A simple habit to release repressed emotions.
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This Journaling Is Probably Different Than You’re Used To
Years ago, I added journaling to my morning routine as a growth habit. I wrote daily for about 5-10 minutes about anything weighing on my mind, my dreams, or my goals for the future. But, always, in the back of my head, was the thought, “What if my husband or my kids read this someday?”. So, I monitored my thoughts. “If I write that, it will hurt so and so’s feelings.” “I could never write that down on paper!”.
But one day, I came across the book, Clarity Cleanse, by Dr. Habib Sadhegi. He healed his own illness using strategies from his book. One of those strategies involved journaling for 12 minutes and then burning what you wrote. By burning your writing, you release unhealed emotions. It felt pretty awesome to write whatever I wanted, knowing that no one else would ever see it. But, a few months later, I came across the work of Dr. John Sarno, to heal chronic pain.
My Chronic Pain Experience
I had a traumatic family issue come up where I stopped speaking with several family members. As someone who struggled with the fear of abandonment, this was really painful. Then, we were going through huge renovations after our home flooded. Not, only that, the pandemic had begun, and I was looking at early retirement from my long teaching career. (How did I get through all that?!!)
I started having pain in the arch of my foot, which I self-diagnosed as plantar fasciitis. An appointment with a specialist, after a few months of barely being able to walk, confirmed it. I had to wear shoes with arch support all day long, every day, and a boot at night. Then, my opposite hip began to hurt. I’m sure I was walking funny to protect my foot. It was difficult to sleep, because no matter what position I laid in, my hip would ache. I felt way older than I actually was!
The Healing Journaling Technique
I found several podcasts and YouTube videos on Dr. John Sarno’s journaling technique. It’s very similar to the one Dr. Sadhegi described, except Dr. Sarno explains in his book, The Mindbody Prescription, how our repressed emotions settle in the body as pain. He prescribed 30 minutes of journaling, and then destroying your paper, either by shredding it or burning it. Most of Sarno’s work was around healing back pain, but Nicole Sachs, LCSW, extended his work to include any chronic symptoms. She has an amazing podcast, with lots of case studies.
I really believe the mind has a powerful connection to pain and chronic symptoms in the body. Plus, I knew that I had been through some really emotional stuff. Years before, when I started my healing journey, I had also been going through difficult emotions. I knew I was good at stuffing my feelings down deep, ignoring them, and appearing happy on the outside.
My Own Journaling Method
I was eager to try this journaling and then destroying my writing. Dr. Sarno and Nicole Sachs advise to journal for at least 30 days. I got a notepad and started my timer early one morning. I wrote and wrote, but I found it difficult to go for 30 minutes. I usually wrote easily for 16 minutes, so I took the pressure off of myself to do more. I figured it was more than Dr. Sadhegi suggested, and a little less than Nicole’s suggestion of 20 minutes.
What happened was, I was able to write some things that would be pretty hurtful to other family members if they were to read it. But, it felt so good to get it out. Then, I would rip the paper into tiny shreds. It felt great to release those emotions without traumatizing anyone else. My foot pain did not go away in those 30 days, but I kept on writing every day. Within two months, my foot pain was gone. It took another few months for my hip pain to go away.
Now, my pain is completely gone. It’s been two years now. Now and then, I will feel a little sore on my foot or in my hip, but I just pick up my journaling again, and it goes away immediately. I don’t even journal daily anymore. The only time I journal is when I know I have some emotions that need to be released.
Meditation is another option for releasing emotions, but I love destroying my writing. It feels like a true release. If writing is difficult for you due to pain, you can also try a voice to text app on your computer or phone and then delete it afterwards.
- Make a list of past traumas, things about your personality that cause pain, and present worries
- Free write for 15-30 minutes about one of the things on your list
- Destroy your writing by shredding, burning (in a safe place), or deleting
Not Just For Pain
This journaling technique works for a multitude of chronic symptoms, IBS, migraines, joint pain, back pain, foot pain, fibromyalgia, insomnia, and chronic fatigue, to name a few. Chronic symptoms begin with stress, inflammation, and repressed emotions from past trauma. Journaling is a way to relieve all of those emotions that we are taught to ignore throughout our lives. Empathic people, that take on the feelings and energy of others, seem especially susceptible to chronic symptoms. We agree to be the “good” boy or girl, by doing what is expected of us. We want others to be happy, so we repress anger, sadness, resentment, and grief.
I encourage you to try this method for resolving chronic symptoms. It sounds too good to be true, but thousands, maybe millions, of people have found relief with this free writing technique.
*Don’t ignore the advice of your doctor, but try this technique along with whatever prescription you might get. I denied the offer of a steroid shot from my doctor that would mask my foot pain, but I did use the prescribed insoles and boot. I journaled while I utilized these tools.
Let me know if you try this journaling technique! I would love to hear your progress.
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