Writing To Feel Good — Dr. Wayne Phimister
By: Dr Wayne Phimister
Tags: Writing Tips, Journaling, Healing, Writing, Healing From Trauma

Writing To Feel Good — Dr. Wayne Phimister

We can sometimes fight against chronic pain with the simpler of the methods. Just grab a pen, a piece of paper and start healing! Dr Wayne Phimister Mar 23, 2020·5 min read

Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash

Medical research has shown throughout history that there are infinite ways in which we can solve our problems and improve the way we feel.

When we talk about expressive writing, science has been around it for almost forty years, proving that there are between ten and fifteen health benefits from its practice.

Therefore, what is this really about?

PUTTING YOUR EMOTIONS TO PAPER

Essentially, expressive writing is about writing your emotions down in a piece of paper.

The theories of its procedure are based on somatic-based treatments, which means that if you use your hand, your arm, your brain, and also your heart to express yourself in the paper, you separate your thoughts, ideas, and emotions from yourself.

As a result, you will start to see these things you wrote onto the paper; and you will have the possibility to discharge and take distance from them

There are two main styles that you can take advantage of.

EXPRESSIVE WRITING METHOD #1 — THE WRITE AND RIP APPROACH

The first one is the write and rip approach, which is championed by Hanscom, my colleague previously in Seattle, who developed this technique by himself.

In simple words, it is about getting those negative thoughts into the paper and, then, putting them into the garbage.

There is no point in keeping these negative thoughts, they are not helpful.

Just rip them up and put them into the garbage, which separates you from them.

EXPRESSIVE WRITING METHOD #2— JOYFUL JOURNALING

The second approach is called joyful journaling and, as you write more and more, I recommend you to start doing it; maybe a few minutes and work up to maybe even twenty minutes a day.

However, if you can get on the subject of joyful writing as well as joyful living, put it on a paper, because what happens is that it becomes a part of you.

Now, the more time we focus on joyful writing and joyful living, the more we are encouraging it to happen in our lives, and as a result, we become immersed in it. Curiously, this week I was thinking about how important is to be grateful and get your heart involved in your daily routines, which can also stimulate the brain and the journey of dealing with chronic pain.

The main benefit of doing one of the two basics ways of expressive writing for around a week is that you are going to be building up those neural networks in your brain that are literally laying down a new formulation or a new way of dealing with your chronic disease.

And what matters here is that our brain has the characteristic of being neuroplastic, so it really matters a lot. I would start with a couple of minutes and build it up five minutes, ten minutes, and even fifteen minutes a day.

FIND THE METHOD THAT WORKS BEST FOR YOU

It is essential for you to find your own comfort zone when doing this.

Some people prefer to sit down and do it at one sitting.

Other people do a little writing as they go through the day.

I truly recommend you to set maybe half an hour aside to do expressive writing and then do other activities like meditation or breathing.

If you have a post-it pad near you, you can write those negatives emotions, frustrations, and irritations down as you go along with the day; and then just rip them up, put them into the garbage.

If you are one of those people who struggle to sleep, get the pad of paper out and start writing. It will not only calm your brain and mind, but it will also help induce some sleep.

FOR THOSE THAT ALREADY WRITE — HERE ARE SOME TIPS

There may be some people who say that they have been writing for a long time, and luckily, I have some tips for them.

TIP #1

The first one is to use your other hand. Do not worry, it is not about legibility or grammar; it is about getting the expression of feelings and thoughts on paper and then putting it away.

Another technique is to close your eyes, be blind.

This might feel a little strange but writing with your eyes closed is a great way to exercise the brain, maybe in a new dimension that can help you get variety and maybe surprise of its outcomes.

TIP #2

The next approach for those advanced journal writers is to write from different age perspectives.

You will experience that getting different points of view of a subject that, perhaps, deep in your heart is troublesome, will help you liberate from that constricted perspective.

Finally, the last approach is to think about four people in your life and write from their perspectives.

So, if you are struggling with something, just write from different perspectives, what would they say about that subject. What happens is that your brain gets a workout, you are challenging it, and also you will probably get more inspiration to deal with it.

Dr. Jamie Pennebaker, who is the world leader in this subject, recommended in his book to pick one subject and write about it for four days because it will help you to dive deep into the core of the problem. If you chose this approach, what you have to do is to do it twenty minutes per day, and see how you feel after that. You can even measure your level of frustration of calmness from zero to ten.

IN CONCLUSION… A Warning Against Negative Thoughts

To conclude, I want just to warn you.

If you dive deep into those negative thoughts, do not write about them all the time.

One thing that I advise my patients if they are getting a bit depressed from the writing is to stop, change their style, go through a more joyful journaling approach.

If you miss one day or two, do not desperate, it is okay, get back the following day.

So, as I said many times before, expressive writing is an important tool when we talk about building new neural networks that will help you if you are struggling with chronic pain.

Feeling good with ourselves and having a joyful life is the main objective of all of us. Now you know, if you really want it, just write to achieve it!

If you liked this article, leave a comment below. Don’t forget to let me know what topics to cover. I’m always happy to hear from my readers!