Journaling and Healing: Day 11
Journaling and Healing
Day 11… from setback to comeback
This is Day 11 in our 40 Day Journey from setback to comeback. In Day Ten, I talked about denial and how we often minimize our losses by spiritualizing the events. But a woman wrote to me after Day Nine talking about the opposite problem. She had too much emotion. She needed to find ways to channel her emotion in positive ways. Good point. She said journaling was one positive approach she took to help her.
“The evidence is mounting that the act of writing about traumatic experience for as little as fifteen or twenty minutes a day for three or four days can produce measurable changes in physical and mental health.”
Journaling and Healing
I recently came across some research in Brene Brown's latest book, Daring Greatly, that relates to journaling:
In a pioneering study, psychologist and University of Texas professor James Pennebaker and his colleagues studied what happened when trauma survivors— specifically rape and incest survivors— kept their experiences secret. The research team found that the act of not discussing a traumatic event or confiding it to another person could be more damaging than the actual event.
Conversely, when people shared their stories and experiences, their physical health improved, their doctor’s visits decreased, and they showed significant decreases in their stress hormones. Since his early work on the effects of secret keeping, Pennebaker has focused much of his research on the healing power of expressive writing.
In his book Writing to Heal, Pennebaker writes,
“Since the mid-1980s an increasing number of studies have focused on the value of expressive writing as a way to bring about healing. The evidence is mounting that the act of writing about traumatic experience for as little as fifteen or twenty minutes a day for three or four days can produce measurable changes in physical and mental health. Emotional writing can also affect people’s sleep habits, work efficiency, and how they connect with others.” (p. 82) Penguin Group
Brown notes the AA saying: you are only as sick as your secrets. That means, the more you hold in, the less you’ll heal. You need to find a way to express your pain and grief.
That’s why I will often offer my ears to people who have gone through a season of loss. I tell them that I don't have to be their counselor. I just think everyone needs someone to vent to without apologizing for it. They need someone to hear what they’ve gone through without trying to fix them or judge them.
Does Journaling Show A Lack Of Faith?
Some people don't want to seek out a counselor or journal for fear that they aren't trusting God. They shouldn't need those outlets. All they need is God. Well, hello. Maybe God wants to give you some tangible outlets to process your loss. It's not a sign of weak faith to want/need to share the pain of your losses. It’s taking advantage of the help that God sent your way.
Give journaling a chance. Take a few minutes every day for the next three weeks to see if it can help you process your losses.
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