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Mari · 05-01-2007, 03:08 AM

Benefits of Journaling:

http://www.toolswithheart.com/healthbenefits/index.html

Quote:

Health Benefits of Journal Writing
by founder Felice Willat

Many journaling teachers and authors know the healing benefits of keeping a journal. Marlene A. Schiwy, in her book A Voice of Her Own, talks about the healing dimensions of journal writing: "To create wholeness in our lives is to heal ourselves. Healing comes from the same root as whole and holiness. It is the attainment of wholeness of body, mind, emotions and spirit.

For many women, The journal provides a gentle setting in which healing can take place. It offers one place where literally and symbolically, all of the pieces of one’s life finally come together." And Lucia Cappaccione, author of The Well Being Journal, recognizes that illness can be a great teacher from within. "The most important message I learned from my disease is that the healing process is activated by a spiritual force that resides within. A journal can be a ‘living textbook’ for learning the lessons that the illness has to teach."

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The first studies, in the late l980’s, examined healthy people and journaling. Researchers have found that people who write about their deepest thoughts and feelings surrounding upsetting events have stronger immunity and visit their doctors half as often as those who write only about trivial events.

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"More importantly," says Pamela M. Peeke, MD, MPH, ISPA Medical Advisor, "22% of the people who only wrote about their daily plans worsened substantially over the four-month period, while only 4% of those who wrote about their stressful events did so." She adds, "One of the least studied techniques so commonly taught in spas is journaling. Now, there is intriguing evidence that journaling has a direct impact upon the status of chronic disease."

In their studies, Smyth and Pennebaker had participants write for 15-30 minutes on four consecutive days about the most traumatic event in their lives. Writing continuously about a problem allowed the participants to thoroughly examine the event and how it affected them. "People have to stick with it," said a participant. "I get to the first page and it’s pure anger or frustration. They need to get beyond the emotion and discover a better understand. The need to find the ending of the process."

Pennebaker says developing a deeper understanding of the event and the emotions it generates helps the brain digest the information. He thinks when you analyze a traumatic event your brain turns it into a story that’s stored more easily. "Storytelling simplifies a complex experience," he says.

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Journal writing has the lowest risk factor imaginable, mentally as well as financially, providing you with the gentlest and safest of therapies. No expertise required, no minimum time required, and you don’t lose the benefits if you miss a time period.

There are even instances where the process of journal writing has sustained the writer beyond her anticipated life span, where she lived on precisely in order to finish saying what she had to say.