Can Telling Your Story Change Your Life?
In a recent article in Psychology Today, Writing Into Healing, David Seaburn, Ph.D makes the proposition that writing your narrative can change your life. Seaburn supports his position by citing research, especially James Pennebaker’s, which has shown that writing for even 15 minutes a day can bring about improved physical and psychological health.
Seaburn intuits, “Behind this research is the idea that telling one’s story in written form provides the writer with the opportunity to alter his or her narrative and in the process alter themselves. This is the amazing thing: In the end, writing is action. It is movement; it is change; it is renewal and redefinition; it is healing.
“And such writing takes a kind of courage. And by courage, I mean the willingness to go out not knowing, reticently eager to approach the darkness, hoping for the light.”
Go ahead. Muster your courage. The light is ahead.