Tell your story

“I want to write, but more than that I want to bring out all kinds of things that lie buried in my heart.” – Anne Frank

I recently returned from a private retreat where I did some writing: about my dreams, about my fears, about my calling. I was telling my story, to myself; though occasionally there are a few others who read parts of my story, I'm finding value in the telling, even when there’s no one else to listen.

In Writing the Sacred Journey: the Art and Practice of Spiritual Memoir, author Elizabeth J. Andrew asserts, “The spiritual writer uncovers, probes, and honors what is sacred in his or her life story; the writing process itself is a means to spiritual growth; and the end product makes the experience of the sacred available to the reader.”

I appreciate too her observation: “The activities that most nourish the spirit (play, affection, generosity, contemplation, quiet, beauty, creativity, truth-telling, time in nature) are least valued in a consumer society. Spending a morning with a pen and notepad, traversing the landscape of memory and searching for the sacred, is a profoundly countercultural activity.”

How about it? Want to be a little countercultural and put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard? To add to the spiritual benefits of telling your story, there’s physical and psyche benefits (which is not surprising – as we are all interconnected body-soul-spiritual beings, a good practice in one area will spill over into the others).

James W. Pennebaker, a professor in the Department of Psychology at The University of Texas at Austin and author of several books including Writing to Heal: A Guided Journal for Recovering from Trauma and Emotional Upheaval, has spent 20 years encouraging people to spend 15 to 20 minutes a day for a few consecutive days writing down their deepest feelings. Pennebaker says, “People who engage in expressive writing report feeling happier and less negative than before writing. Similarly, reports of depressive symptoms, rumination, and general anxiety tend to drop in the weeks and months after writing about emotional upheavals.” http://www.4therapy.com/consumer/life_topics/article/9552/112/The+Therapeutic+Benefits+of+Journaling

Writing and/or talking about emotional topics has also been found to influence immune function in beneficial ways, including t-helper cell growth, antibody response to Epstein-Barr virus, and antibody response to hepatitis B vaccinations. Additionally, decreases in blood pressure, improvements in grades, finding new jobs more quickly for laid-off professionals, less absenteeism, and more, have been suggested in the research.

For a recent summary of expressive writing research: go to*Pennebaker, J.W. & Chung, C.K. (2007). Expressive writing, emotional upheavals, and health. In H. Friedman and R. Silver (Eds.), Handbook of health psychology (pp 263-284). New York: Oxford University Press. Find that and more on Pennebaker’s home page: http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/Faculty/Pennebaker/Home2000/JWPhome.htm

Telling by writing becomes a way of attending to life’s submerged currents. Our stories have a tremendous capacity to surprise and teach us.

Understanding is a fountain, a wellspring of life to him who has it... – Proverbs 16:22