This is a guest post by Mari McCarthy who has written a book called Journaling Power: How To Create the Happy, Healthy, Life You Want to Live
Guest Post: Journaling for a Healthy Body Relationship
Written by Mari McCarthy
When I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) back in 1991, I would have never guessed that keeping a journal would bring healing to my devastated body. I had no idea that writing was a therapy at all, or that it would illuminate every step on the road to recovering my health. But the regular process of pen-to-paper journaling unlocked secrets of my body, mind and spirit that profoundly changed the course of my life.
Before I began to journal I had a mechanical view of myself and my existence. I believed my body was completely separate from the real me. When I became ill and started to lose my mobility, my first reaction was to blame my body for letting me down. I often compared my body to a car with irritating problems. I felt I had to keep driving this “automobile” forward, or I’d be stranded on the side of a busy highway while other people whizzed past to their destinations. If my “car” started to complain, I would step on the gas harder. I thought of my body as an aggravating “thing,” an exasperating object separate from my true self. I didn’t realize how much harm I was doing to myself.
In 1998 I started journaling. I used writing as a physical exercise to teach myself to write with my left hand (I had little function in my right side). I adopted the discipline of writing three pages every day, stream-of-consciousness style. Thank you Julia Cameron.
This freestyle writing seemed to connect my body to my mind and spirit. I wrote about how I was feeling–mentally, physically and emotionally. By the end of my first journaling session I felt much better physically and my mind was peaceful.
Next I began to “interview” my body parts and have two-way discussions with them in my journals! One day I started a dialogue with my painful hip. First I expressed anger and wrote: “You are making me feel rotten, you are a major problem to me!” But as I continued this “conversation” I realized I needed to be compassionate. I began to talk kindly to my hip, as a nurturing parent would encourage a child. I asked it gently: “What is wrong?” I was amazed when my hip told me quite clearly: “You’ve been running and running, and pushing and pushing, and you haven’t given me any attention!” The pain in my hip revealed unresolved childhood trauma. My parents had given me little attention when I was growing up, and this emotional wound was affecting my body.
I began to understand what I needed to: I had to give my inner child the time and attention I never received in childhood. Sure enough, as I made time for myself and listened to my inner child, the pain in my hip gradually disappeared. Finally, I understood that my body was not a machine, nor was it something that I owned like a possession: my body was who I am, the real me, and it was amazingly, miraculously intricate.
Thanks to my daily, pen-to-page journaling therapy practice, my health has improved so much I no longer use conventional healthcare. I haven’t taken prescription drugs for over a decade and use healthcare resources (Reiki, meditation, acupuncture, massage therapy, energy healing, music therapy…) that help me manifest excellent health.
Journaling Power Prompt
Interview a painful body part and just listen, listen, listen while you write, write, write.
More About the Book Journaling Power
Journaling Power teaches you how to put the ultimate self-healing tool right at your fingertips–journaling. Through Mari L. McCarthy‘s moving personal story, you’ll discover how pen-to-paper journaling leads to self-growth and life-changing transformation. You’ll also learn that numerous medical studies prove journaling literally unleashes a healing agent that empowers your life in ways you’ve never imagined.
About Author Mari McCarthy
Mari L. McCarthy is The Journaling Power Guide and founder of CreateWriteNow.com. Her blog provides journaling for personal transformation and healthy living ideas, information and inspiration for keeping a daily pen-to-page Journaling for the Health of It™ Practice. Mari’s ebooks can be found in her Personal Transformation Journaling Library and in CreateWriteNow’s store.
Blog Tour for Journaling Power
This post is part of the blog tour for McCarthy’s book, Journaling Power. Check out all the stops, some of which include book giveaways:
- Oct. 3 @ The Muffin Interview and giveaway.
- Oct. 4 @ Bring on Lemons (Guest Post on: “Can Adding a Daily Dose of Morning Pages to Your Health Routine Reduce Stress and Restore Success.”)
- Oct. 5 @ Choices (Guest Post on “How Putting Pen to Paper Each Evening Can Help You Sleep Better.”)
- Oct. 13 @ Writers Pay it Forward (Guest Post on “Why It’s Important to Work On, Rather Than Wait For, the Muse to Produce its Juice.)
- Oct. 18 @ Bev Baird (book review)
- Oct. 19 @ Storyteller Anne (author interview)
- Oct. 21 @ Building Bookshelves (author interview)
- Oct. 24 @ Renee’s Pages (review)
- Oct. 26 @ Margo Dill (Guest Post: Recovering Your Child: Use this Free Self-Healing Tool to Repair and Restore Yourself.)
- Oct. 27 @ Memoir Writer’s Journey (Guest Post on: “How Do We Go About Facing and Forgiving Our Past?”)
- Oct. 28 @ Nina Day Gerard (review)