The Healing Power of Journaling

By on June 26, 2009 in Balance

Spend a few minutes preparing your body through heart-opening stretching and breathing exercises to center yourself. Then, sitting comfortably, observe the inflow and outflow
of your breath for a little while to quiet your mind. With awareness in your heart, ask yourself this important question:
 
What experiences from my past continue to create anguish for me in the present?

As one episode moves into consciousness, earlier pain-ridden experiences often follow the path from hidden to exposed. It is as if the human heart, sensing the chance to heal, wants to take advantage of the opportunity to bring painful stories to light. Be receptive to each memory that surfaces in your awareness and document the important details. Take a few minutes to journal the main points of each painful experience.

Continue this process of reaching back in time to identify significant episodes of emotional distress until you believe and feel you have accessed all major violations. In my experience, most people will feel they’ve uncovered their central painful stories if they perform this survey five to ten times.

Having identified your emotionally painful landmarks, the next step is to fully process each experience by asking deeper questions. I cannot overemphasize the value of journaling your responses rather than simply pondering them. Over many years, I’ve become convinced that journaling has a unique value of moving pain from the subconscious interior to conscious awareness, where it can be acknowledged and released. Here are the six key questions:
 
1)  What happened to me that caused the pain?

2)  What was the context of this painful chapter in my life?

3)  What feelings were generated?

4)  What need was not met or what boundary was crossed that caused me pain?

5)  What were the clues that I overlooked?

6)  How was I served by denying the clues?
 
Each of these questions is designed to fully reveal the painful episode so that, once and for all, the emotional energy trapped in the story can be made available for healing and transformation. 

David Simon, M.D.  is the Co- Founder, CEO and Medical Director of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing. Dr. Simon is dedicated to catalyzing the evolution of the prevailing health care system into a healing system that encompasses the emotional, spiritual as well as physical health of the individual. His new book Free to Love, Free to Heal: Heal Your Body by Healing Your Emotions comes out on June 25, 2009.

Ready to start your journey? Post your intent and blog about your new journey of self-discovery and self-love.

Just joining the series? Start from the beginning of David Simon’s 2-week guide for healing your past wounds and letting go of toxic emotions through power of love– for yourself and for others.

 

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About david.simon

David Simon, M.D. Co- Founder, CEO and Medical Director of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing David Simon, M.D. is a board-certified neurologist and a true pioneer in the medical field. His personal mission is to facilitate the integration of complementary and conventional medicine in the 21st Century. Since he began his association with Deepak Chopra, M.D. in the 1980's, Dr. Simon has become one of the nation's foremost authorities on effective and appropriate use of holistic health care practices, specifically Ayurveda- the 5000-year-old healing tradition of India. As CEO and Medical Director of The Chopra Center for Wellbeing at La Costa Resort & Spa, Dr. Simon is dedicated to catalyzing the evolution of the prevailing health care system into a "healing system" that encompasses the emotional, spiritual as well as physical health of the individual. Dr. Simon's prolific program development, writing, and research are changing the landscape of health care for professionals and consumers, alike. His far-reaching endeavors have resulted in the training of thousands of physicians, nurses, health care providers as well as educators in holistic healing approaches throughout the world. He is the recipient of a National Institutes of Health grant to study mind body medical approaches on health quality, and has created initiatives to bring integrated mind body medical programs to medical institutions, community health centers, and health resorts. In his role as Medical Director for The Chopra Center, Dr. Simon continues to research and develop clinical programs in mind body medicine. He directs a comprehensive curriculum that includes on-site programs and seminars, in addition to a worldwide educational outreach enterprise. Dr. Simon is the driving force behind The Center's development, training and implementation of Perfect Health, Journey Into Healing, Primordial Sound Meditation, Seduction of Spirit, and Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga- the flagship programs of The Chopra Center.Dr. Simon began his influential career in private practice in neurology, and with his roles as Chief of Staff and Medical Director of the Neurological Rehabilitation Center and Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratory at Sharp Cabrillo Hospital, an affiliate of the Sharp HealthCare system, the largest in Southern California. He is an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Neurosciences at The University of California and supervises medical students rotating through The Chopra Center on a weekly basis. Visit http://chopra.com to find out more about David's work at the Chopra Center.
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3 Responses to The Healing Power of Journaling

  1. mydomainpvt June 26, 2009 at 2:07 am #

    dear david,

    thanks for these fabulous guidelines on methodically healing our pains.

    Wish you love, peace and happiness.

    Trisha

  2. vtyogi June 26, 2009 at 3:58 am #

    I am so thankful you are doing this series at this time…

    couldnt have been better for me.

    thank you!

  3. Cassaundra June 26, 2009 at 10:54 pm #

    Thank you so much for this post.