Long ago it was said that, ‘Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast.’ But, music isn’t the only art form that has soothing qualities. While musicians use sounds to illicit emotional responses from those who listen to them, writers use words to create those same responses in readers. We read what some writer has put on the page and we feel what he wanted us to feel. We can do the same thing for ourselves when we become our own writer.
Writing is a very powerful form of communication. By putting words on paper we can communicate not only with others but also with ourselves. We can use the words as a means to carry our thoughts and feelings to the surface. We can unburden ourselves and heal the emotional and psychic traumas that have ruled our lives.
Whenever an author puts words on paper he is delving into his innermost thoughts and feelings. He is letting the reader see into his soul. In this way the reader becomes intimately aware of some of the truths the writer holds dear. The reader becomes aware of some of the ideas, thoughts and emotions that have made the author who he is. Why can’t the reader become a writer, to use this same technique to learn about himself? The truth is that he can. Anyone can pick up a pen and start writing. The writing doesn’t have to be good. You’re not writing the Great American Novel. The writing doesn’t even have to be grammatically correct. No one is grading you. All the writing has to do is allow the writer to find out more about himself.
There are many forms a piece of writing can take, anything from a short story to a personal letter. The particular form doesn’t really matter. What matters is the writer’s ability to let himself go, to let his thoughts and feeling flow onto the page. Only if the writer releases himself from his own criticism can he discover who he really is. Unfortunately, writing doesn’t come naturally to everyone. Many people hold themselves back. They have trouble staring at a blank page and don’t know where to begin.
Kathleen Adams, a Licensed Professional Counselor who has been working in the field of Journal Therapy for 15 years, was in graduate school studying psychology when it became clear to her that she wanted to go into counseling and help people. “My first semester I had some friends who asked me to teach a class in journal writing. I didn’t know how to do that since it had always come quite naturally to me. They convinced me that it wasn’t natural for everyone. I had not taught anything before but as soon as I started I realized this was a very powerful combination of psychology and writing.”
These days Adams runs therapy groups where she uses the process of writing to help her clients learn about and deal with their individual issues. She defines eighteen different kinds of journal writing techniques that can help her clients deal with particular kinds of issues. An unsent letter, for example, allows people to deal with unfinished business, catharsis, loneliness or anger. But that approach isn’t the best for every situation. If someone is working with an irrational belief system the unsent letter might not be appropriate. In those instances a Pro/Con list might work better. “What I do is use a specific technique with a specific problem. I work a lot with relationship development, self-esteem and sense of self issues. I try to get people to a place where they have a good relationship with themselves.”
Miriam Kuznets, a licensed social worker and advanced clinical practitioner, agrees that developing a relationship with ones’ self is very important. “The therapeutic value [of writing] is that it gives each person a kind of time to be alone with their minds. They can capture their thoughts without having to interact with others.”
Kuznets believes that when people read something they’ve written, rather than just talking things out, they hear their own thought process. In a group setting her clients don’t comment as much on the writing itself as they might if they were in a writing workshop. Instead they comment on the images the writer has created and what those images might mean. In individual sessions, however, it falls upon Kuznets to act like the group. She asks a lot of questions about what the client has written.
In the two and a half years that she has been using writing in this manner Kuznets has come to the conclusion that writing sometimes works for people who are not well suited for other therapies. She says that it gives a different kind of outlet than talk therapy. “Some people are just more comfortable with the written word than they are with the spoken word. Some people see this as a sort of creative pursuit, a way of self –expression.”
Nancy Aronie has been teaching people how to write since she was 22 yrs old. She created her workshop, “Writing from the Heart,” because she saw what writing the truth did for people. People who attend her workshops are told not to try to be clever, not to have a goal for their writings other than to tell the truth.
“Everyone has a story and a wound to talk about. It’s not a matter of pretending the wound didn’t happen, but rather of making a larger space for the wound to find healing.”
Aronie has seen the effects of this approach over and over. She says that there is a lot of spirituality in a circle of people who can come together with love for each other not judgments. She created the workshop because she saw that people are anxious to tell the truth about who they are and what wounds have been inflicted upon them, but that there isn’t much of a forum for this kind of truth telling.
“It is important to find some form of expression and keep doing it until you break through to your own healing. I create a sacred circle. People are allowed to tell the truth. When people feel safe they can get out of their heads where the judgments are and where their knowledge is and they can go to their wisdom. You have to acknowledge the wounds, not bury them.”
No matter where you are in life. No matter what kind of spiritual, emotional or psychological scars you’ve acquired over the years it is important to help yourself to grow. Writing can help you do that. Writing can help you delve into yourself, to look at the challenges you have faced and the scars those challenges have left. It doesn’t matter what form your writing takes, from a to-do list to a personal letter, from a short story to a novel, by putting words on paper you are seeing your own thoughts and helping yourself to work through your own challenges. In the process you are learning how to channel your strengths into every aspect of your life.
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