Journaling Heals Your Body Too

Mari McCarthy

By Mari L. McCarthy

Do you know anyone who uses journaling to improve their physical health? Well, I do.

Whenever we talk about journaling, more often than not we talk about the practice of writing down our emotions and thoughts and reaping psychological benefits. However, we rarely stop to consider how keeping a daily pen to page Journal Writing Practice can help us work our way to physical wellness.

I started Journaling for purely physical reasons: to teach myself how to write with my left hand when I lost feeling and function on the right side of my body due to a Multiple Sclerosis (MS) flare-up. By using Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages method (3 pages of stream of consciousness handwriting first thing every morning), I   reconnected with and started creating an intimate long-term relationship with my body.

Though it may sound a bit bizarre, the best time to journal is when you’re not feeling well, when you’re sick or have recurring aches and pains. Next time, your back acts up or you come down with a flu bug, reach for your journal pages before you reach for prescription pills.

And try this: Sit down with your journal and have a dialogue with the disorder. Talk to your eczema, your lower back pain, your shingles, or your headache. Ask it questions and listen to its responses. As you write out the conversation, you open yourself to amazing discoveries about assumptions you subconsciously make and old irrational fears that continue to enslave you. The journaling process is a way to clean up your energy system by getting your thoughts, emotions, and underlying premises out on the paper, where you can see them and deal with them in a much more concrete way.

It’s quite easy to start a health journal. No special pens or fancy notebooks needed:

1. Have a daily conversation with your body through the pages of your journal. Ask it lots and lots of questions and write down its responses. Starting with your head and going down to your toes, check in with individual parts of your body. Identify any sensations as specifically as possible.

Now ask, what improvement would you like to see in your body’s health today?

If you could sum up what your body is trying to tell you right now in one sentence, what would it be?

2. Continue this conversation with your body every day for a week. Then read over your journal. On a fresh page, consider the following:

Are there physical patterns you notice in your conversations?

Are you consistently hearing the same message(s) from your body?

Are there emotional patterns to your conversations?

If you could sum up what your body has been saying to you over the past week in one sentence, what would that sentence be?

What improvement would you like to see in your body’s health in the upcoming week?

After a while, you will look back on your experience with great awe and respect, knowing that by getting up close and personal with your body, you have become your own primary care provider.

Being my own primary care provider, I’ve been off prescription drugs for over 8 years, over-the-counter drugs for over a year, and eat only fresh foods. When I visit my doctor for my yearly checkup, I bring my Journal with me.

And… I’ve recently resumed my Morning Pages routine, using my left and my right hand (though not at the same time yet) and I can now read my right-handed writing!

Mari L. McCarthy is The Journaling Therapy Specialist at www.createwritenow.com where you’ll find Journaling for the Health of It ™ inspiration, ideas, tips, and resources and The Personal Journal-WriteON! Blog. She conducts numerous self- discovery and self-improvement Journaling Challenges at www.createwritenow.com/journaling-center-calendar.

Zest for life–only one bite away!

Zest for life is only one bite away!

As I eyed this two-inch strawberry in its plastic crate, my eyes popped! I knew that today would be the real-time moment for me to look at my food with fresh eyes. I pulled out one of the most delectable and largest strawberries that I have ever seen. It was bright red with black seeds pinning its flesh just like the pincushion sitting next to my sewing basket. Somehow my zest for eating and being really present in my life soared!

Eating mindfully is something I strive to do most days, and at most meals, though often my monkey mind wanders way too much for my liking. Often I must re-direct my attention by turning off the music or the television. A sense of calm falls around me, and in this electronic silence, I take in what I am doing. As Thich Nhat Hanh says, “…we can spend a moment being grateful for the food we have just eaten and all that is necessary to create this moment.” Many religious and spiritual traditions practice gratefulness to instill a sense of value for things outside ourselves. I believe that we can practice this kind of gratefulness through mindfulness, on a regular basis. Further, by writing about this zest-filled experience, we can underscore our appreciation of life. And what better way to do this then through our daily habit of eating.

To begin this close observation for my gratitude journaling, I chose this voluptuous strawberry because it involved so many wonderful sensory elements. You can do the same by picking food that has significance for you. A cup of tea will do.  At first take in what you see. For me, as I cut into the fruit, my mouth began to water.  I thought about how this fruity flesh would ooze its sweetly tart juices around my tongue and teeth. I took in each mouthful with all senses alive and focused on what I was doing more fully.

With your food in front of you, observe how it impacts you as you cut and chew or sip it. This will root you to your understanding of things outside and within.

As I opened up the fruit and looked at the interior, I wondered about how it grew so full, and who might have gingerly picked it for me. For a moment I imagined the strawberry plant blossoming on the ground before it was pollinated, where the roots of the plant pierced through the earth.

After eating this wondrous strawberry, I looked at what was left: debris to decay and return to the soil, enrichment for the next fruit or flower. There is something satisfying in observing that cycle of life, something universal for which I am in awe. I will sit at my desk  to write about this. Maybe this experience will take me back to my mother’s garden and our wonderful dinners of her fried eggplant and stewed tomatoes. Or maybe I will journey down another path to my own trials and errors in the garden–or more.

For your journaling this week, note your sense of gratitude, wonder, and appreciation for things past and present. Afterward, find a way to build in more of these moments into your life. You can do so by simply eating part of your meal more mindfully. And as Lynn Johnson, PhD, says, “The skill of Savoring can increase our zest, since by paying attention to the pleasant things in our lives, we develop a greater sense of excitement about having them happen again.”

Let those appreciations happen over and over this next week, and may you have more moments of zest in your life!

Karen

Finding Inspiration

Dear Journal Writers,

I have been off pondering my heart’s desires and inspirations over the last few weeks and have come back to writing my blog with a new appreciation for the life around me. In October I travelled to Australia–both Sydney and Melbourne–with my daughter to celebrate a couple of milestones in her life, and also to see my niece and her family.  What a FANTASTIC journey. The country and the people were amazing!!

And I have to say that it all was inspiring! I came back recharged. Being so moved, I decided to take a big step, moving my career forward, and began a new work-life coaching program called, the Pinnacle. Wow, this has opened me up to so many new ways of thinking my head is often spinning….Hence the slowness in getting back to my bloggerly ways.

Excuses aside, I did want to revive my journaling blog and be here to support the process of journaling as a means of self-reflection and growth. So, what I wanted to introduce this week was to ask you to take the risk of doing something out of the ordinary, by looking at the ordinary in a new way.

As I was sorting out my photos from Australia, I found myself in awe at what I had seen only a few months ago. The images of beauty and inspiration were still leaving their impressions and begging me to go out and  see, feel,and touch life. This is the entrance point to living rich and full in every moment–and what you will write about this week! I’m leaving you with a sampling of some of my most awe-inspiring images of Australia.

The Great Ocean Road

This week you will look at your desires using your camera. I think that photos help us to focus on what we find most inspiring and beautiful. See if you agree. You will shoot through the lens the things that interest you the most. So what I propose for your inspiration this week is to take a walk to someplace wild, extraordinary, or beloved, and photograph what pulls you in, what has a deep connection for you. See how it stimulates your inner-most thoughts. If you can, take shots up close and in panorama. Each type provides its own sense of depth and breadth.

In the depths of the rainforest

After you have photographed your images, upload them to your computer, and just enjoy them for a day or two. Then go back and see if you come up with any threads of a theme as you look at your images. Is this about a new-found passion? Or something intimate about your life? What do you see now? I find that I love the suggestion of connection to all things around me. I see much more concretely how my small part of the natural world is connected to a much larger one. And I feel that I ground more deeply to something so much grander and more interesting for these moments. I relish being completely immersed in the sensory details of the smell of the green earth, and the evening moisture resting cool on my skin. I feel more alive and aware.

Once you have found your own thematic bridge to a few of your photos, write about this. Include thoughts and ideas that come up, as well as the emotional tonality of the experience. In so doing you will enliven to what most interests and inspires you. If you make a habit of this kind of writing, you will find that this inner way of knowing yourself will become more a part of your daily life.

Have fun and let me know what you liked about this adventure, and what may have helped you see something that you hadn’t noticed before.

Happy journaling!

Karen

Spontaneous Joys of the Season

Santa's in town!

Hi Dear Journalers,

I just happened to be out for lunch with my girlfriend in La Jolla on Sunday and heard some bagpipers practicing in the distance. As we walked along Girard Street we noticed the blocked-off road and people assembling. Horses and carts were being readied for the Holiday Parade. What an unexpected surprise!

Anticipation

It took me back to the days when I used to march in parades. I could feel the anticipation and excitement. This awakened my curiosity. Who was going to participate?

For a couple of hours I leaned against a tree trunk with my iPhone in hand, snapping photos. Elves tossed candy canes to the audience. Brownies and bagpipers marched in orderly fashion along the shop-lined street. Crowned Princesses from around the county sat atop convertibles and waved at the crowd. I wasn’t situated close enough to see their faces, but I felt the excitement in the air.

During these moments I felt alive to what was happening before my eyes. The vintage T-Birds in pastel hues curved along  the road, boasting their angular beauty. The ponies pranced back and forth as they wove up and down the street pulling their vintage, circus carts. Not to be missed were the graceful women in Victorian dress atop their horses. It was good to be out of the holiday buying frenzy for a few hours and back into the sheer joy of the present moment.

So this week for your journal writing, I recommend that you go out and about to explore something surprising. Take a chance! Go around that next corner to find something unexpected like I did last Sunday. Photograph the images and add some notes about the sensory details. Savor it. If you like, draw some pictures. You can even put together a collage, including your feelings and thoughts about how these stolen moments of pure joy affected you and restored your spirits.

Have fun this week, and see how relishing life increases your sense of happiness. As Lynn Johnson, PhD. says, if you savor one experience a day, you can create a habit of appreciation that leads to an increased zest for life. Something worth writing about!

Happy journaling!

Karen

The Season of Gratefulness

I don’t know about you, dear journalers, but I am already feeling some of the inevitable stress of the holidays. I’ve been up later than usual, entertaining, and reaching for the car keys to drive to the grocery store for those last missing items. The end of the year fills up, and pretty soon I am heading towards 2012 with my head spinning.

So I returned to a few easy “5 for 5″ centering practices that keep me anchored, grateful, and happy.

1. Take out my journal and write down at least 5 things that I am grateful for each day.

2. Meditate for 5 minutes.

3. Pick up an inspiring book and read from it for at least 5 minutes.

4. Lay on the floor or bed and put my feet up for 5 minutes to release tension.

5. Eat 5 good foods a day.

Sounds simple enough, but when I’m fussing I forget to do these essential things.

So let me start you out this week using the first three practices.  You will build some valuable journal writing into your daily life and come away supported and refreshed.

Let’s start with some inspiring words from Wu-Men, “If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things, this it the best season of your life.”

Now, find a quiet, comfortable place to sit and meditate on this idea for 5 minutes. Contemplate these two phrases. As the inevitable chatter interrupts your focus, acknowledge this and keep returning to these words.

Next, when you arise from meditation, write down five things for which you are grateful. Whether these ideas come quickly or slowly, sit with this exercise until you feel a sense of gratefulness which calms you.

beauty close up

Your ideas can be simple or profound. As for me, I find that I can meditate on what is important when I walk at Batiquitos Lagoon nearby my home. Today I snapped some photos. This helps me slow down and observe the things that inspire me the most.

I’m including a couple of photos that I took today as my dog Sam and I ambled around the northern path that hugs the outskirts of the waterway. We sat for five minutes and listened to a woodpecker tap his music on a eucalyptus while he had a hearty bug lunch.

looking for the woodpecker

I am truly grateful for that fleeting moment of communion with the life around me. I will return to this photo later and write some more about how I felt in this verdant cool spot that seemed a small wonder. Let your interests tell you something about yourself during these quiet moments of needed contemplation.

Try each day to write in your journal, more about your appreciations and how this kind of gratefulness has impacted you to live more fully.  For additional support, write down your own words of inspiration, or a phrase that caught your eye when you read something profound. Put these words on an index card and post it, put it in your pocket or purse, or return to it whenever you feel stressed.

Let me know if you find these practices helpful.

Happy journaling to you during this abundant week of blessings!

Karen

Abundance of the heart

Dear Journalers,

Unimaginable wonder

Welcome to the month of November and the season of harvest, home, and love. And this week, we San Diegans have been lucky enough to experience warm weather and the desire to go out and about and enjoy. I took some time to explore the beauty of the beach. Often these stolen moments from our busy scheules, can bring us closer to our greater purposes and our heart-centers.

And this time away can be a welcome break from our human struggles that seemingly come together in one hour or one day and overwhelm us.

At these moments, we can always turn to our journals for a respit from our daily concerns, to come back to our compassionate natures and remind ourselves of what is dearest in our hearts.

This week I recommend that you take your camera out of its bag and set out for the beach, the lagoons, the mountains, or even your garden where you can grab a peaceful moment. Photograph something that brings you a sense of communion with the outer world and your soul.

My best moments are often captured near the water where I can see beyond my limiting beliefs. I come away inspired and in awe of what is going on around me and inside me.

When you have photographed the image write about taking the time to do so and how it made you feel connected to something deep inside yourself. Theme the photo for what it inspires in you. Take time to journal your heart-felt dreams and wonders. And continue to invoke these feelings of abundance and awe this week. Read some inspiring words to uplift your spirits.

I leave you with the wish for an awe-inpsired week, one full of fun activities and silent moments for contemplation!

Karen

Observing change

Hello Dear Journalers,

This week we begin with a close up of change. I took this picture of a fallen branch from the little oak tree down the street from my home.

Each week, I keep an eye on the natural flora and fauna that Sam, my Australian Shepherd, and I encounter on our ritual walks around the neighborhood.

This is a great time to breathe in the present moment. I leave my home and computer behind and stretch into the landscape and become one of the fauna that treads the earth.

Sam and I have come upon a feisty rattlesnake, quail clacking through the bush country, and the receding reservoir outside our development. The rains are less frequent and the ducks have moved on from our little pond.

My prompt for this week is to take your cameras out and start recording the things that you love. Look for those mysteries that intrigue you. Perhaps you want to take a picture of a mallow plant or the spikey beauty of a six foot fennel stalk. Or if you are quiet and patient, you could photograph a local lizard or deer.

This weekend the Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography is having an event on underwater sea photography. Why not stop there to sharpen up your photography skills and pick up a tip or two on how to shoot great pictures.

Take this week to actually see what is going on around you. The changing of the seasons is such a beautiful time of year. The vivid earth colors greet us in greater depth each day.

Let the journaling this week take you on a journey to observe what you love and how you are going to capture this in both writing and photography. Let you camera be an extension of the lens of your inner eye, to touch the beauty in each season of our lives.

My journal prompts for the week are these, and when you write breathe into a more grounded place as a tree rooted to the earth, much like the Encinitas tree I photographed: 1. What does this season smell like to you and why does this give you your own sense of comfort? 2. List your favorite things to do in this season and build these into your schedule. 3. How does this season resonante with your season of life? 4. In looking at your photos what questions does this pose to you about your natural surroundings? 5. How does the natural landscape restore your spirit?

Enjoy the inner and outer beauty of this week and let me know what you find out there….

Wishing you another week of wondrous journaling!

Karen