Today is the first day of a class I am teaching through Story Circle Network on writing as a means to heal. We are using the book, Writing as a Way of Healing: How Telling Our Stories Transforms Our Lives by Louise DeSalvo. I have not taught this class before so this will be a process of discovery for me, as well. I do know, however, about healing through writing because I have experienced that healing, particularly when I wrote my memoir, which focused on my experience as the primary caregiver for my brother, Jim, when he was dying from AIDS. I felt deeply compelled to write that book and it took a very long time for me to write and rewrite it. I realize now that much of the compulsion to get that experience down on paper was not motivated so much by a need to capture Jim’s story, but instead by my need to work through my jumbled emotions related to that deeply painful experience. In short, I was writing to heal. And I did heal. It took a long time.
I have a few experiences in my life that I have been afraid to put on paper. I’ve been afraid that writing them down would be too traumatic for me, that I might sink into a funk that would be hard to pull myself out of. That sounds dramatic, but that’s the truth. What if revisiting those times was more harmful than helpful? However, as I read this book by DeSalvo, I see that I do not have to be afraid. Much research is being conducted at this point on the therapeutic value of writing and one primary researcher, Dr. Pennebaker from University of Texas, even has a method to go about this type of approach. He suggests that in just 20 minutes a day for 4 days, his patients have written in detail about traumatic events in their lives and this writing has provided bona fide health benefits that include less depression and anxiety. He suggests just writing for that short amount of time each day without regard to spelling, punctuation or paragraphing. He recommends writing the story out in vivid detail with the intent to let no one read it, including yourself. Just write hard and fast and get it all on the page. You can delete is afterwards, or burn it if you hand-write it. It is not the reading it afterwards that is helpful; it is the writing it in the first place.
So, I am going to get brave and do this. I will not be sharing my efforts here on my blog, but I will share my feelings about the efforts. I plan to wait until after I return to CA to do this, but once I do, I am certain I will blog about what this process felt like to me and if I feel any increased health benefits as a result.
In the meantime, I am hopeful that this new class will be a positive experience for my students. It’s a small class, which is good, and the goal is to create a safe place where my students can express their thoughts and feelings about tough times in their lives. I am nervous about this undertaking, but also excited. I believe we will all grow from this effort.
Wish us all luck.
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