Feature Story: Writing to Heal: Research shows writing about emotional experiences can have tangible health benefits For nearly 20 years, Dr. James W. Pennebaker has been giving people an assignment: write down your deepest feelings about an emotional upheaval in your life for 15 or 20 minutes a day for four consecutive days. Many of those who followed his simple instructions have found their immune systems strengthened. Pennebaker, a professor in the Department of Psychology at The University of Texas at Austin and author of several books, including “Opening Up” and “Writing to Heal,” is a pioneer in the study of using expressive writing as a route to healing. “When people are given the opportunity to write about emotional upheavals, they often experience improved health,” Pennebaker says. In his early research Pennebaker was interested in how people who have powerful secrets are more prone to a variety of health problems. It turned out that often they would, and that it wasn’t even necessary for people to tell their secrets to someone else. The Charlotte, N.C. Vivé Griffith Office of Public Affairs
Creative Journal Keeping -- Innovative and Fun Journaling Tips & Technique To help guide you and your child down the path of creative journaling I've listed some tips below. Try them out, and remember that there are infinite ways for you and your child to dress up a journal and integrate creative expression into your journals. Creative Journaling Tips: 1. Journal Share - Make the journal experience interactive rather than secretive and solitary. Take a new approach to journal writing and declare that diaries are for secrets and journals are now for celebrating and sharing. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Keeping a Writer's Journal: 21 Ideas to Keep You Writing Keeping a Writer's Journal: 21 Ideas to Keep You Writing by Sheila Bender Return to Creative Nonfiction · Print-Friendly Version Keeping a journal is one of the best tools to practice trusting your writing and to make sure you keep writing. You can keep a journal in a cheap or an expensive notebook, on scraps of paper dropped into a box, in computer files or in letter form. Just as long as you write as much and as often as you can without editing yourself and you have access to the words you've written, you are keeping a journal. If you haven't been journaling or doing it as often as you wish, think about where you write and when you are likely to have time to write. It may seem intimidating to develop the journal-keeping habit, and you may be thinking defeatist thoughts already, such as "I can't do this regularly forever. Make a specific commitment for a month. Next, make a commitment to the same system or to a new journal-keeping system for an additional month. Idea 1: A Travel Journal
10 Simple Things to Make You Happier At Home Our homes are an extension of who we are: what we do within the walls of our abodes shapes our mood, affects our productivity, and influences our outlook on life. Scientific studies have shown that we can have an impact on our happiness by adjusting the tiny little habits and routines that constitute our daily lives — we are, in fact, in control of our outlook on life. It's amazing how a few tweaks to our daily habits can become a catalyst for meaningful, positive change. Here are a few simple things you can do every day to feel happier at home. 1. Make your bed. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. (Image: Callen & Eli's Artful Treehouse)
100 Excellent Art Therapy Exercises for Your Mind, Body, and Soul January 9th, 2011 Pablo Picasso once said, "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." It's no surprise, then, that many people around the world use art as a means to deal with stress, trauma and unhappiness – or to just find greater peace and meaning in their lives. If you're curious about what art therapy has to offer, you can try out some of these great solo exercises at home to help nurse your mind, body and soul back to health. If you like the experience, you can also seek out professional art therapy treatment in your area. Emotions Deal with emotions like anger and sadness through these helpful exercises. Draw or paint your emotions. Relaxation Art therapy can be a great way to relax. Paint to music. Happiness Art can not only help you deal with the bad stuff, but also help you appreciate and focus on the good. Draw your vision of a perfect day. Portraits Often, a great way to get to know yourself and your relationships with others is through portraits. Collaging Self
The 27 Principles to Teaching Yourself Anything (aka The Self-Guided Education Manifesto + PDF download “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” —Mark Twain Note: This post is intentionally long. It’s meant to be our compass for learning the skills that matter in the world and throwing theory out the window. Read it. Save it. At the end of this post I’ve even provided two free PDF downloads to further guide you towards learning what matters (one is a list of over 30 of the best online resources for creating your own passion-filled curriculum). Enter the Unofficial Self-Guided Education Manifesto… Last week’s article on The Birth of Self-Guided Education caught like wildfire. When that happens, I know a topic deserves some respect. Many of last week’s comments blew my mind. Living Legends create their own education. The truth of the matter is every Living Legend (whether they dropped out of high school or got a couple PhD’s) took their education and their learning into their own hands. So without further ado… 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.
wisdom within, ink | Reflection + Re(Dis)covery = Self-Confidence… Re-INK Your Life! 10 simple ways to save yourself from messing up your life Stop taking so much notice of how you feel. How you feel is how you feel. It’ll pass soon. What you’re thinking is what you’re thinking. Adrian Savage is a writer, an Englishman, and a retired business executive, in that order. Read full content
how to be creative: re-create what's broken | Inner Canvas | InnerCanvas The creative process is chock-full of hope. Because it is an ever revolving door, even in the direst of moments when we feel backed into that dank and dead end alley, it invites us to re-create our brokenness. In the broadest sense of things, the creative process allows us to believe in that old adage that is said to come from Nietzsche: “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” Because, really, what choice do we have but to make something out of our tragedy? In essence, there are no new projects. Don’t get me wrong–I’m not talking about repetition where there is the factory line of rubber stamping going on over and over again–endlessly. What is your inner canvas inviting you to re-create? Here’s a story about Mandy. When we met, she thought she was a dead end. In our work, I kept asking the question, what is it that your inner canvas is inviting you to create? At first, she only recycled the old stories. “The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”
Blake Boles: 12 Ways to Educate Yourself Without College It's popular to criticize college today. No matter which way you look, somebody is writing about a student loan horror story, declining academic standards, disruptive technological change, or the narrow work options available to graduates. Criticizing is easy, of course. The reality is that college fills many valuable roles today. But in an era of skyrocketing tuition fees combined with widespread economic austerity, millions of students will find themselves unable or unwilling to finance the college package deal. Luckily, higher education doesn't have to be delivered by a college institution. Self-directed learning is one solution to the college debate, and certainly not the only one. Here are 12 ways to begin pursuing your own self-directed higher education, right now, without college: Kickstart something. These are just a few ways to start giving yourself a well-rounded higher education without college.
Journaling Prompts to enhance your journal writing. — Writing Through Life Writing About Domestic Violence October 6, 2014 Since October is Domestic Awareness Month, I want to help bring awareness to this issue while offering ways to write about how violence affects each of us personally. It’s not a subject we like to think about. Read the full article → Journaling Prompts: About Making Mistakes September 22, 2014 Mistake: an action or judgment that is misguided or wrong: coming here was a mistake | she made the mistake of thinking they were important.• something, esp. a word, figure, or fact, that is not correct; an inaccuracy: a couple of spelling mistakes. Read the full article →