From time to time in this column I will share more about at least one of the suggestions people have given me about  what helps when life gets tough.  Today I’ve chosen the section for the Directory of the new Reprint Edition of Seven Choices about writing.

Writing

This comes from the directory found at the back of the new Warner Reprint Edition of my book Seven Choices.

Keeping a journal is a lifeline for many people as they experience their mourning. The Progoff Journal method, developed by Dr. Ira Progroff, offers a structure that a number of individuals have told me was useful to them as they “wrote through their grieving.” You can learn about the Progoff Journal method by reading At a Journal Workshop and The Practice of Process Meditation, written by Ira Progoff and published by Dialogue House Library in New York.  But,  better yet, attend a Progoff Journal Writing Workshop. To learn dates and locations of these workshops (and to receive information about how to purchase the books above, or other books and tapes related to the Progoff Journal method, write to Dialogue House, 80 East 11 Street, New York, NY 10003; (212) 673-5880 and 800-221-5844 or log onto www.intensivejournal.org.

Young Man Busy Writing His Book

James Pennebaker, PhD, has shown that people who write about stressful experiences visit doctors less often and have stronger immune responses.  In one study people who wrote 20 minutes on 3 consecutive days about a past trauma experienced measurable positive physical and emotional changes after completing the writing.  At the Andrew Weil Integrative Medicine Clinic, patients are urged to write in a journal about their feelings, both positive and negative, for 15-20 minutes a day.

And a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (April 14, 1999) found that patients with asthma or rheumatoid arthritis who wrote about a past trauma had a significant reduction in symptoms.

Kathleen Adam’s Journal to the Self: 22 Paths to Personal Growth (Warner, 1990) is an excellent resource, as is the Center for Journal Therapy (in the U. S., 888-421-2298 or www.journaltherapy.com.

For those who want to write but not necessarily in a journal format, these books and tapes are excellent.

Baldwin, Christina. Life’s Companion: Journal Writing as a Spiritual Quest: New York: Bantam Books, 1990.

Brande, Dorothea. Becoming a Writer: Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., 1934.

Cameron, Julia. The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity: New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Perigee Books, 1992.

_____. The Vein of Gold: New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Perigee Books, 1996.

Metzger, Deena. Writing for Your Life: A Guide and Companion to the Inner Worlds: San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1992.

Neeld, Elizabeth Harper. Yes! You Can Write. 1986 (set of six audio cassettes). Available from Nightingale-Conant Corporation, 7300 N. Lehigh Avenue, Chicago, IL 60648; (800) 323-5552.

Stafford, William. Writing the Australian Crawl: Views on the Writer’s Vocation: Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1978.

Ueland, Brenda. If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit: St. Paul: Graywolf Press, 1987.

A most unusual book for writers but an excellent resource is List Your Self:  Listmaking as the Way to Self-Discovery by Ilene Segalove and Paul Bob Velick, Andrews and McMeel, 1996.

---

Dr. Elizabeth Harper Neeld offers wisdom and practical insights to anyone whose life is in a time of transition, change, grief and loss of any kind. As an internationally recognized and accomplished consultant, and author of more than twenty books - including Tough Transitions and Seven Choices: Finding Daylight After Loss Shatters Your World - she is committed to work that helps lift the human spirit.