Post #28 – Memoir Writing, Journaling – Amber Starfire
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Journal writing is one way of learning to be aware of feelings, their sources, and effects on our lives. But in order to write about those feelings, we have to allow ourselves to dive back into them — a daunting idea in any case, but particularly if the feelings are painful.
In her book, Writing From the Heart, Nancy Slonim Aronie says, “It is understandable that our personal traumas can shut us down in the heart department…. As writers, we must be willing to feel our sadness, our anger, our terror, so we can reach in and find our sweet vulnerability that is just sitting there waiting for us to come back home. Then and only then are we able to create the perfect weaving, the masterful mix, the ideal harmonizing of our wounds and our words.” That last bit — the part about the “perfect weaving,” and “harmonizing wounds and words” — sounds wonderful doesn’t it? To be able to put on paper the events of our lives in such as way as to make the feelings — hurtful or joyful — as tangible as the events themselves is the goal of every writer, including those of us who “only” journal.
Why? Because your journal is as much a record of your heart as it is of events, thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs. Getting those difficult matters of the heart onto paper, however, requires telling yourself the truth. It requires faith in yourself to heal and to understand that journaling can be part of the healing process. And it requires knowing that if you go into the process with an open mind, you’ll come through the other side with insight, as well as healing.
Here’s how:
- Write often (practice).
- Don’t allow yourself to shun or run away from the hard stuff.
- Write more often (practice).
- Don’t allow yourself to gloss over the fun stuff.
- For every event that holds an emotional charge, answer the five W’s: who, what, where, when, and why? And then, whatever your answer, ask them again (go deeper).
- Did I mention practice?
The more you allow yourself to go into your feelings when you write, the easier it will become, until you can harmonize the words, not only with the wounds but with all that is in your heart.
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journaling
memoir journaling
journal writing prompt
reflective journaling
Photo by Marco Murray
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