I have re-read a Wall Street Journal article numerous times since its publication, July 2024, partly because of the subject, mostly because of the riveting way it was written . . . the account of the days before and after Rachel Zimmerman’s husband’s death by his own hand. “As a health reporter, I wrote years ago about a study that showed the psychological benefits of storytelling. I was fascinated by research that found that people felt differently about themselves and their lives when they reframed their stories so that they were agents, not victims or bystanders. Essentially, the story matters less than how we tell it to ourselves.” Rachel Zimmerman, “A Decade Ago, My Husband Killed Himself. Could I Have Stopped it?” The Wall Street Journal, July 6-7, 2024 As Zimmerman wrote, “This is my effort to make sense of something senseless.” Both Zimmerman and Samantha Rose (Giving Up The…
Tag: Writing as a path to healing
Loss
Guest Blogger Sharon Ziff writes: I lost my gloves—the ones I bought in Venice last year. I loved them. LOVED THEM. How could I love a pair of gloves? They had a soft, fluffy pompom on the top. I liked to stroke them. It was like petting a kitty. Sadness. And upset with myself for losing them. So I lost a pair of gloves. How could I feel this deep emotion for a pair of gloves? It’s the attachment to my experience in Venice and my love for the friend I was with. Loss is a recurring theme in my writing. At times, I struggle to manage the intense feelings that accompany loss. There’s a burning sensation in my belly that I want to go away. I find myself thinking, “No, no, no,” while tears begin to flow. It’s not about the lost gloves; it’s about the impermanence of life….
Healing Starts When You . . .
“Healing starts when you write about what happened and how you felt about it then, and how you feel about it now. And in order for our writing to be a healing experience, we need to honor our pain, loss and grief.” — “Opening Up By Writing It Down” by James Pennebaker “The Write Spot: Writing as a Path to Healing” has an expansive section on how to write about difficult subjects without adding trauma.
Quotes for a rainy day
Are you a planner or a worrier? What is the difference? I’m a worrier, trying to be a planner. I imagine what could go wrong so I can plan for when that happens. I suppose I should say “if” it happens. My worries seldom happen. Instead, things happen that I could never have imagined. But, as Leo Buscaglia said, “Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.” A therapist said to me, “Worry is modern man’s voo-doo.” I get that. “Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere.”– Erma Bombeck Well, as I sit and rock, I could plan what I would do if my worries came true. “When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of…