just use the notes app if I have to get something out. I think it works best for me to do it spontaneously so then it's not a writing assignment. I wonder if we don't always have to express stuff verbally to resolve it.
I believe we can.
this is wonderful! exactly what my Master’s In Ed, was about. (2011, age 59) and when/where I first found Pennebacker to support my thesis. How fun to recall the process and research of that degree.
Thank you! Love the message, the data, and the artwork, especially the art. Creates interest and offers invitation to engage with your composition. Blessings
I’m often surprised by what comes out of the tip of my pen when I write. Who’s putting those words in there? Surely, it’s not me.
Really interesting to read this. Thanks for sharing. I guess my posts here are a form of journalling. It's been therapeutic for me and sometimes, as a bonus, resonates with others.
https://theseainme.substack.com/p/transience?r=46rss
Beautiful Siodhna. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for lovely comment, Suzanne.
I just read a news story that is particularly upsetting to me. So I’m writing. Thanks Susan. I love this article!
Journaling has and continues to be an invaluable help/ally to me through the years. I’ve poured my heart out on those pages. I have a small chest I’ve kept them in and it is full right now. Ready to discard some of the old to make room for the ever evolving growth and changes of life as we experience them.
I have kept journals for a long time and eventually segued into keeping an online journal on an app called Day One. I copied emails into it because emailing my best friends thousands of miles away is also a kind of journaling. Sometimes I am actually too depressed to write in my journal but I know my friends get worried if they don’t hear from me so I will write an email. And that goes into Day One, that’s my entry. One excellent aspect of Day one is that it has a “on this day” option so I can see every entry that I have ever made on that particular day. Some go back 18 years and they have amazed me.
I just never know how or where to start!
Years ago I took a class from Natalie Goldberg. She told us if we didn't know where to begin to start with, "I remember..." then just write. It has worked for me when I get stuck.
Oh boy, i gettit -- when stuck re how to begin, I learned to launch my pen/pencil with exactly that: the stifling blankness itself. Scrawling on about it, even repeating it, till something else may shake loose ... anything goes in free-writing, as no one else need ever see one syllable of it ... ☺️ [I got a few other ice-cracking strategies from the posts below too.]
When I was little I thought I would try writing a diary. I would get those daily planner notebooks with limited line space and try and write down what I had done that day. I actually started to feel like it was a bit of a burden to remember to write down daily events every day and squeeze them on into those limited lines. But I realize now that I did not understand the free writing nature of journalling. Now I appreciate and crave the idea of writing about various topics, writing about ideas, musings, feelings and some days perhaps writing nothing at all.
I aspire to journal like that regularly, and procrastination holds me back, but I really want to make it a habit. Perhaps based on my childhood experience, I also still feel a bit at a loss when I open a journal now, so I really appreciate prompts or a goal for want of a better word to at least get me started and. Susan's last two paragraphs were particularly helpful. Does anyone have suggestions for prompts or themes they apply when journalling?
I don’t usually write from prompts, but emotion. Maybe be curious about yourself? Keep asking the question why.
Another way to write is observation. Choose something to observe and then pay attention to your reaction to it. Write what you see.
I’m not sure if this helps, but wanted to reply.
I like to think of myself as a writer, or at least someone who expresses themselves best through writing. I have kept a journal over the past few years, although not consistently. In recent months, actually almost approaching a year, life has been really challenging, and with that I have just not felt like writing. I cannot find the energy and motivation to sit down with pen and paper and put thoughts down. I have just been trying to survive until the next day. I have known about the benefits of journaling, and this serves as a reminder and perhaps a bit of a nudge to try and find the energy to write again, even if sporadically.
I’ve been writing since my youth. It has been more abundant in adulthood as a way to speak about my observations; my struggles, the beauty of nature, ideas, and epiphanies. They fill notebooks, computer pages, loose paper.
Writing makes me feel like I’m speaking to the abstract universe; like unspoken camaraderie and silent reciprocity. A nurturing companion.
Wonderful article! I have worked through grief this way.
I also worked thru grief this way.
I can't help but think that the "expressive writing" you describe, might be especially beneficial for introverts. We inherently value the paced reflection that takes time before giving birth to our written expression. We may not have that luxury if we are rushed to "talk it out" to another person, though that seems to help as well.