Writing as a Spiritual Practice – 5 Techniques to Heal through Writing

Ever since I was young I remember that, any time I was feeling confused, lost or discouraged all I could think of was getting home to write on my journal. The years have passed and I have accumulated over 10 journals and I love to go through them once in a while to remember how I felt during all of my life’s transitions. Isn’t it crazy how much we can change in some months?

There is a certain magic to writing on a journal. There’s a sense of poetry in pouring your heart out onto a page so intensely that your handwriting becomes unreadable. Rage and tears are allowed in those pages and it serves as therapy for our soul. Words carry energy out of your body and away from your heart. It allows you to get rid of all of the excess congested energy you may be having at the moment and clearing your body to work as a vessel again.
If you ever find yourself feeling dense yet can’t figure out exactly why, journal! Answers pour out of us as soon as we allow them to, through writing. Having clarity over how we are feeling about a certain subject, problem or situation allows us to really make an informed decision instead of letting our limiting beliefs to take over and sabotage whatever it is that we are going through.

Journaling is also, for me, a form of art. I love to play with words and move them around to create beautiful harmonies within each verse of my poems. I also like to indulge in the energy of each word used and take the time to really wonder and feel everything that is been written. I will share with you 5 easy to use techniques that can help you start journaling and heal through it.

1. Brainstorming:

Ok so I don’t know if this is the official way of doing it but this is how I do it at least. I get a blank page and a black pen, for some reason black suits me better than blue. Anyway, I write every single thing that crosses my mind, even if it makes no sense whatsoever. Stuff like:
Groceries! Need to buy Cat Litter! I am feeling fear of success regarding my book. I feel super hurt about what he said. Can’t wait to take that trip. etc. etc. will come up. It doesn’t need to make any sense, just get ALL of your thoughts out of your mind and into the page. Give yourself 5 minutes to do so. Read and review everything and highlight the things you can actually do something about or fix.

2. Gratitude Lists:

Writing down what you are grateful for, serves as a form of healing because it raises your vibrations really easily and allows you to connect to the spirit of gratitude. Write down everything you are grateful for. This is very very effective if you are feeling kind of sad or confused. It helps you put everything into perspective again.

3. Complain fest:

Complaining is not ideal but sometimes we just feel the need to do it. It is easier to give into it, complain all you can for 10 minutes and then release, than trying to repress that from your thoughts on daily basis. If you feel there are things happening in your life that you feel incredibly frustrated by, COMPLAIN. Write down how unfair it feels, write down how annoying it is to be confused and frustrated about it. Go on and on and on and on until you realize, it’s not that bad. Then write down: “I am responsible for my happiness, I choose to see things differently.”

4. Poetry

The poetry I like to write is very simple and easy to create. I like to get a core idea or message I’d like to convey and then just indulge in all the words that make me “feel something”. All of those words which move me and make me dream. I like to take a few hours to perfect, tweak and adjust a certain piece until it becomes like music to my ears when read out loud. This aspect of writing is very artistic and inspiring.

5. Pour your heart out into the page.

This one is a bit similar to brainstorming but instead of writing all of our incoherent thoughts, we will write a coherent stream of thoughts regarding a certain situation we are experiencing at the moment. This will allow us to understand to a deeper level the opinions we have and also discover many points of view we maybe haven’t realized we have just yet.

Hope writing is already a beautiful part of your healing process already and if not, my hopes is for you to discover this incredible world. Thank you all so much for reading about my experiences with writing. Love to you!

Katie