Come eat your cake!
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Ready to stay calm and journal on? Let’s try some more journaling together!
I’ll start us off: My father, a storyteller, wrote me a poem once when I was moving out to the southwestern U.S. And the words I remember the most from this poem were these: “And your kindness / Will show you the way.” These words have helped me start up conversations with strangers, build connections with new friends, and planted a seed in my heart that I have the agency to “be the path” I want to walk.
Can’t wait to hear in the Comments what words pass through your “thought stream” as reminders of love and care.
In a recent episode, “Making Meaning and Writing Toward Posttraumatic Growth with Lennie Echterling” Lisa Ellison notes that so often writers will encounter trigger warnings (when writing their story) and are encouraged to sort of “back away” from these warnings in order to care for the self. This is necessary! And Dr. Echterling, a long-time crisis counselor, reminded listeners to also look for “triggers of resilience.” In other words, can you find moments in your day that make you aware of how much your are loved, supported, and cared for?
I think this journaling prompt helps us do this.
For a trauma survivor such as myself, I have noticed that I continue to retell my story (to therapists, coaches, my partner) and retell it with different journaling tools (e.g., the dialogue tool to talk to my grandmother; the clustering tool to install positive memories about family). It feels like I am putting the pieces of me back together every time I learn a new insight or find a rich angle that is different from before.
And did you know that researchers have found that it is both the emotional expression and storytelling elements from the journaling experience that have been linked to health benefits?
The findings from a 2010 study conducted at University at Albany (SUNY) suggest that both emotional expression and narrative structure may be key elements linked to expressive writing mental health benefits, including a decrease in symptoms of stress and depression.
In this study, 101 college students were randomly assigned to 3 writing groups:
The EW group wrote about a stressful or traumatic event in their life. The NW group wrote about a stressful or traumatic event in their life and were given instructions on how to structure it. The control group gave a factual description of the inside of their apartment/house.
Participants wrote for 20 minutes on the first day and 20 minutes two days later.
One month later, students self-reported symptoms of stress and depression, as well as levels of emotionality when writing. Outside judges assessed the level of narrative structure.
The researcher’s results found that:
If you are a trauma survivor (I’m thinking of those who have experienced PTSD, developmental trauma, or childhood adverse experiences), I can relate to you if you feel that being able to tell one’s story coherently is a great relief.
Those who tell their stories can be reassured by the fact that physical and mental benefits should follow during the difficult task of writing about trauma, namely reduced symptoms of depression and perceived stress. I feel that reassurance alongside you!
Here is the study I referenced:
Danoff-Burg, Sharon et. al (2010). Does Narrative Writing Instruction Enhance the Benefits of Expressive Writing?, Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 23:3.