Mindful writing is a powerful practice for supporting you in healing from difficult events. I have loved writing for as long as I can remember. I’ve been practicing mindful writing for transformation with committed regularity since my mid-thirties following my aging mother’s relapse with addiction, near death by suicide, and eventual death from cancer. Mindfulness and writing have been two of the most powerful practices in my journey of healing from those losses.
Mindful Writing can help us to make order from what feels like chaos.
A great deal of research has shown that creating a coherent narrative encourages healing from traumatic events. There is a considerable body of research that suggests that writing about difficult events can support us in healing from them. Research has also shown that people who possess the personality trait of mindfulness experience greater benefit from expressive writing about difficult events. I’ve been incorporating mindful writing into my work with trauma survivors for many years and never cease to be surprised by the benefits of this practice in healing from trauma.
Writing can help us to make a sense of order from what feels like chaos following traumatic or difficult events. It can help us to transform difficult events and make meaning from them. The stories we tell about our experience determine how we heal. When we transform the difficult events of our lives through writing, we are able to more easily focus on the meaning we have made from these events than on the pain, and this, too, supports our healing.
What stories are you telling yourself about your own difficult events? Do these stories leave you feeling more alone and hopeless? Mindful writing can help you to transform your stories into a greater sense of meaning and purpose.