Stories and lessons have traveled for centuries from one group of people to another, through writing and the teachings that written words bring. Writing for yourself can also help you to learn from your experiences in life, and may be a wonderful way to cope with the process of grieving. Feeling as if everything is lost, and the unbearable pain that comes along with grief, is a difficult one to overcome. Understanding, and being able to heal from grief with your best interest and health in mind is where writing helps. At a time when things have become so fast paced and digital, writing with a pen and paper may offer an uncompromised kind of peace and self-reflection.
Just write from the heart, and don’t edit yourself at all. Even if you hate writing and grammar, and everything that comes along with it, you will be surprised by your feelings and begin to see what lies beneath. Writing brings feelings and emotions out that many of us have problems expressing. Through keeping a journal or a diary you can express your random thoughts without fear. Every personal insecurity or irrational thought will be yours to keep, and express, and write. Working things out or just being able to express yourself through a journal will help to develop security and full-fledged expression. There is no one to judge you when you write, there is no one to rush you or tell you when to feel or how to be, and there are no limits to owning your own journal, and working out your feelings through them.
Writing is therapeutic. The Center for Journal Therapy in Detroit stands by the benefits of writing in a journal or a diary to heal yourself, and many other health professionals and holistic healers believe the same. There are several ways to enjoy the process of journaling, and as someone who has kept a personal journal for over 10 years, it has become one of my most enjoyable past times.
Let yourself write when it comes. Keep your journal and a pen with you, and allow yourself to write and stop when you feel it is time. There are no rules when journaling, so forget about punctuation. Choose a journal that you love and purchase a diary that you enjoy looking at and flipping through. Think of it as your emotional scrapbook where you will go back and read and heal with. For example, you can choose to write about memories one day, fun times with your loves one on another day, and life stages the next. Another tip for journaling is to be honest with yourself. Nothing is wrong with anything you put it in your journal, and you have to trust it and trust yourself. In order to heal and make it through the difficult times, and in order to have the strength to read through your own journal and truly sort out your feelings you need trust. Grieving is a process and our loss may sometimes hurt more than anything else in the world, but through journaling you can understand this difficult time and work out your process of grieving one step at a time.
