Post #85 – Women’s Memoirs, Book & Video Raves – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
MEMOIR AND JOURNALING, A RESOURCE FOR HEALING
Kendra Bonnett and I are pleased to be part of a blog book tour organized by WOW! Women on Writing for Mari L. McCarthy’s new book, Peace of Mind and Body: 27 Days of Journaling to Health & Happiness
As regular readers of this Women’s Memoir blog know, we bring together many facets of memoir writing, including journaling and writing and healing. Therefore, when we learned about Mari McCarthy’s new book, we were eager to share it with you. Below is our interview with Mari. Because we wanted to know the specifics of her experience with journaling, some of the discussion focuses on her health. However, as she writes in an article on WOW entitled Journaling for Healing, Health, and Happiness:
Journaling helps us understand what’s really going on inside of us, so we can get past all the baggage that we’ve been carrying around and experience our true, authentic, healthy self: the one that we came into this world with.
And, now to our interview:
Welcome Mari to Women’s Memoirs. We are pleased to have an opportunity to talk with you and to learn more about your new book. Here’s our first question:
Women’s Memoirs: Many women keep journals, but you came to journaling under unusual circumstances. Could you share that story with us?
Mari L. McCarthy: I like to say that journaling jumpstarted my life. More specifically, Multiple Sclerosis (MS) introduced me to journaling. And journaling in turn introduced me to myself.
When a MS exacerbation spirited away the feeling and function of my body’s right side, I needed to teach myself how to write left-handed. A hypnotherapist introduced me to Julia Cameron’s ‘Morning Pages’ from her book, “The Artist’s Way”. I began the practice of daily (first thing each morning) three page stream-of-consciousness writing. While using this technique, I discovered that daily journal writing could offer much more than physical therapy; it was the ultimate self-discovery and personal growth tool. The way into knowing and growing myself and creating the life I really wanted to live.
Women’s Memoirs: Could you tell us about the benefits you have found in journaling.
Mari L. McCarthy: Sure, but my answer is long because there are so many benefits from journaling. Journaling helps me with everything from inner world stress reduction to outer world problem solving. Today, my favorite journal writing benefits come in these areas:
Journaling and Physical Health: My left hand became a productive writer in two to three weeks. How did this happen so quickly? Through my journaling, I discovered that I was a left- hand dominant child but my teachers convinced my mother that only right-handed writing was allowed at St. Bernard’s. Now I’m using my journaling to bring my right hand back home. I use my journal to communicate with my body and have made major dietary changes as well as eliminated all prescription drugs. I sleep well every night and remember more dreams.
Journaling and Self-Confidence and Compassion: Through pages and pages of daily pen-to-the-page journaling, I’ve discovered who really lives in my body. She’s nowhere near who I thought I was. I’ve eliminated all kinds of diseased mental and emotional messages I’ve been carrying around since childhood. I met and now manage my Inner Critic with the help of my Inner Coach. I’m patient (!) with myself and have constructive and caring self-talks. I love who I am and can’t wait to get to the page to dive deeper and retrieve more treasures.
Journaling and Writing: Journaling has made me a better writer. It helps me figure out what I really want to say and the best way to say it. And it’s a terrific tool for all genres from business letters to short stories to memoir writing. I’ve written a free eBook on how to use a journal to cure writer’s block.
Women’s Memoirs: When did you decide to take your experiences with journaling and turn them into a book? Were there any unexpected results from creating a book based on these experiences?
Mari L. McCarthy: After practicing journaling myself, I wanted to share the benefits with others. That lead to the idea for my eBook Peace of Mind and Body: 27 Days of Journaling to Health & Happiness
Mari L. McCarthy: In January of this year, we held our first ‘27 Days of Journaling Challenge.’ I thought 27 Days of ‘Inner Work’ would be a great way to not only ground ourselves but would help us create achievable goals for the year.
The first challenge was so successful that we’re going to hold the next challenge at the start of the school year in September. This time in addition to Facebook and Twitter support, we will be holding webinars so participants can ask questions and interact with fellow challenge takers. Please join us! Just to go http://CreateWriteNow.com
Women’s Memoirs: Mari, thank you for joining us today and sharing your experiences with journaling as well as with the book and challenge that grew out of it.
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