Jessica Maggie Brophy

About Jessica Maggie Brophy

http://www.jessicamaggiebrophy.com

Posts by Jessica Maggie Brophy:

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Blog Entry Wins Third Place

I’m celebrating a third place contest win for the personal blog, “Confess Already: The Power of Disclosure in Writing”!

The win was judged by the 2023 New Mexico Press Women (NMPW) Communications Contest, the largest inclusive media organization in New Mexico. 

I submitted this blog because I got to practice some of my favorite things, including the integration of metaphors, family narrative, scientific evidence, and unresolved resolution. 

While I am certain the blog could still use some revision, I’m glad I submitted it to the contest and am grateful for the award.

The content attracts those who are interested in writing as a healing modality. The metaphors about confession invite readers to grapple with the complexity of confession; in the end, the blog encourages readers to see the power of confession to liberate the silences in one’s life and to bring about emotional benefits.

You can read the full blog here.

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Resiliency and Journal Writing

We are a resilient people! But if you “read the popular press–or even psychology journals–you might conclude that PTSD and other mental . . . problems are the standard responses to all large traumas Surprisingly, the opposite is true” (Pennebaker and Smyth, Opening Up by Writing it Down).

In Silver and Wortman’s research, they show that the majority of people who faced the death of a spouse or spouse, did not experience intense anxiety or depression or grief that lasted a long time. They write that about 2/3 of soliders who have seen combat do not show evidence of PTSD. People in a major auto accident did not experience depression or PTSD.

Of course, this by no means undermines those of us who have experienced PTSD and the devastating effects of hyperattentiveness and not feeling safe in our skin. It also does not mean that we don’t have a responsibility to be trauma-informed and trauma-responsive in our homes, communities, and workplaces.

But, by and large, we are a resilient people, who when we need to recover, we can. We talk it out with friends. We come together with our neighbors or community. We can process and communicate the emotions with others and by ourselves.

This is encouraging research to me and something I talk a little more about with Dr Belinda Elek above. While journal writing may trigger past trauma or anxiety for some, it is also giving us the tools to cope and heal with the help of a supportive circle. It is that circle that bears witness to when we need to show gentleness and compassion to our past wounds rather than just forging ahead.

When was the last time you felt resilient?

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A Moment That Teaches You Everything

Do you have a moment in your life that you want to return to? Are the details so vivid that they haunt you at night? Are you craving to understand this moment in your life? This moment that could teach you everything? This moment that could show you your bravery or your resilience or your capacity to do everything in your power to protect yourself and your kin?

In this captured moment that I experienced in April 2021 (and wrote about in Nov 2021), I can see now how strong I was to leave a violent home. I can see now how I went into Mama Protector mode. I can see now, that it was the first time I woke up from a very bad dream. I can see now that I had the clarity of thought and wherewithal to get the hell out and to save myself and my son.

Join me for the next free journaling session on Saturday January 21st at 9:30 a.m. Mountain Time. You will learn to write your own captured moment. The captured moment does not have to be a response to trauma, but I just wanted to share how powerful this tool can really be by sharing my own traumatic memory.

Register for the journaling session at: www.jessicamaggiebrophy.com/registration.


What moment in your life needs recounting? I and The Writing Shed members are here to be your witnesses 💕🖋️

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Learning Life Balance Tool

Do you want to take inventory on an important area in your life? Maybe you want to take stock of your home office space? Maybe you want to consider your spirituality during the holidays? Maybe you want to take inventory of your personal growth over the past year? Join me on December 17th Saturday at 9:30 a.m. (MT) to learn the “life balance” journaling tool.

 

See you in The Writing Shed! 

 

Register for the session here: www.jessicamaggiebrophy.com/registration

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Free Journaling Session a Success!

Sharing a little coffee talk with my blog family about the “taste of journaling” session. It was a powerful success and I encourage you to join me for the next one on Saturday, October 22nd at 9:00 a.m. Mountain Time.

We will be learning a journaling tool called the “time capsule” in which you get to begin writing your own autobiography. Send me a message using the form on my home page if would like to get updates and more details about this session. 

Have a beautiful weekend. I’m going to let it sweep me away! You?

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Writing to Get Unstuck

Dr Maggie is so happy to be back in The Writing Shed! A type of expressive writing called the exposure method can help you adjust to a difficult life or transition. With the simple act of returning to the same life situation across three different writing sessions, you will experience greater habituation or adjustment. Researchers have also found that there can be some cognitive understanding gained with this method. The idea isn’t to “beat the issue to death”; it is to continue to look at the life situation from a slightly different angle so that it begins to feel more normal and less shocking. How do you adjust to new realities? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
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Teacher Loneliness

Lonely as a teacher? Do you ask yourself where your people are? Does your school discourage you from talking about your personal life or advocating for your mental well-being? Do you wonder why the professional development you are offered never seems to energize you? Do you laugh and secretly cry every time you hear about how well Finnish teachers are doing? In a research article in the International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing, the authors note: “Both the academic literature and educational policy documents have emphasized that in order to support teachers’ professional development, teachers should be offered both individual and personally inspiring education that facilitates the development of both teachers and school communities.” What’s your story? How could you be supported more at your school?

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Writing to Let Go

Dr. Maggie is back in The Writing Shed! When I learned about the research on how expressive writing helps us have an experience of letting go, I was gobsmacked. Letting go experiences are normally associated with trances or spiritual experiences. But the simple act of identifying and recognizing your emotional reactions to fearful times in your life can have powerful effects on your body. In one study done about the human fear of spiders, when the participants expressed their deathly fear of spiders in language, they were able to move closer to the spider (more than those who merely looked at the spider without expressing anything). Journal writing is powerful!

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