Reflective Writing - Gratitude Journal

[Guest guest]

Doing reflective writing about an illness has received serious consideration as

excellent therapy for people suffering from trauma or chronic illness. Pat

Stanley, who has an M.A. in Health Advocacy, works at the Program in Narrative

Medicine at Columbia University in New York City (www.narrativemedicine.org).

This program was established in 1996 by Rita Charon, and the core faculty

consists of seven professionals. She says the patients' writing allows doctors,

therapists, and families to absorb a person's inner feelings, emotions, and

awareness. This is a tremendous help for professionals working to improve their

patients' treatment.

Narrative medicine workshops allow healthcare professionals from around the

globe to train at the University and then bring the program back to their

institutions. Pat Stanley is an avid believer in the power of putting your

illness on paper. People feel better when they share their pain.

1. Your writing might help your caretakers or close relatives better understand

you. Consider sharing your work with them. It could be advantageous for

everyone.

2. " If you can talk, you can write. " Honestly. To make it easier, pretend you

are writing to a friend. Not just a relative or any friend. Think big: write an

essay or journal entry that Oprah, Barbara Walters, or Obama might

read.

3. If your hands are afflicted with neuropathy and writing with a pen or a

pencil is painful, try typing on a computer. You may be surprised to find that

you can type on a keyboard with little or no pain.

4. Consider purchasing a dictation software for your computer like Dragon

NaturallySpeaking that will write the words for you.

If writing about your illness or essay writing isn't for you, simply write in a

daily journal, particularly in a gratitude journal. A wonderful resource is

Simple Abundance of Gratitude, by Ban Breathnach.

She offers five printed lines per day on which you write why the day made you

feel better. The book offers you a list of " 150 Often Overlooked Blessings, " and

includes things such as breakfast in bed, free samplings of wine at a store, or

perhaps a cozy day at home listening to rain on the skylight. The granddaddy of

all books on journaling is Ira Progroff's At a Journal Workshop: The Basic Text

and Guide for Using the Intensive Journal Process. Never underestimate the value

of journaling about your neuropathy.

Does keeping a gratitude journal make a difference in your feelings of wellness?

In Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier, Emmons,

a psychologist, used transplant patients to see how a gratitude journal helped

their sense of well-being. Patients were told to record feelings. One group was

also asked to write a list of five things every day that made them feel grateful

and why.

After 21 days, people who had written about gratitude had a better sense of

wellness. Emmons is quoted as saying: " Having a chronic medical condition puts

one at risk for deteriorating mental health, and a reduction in one's sense of

general health and vitality is an indicator of this. Gratitude may serve buffer

against these risks. "

1. Don't make a six-month commitment to write. Just write today.

2. A gratitude journal doesn't have to be filled with lofty thoughts. The

everyday flight of thought is what matters. Think up as few as three things to

be grateful for, or as many as you like. Your entry might say, " Today I am

grateful for the cool breezes, for Lily's waging tail that fans me, for Ray's

e-mail funny-grams, for the rosemary oil I found at Fresh Market, and for the

silly-looking anhinga birds drying their wings on 's lawn. "