Feeling well by writing…
Are you sometimes overwhelmed by your emotions, invaded by thoughts that swirl around, to the point that sleeps becomes difficult? Are you prone to having the blues? Or at a crossroads with questions, a heavy mental load? Or do you simply want to settle down, reflect, take some time for yourself, and step back?
At TiL, we experience all this personally, like everyone else, and true to our mission to make life a little sweeter and more serene, we are looking for all the ways to calm ourselves and you. We have found in writing a real therapy and share here its virtues and some simple advices, because all you need is a notebook, a pen, your heart and your head…
The virtues of writing, a real therapy
Therapeutic writing, also called “graphotherapy”, promotes calm and serenity.
Writing is the mirror of oneself, it allows one to write down one’s thoughts, feelings, emotions and past events in black and white. Putting words on the past or the present allows to better accept it.
Its benefits are immense and varied :
– It gives you time for yourself, because with writing, you are face to face with yourself. Pure personal time, a saving break in a hectic daily life, a way to reconnect and re-align. Not always comfortable, but certainly beneficial…
– Knowing and understanding yourself better, taking care of your needs, being in line with your aspirations. “Write! To blacken the paper is ideal to clear the mind» said Aldous Huxley.
– Take a step back and distance yourself from your life, because writing allows you to better formulate and understand a subject, to take stock. Seeing a problem in black and white in front your eyes, rather than in your head, makes it immediately clearer and easier to solve. Writing provides a framework for thinking and allows you to get out of the cerebral whirlwind and emotional grip. “That’s what writing is said Marguerite Duras. It is the train of writing that passes through your body. It crosses it. That’s where we start to talk about those emotions that are difficult to say, so foreign and yet suddenly take hold of you.”
– Releasing tensions and negative emotions, relieving yourself of a weight, unburdening yourself. Put down your anger or sorrow. Taking the pen is soothing! And freeing yourself from negative energies also allows you to relax your body and the emotional load carried on your shoulders. This avoids the accumulation and the risk of psycho-somatization, with more or less serious pathologies that stress generates.
– Make room in your head. It’s often a real maelstrom up there. Writing channels energy and cleanses the mind, like emptying a closet. And it’s good for the body too, since everything is connected.
– Regain self-confidence, because writing allows us to sort out, to deepen our thinking, to overcome blockages and to move forward.
– To want to transmit and leave a trace, to testify, to tell one’s truth. “To write is, in short, to give the future to the past,” says Annie Ernaux.
– Access to an infinite field of possibilities: writing stimulates creativity, imagination has free rein and opens doors.
– Even beyond that, studies have shown that therapeutic writing has real benefits on the body and mind. For example, a 2018 U.S. study showed that writing down your “to-do list” at bedtime improves sleep. In the context of psychotherapy, it reduces depressive symptoms, certain OCD or addictions. This effectiveness can be explained by the fact that writing involves the right hemisphere (intuition) and the left hemisphere (rational) of the brain in different ways, creating new connections between the body and the psyche.
Salvation in all its forms
Writing can take any form, the best one will be the one that suits you!
– Diary
– Notebook
– Book
– Poem, short stories
– Letters we don’t send
– Letters to yourself, the one you were a few years ago, the one you would like to be.
– Dialogue
Here are some therapeutic writing exercises that restore serenity:
– Attack the day by putting down on paper the emotions and thoughts that might tarnish the day, and turn them into positive… Right away, it will feel lighter. Every morning, write down your hopes, worries and desires.
In fact, it’s a bit like choosing your clothes for the day in your closet, except that you are trying to choose your thoughts,
– Ending the day by finding 3 things you loved today allows you to fall asleep on cool and positive notes, and to keep negative thoughts away. A particularly soothing exercise.
– Letters to yourself, to the person you were a few years ago, the one you would like to be. We particularly like this one, even if it requires more in-depth reflection, because it allows us to realize how far we’ve come, how we’ve changed, or to visualize our future evolution.
The pen rather than the keyboard…some advice
– Of course, you can write on your computer, but the ideal is handwriting, with a paper and a pen, the old way style, because the hand better transmits the emotions. Handwriting is like an artistic creation, it links the letters, as if they were handwritten, so use your pens rather than your keyboards!
– Whatever the style, the writing must be spontaneous and free. The start can be difficult, the famous fear of the blank page, but you must let your thoughts wander and once you have started, it comes almost by itself, and the flow is fluid.
The most important thing is to transcribe your emotions frankly, to write them raw as they come. But be careful not to direct negative words against yourself, remain kind towards yourself.
– Write very regularly, ideally every day, because it allows you to order and structure your thoughts, and to lighten your burden, the page becoming the repository of your moods. The mind is freer to focus on other things.
– Isolate yourself, and it doesn’t matter when, the right moment is the one that suits you, the one where you feel the need to put down what weighs you down and take some time for yourself, a few minutes are enough. If this is not part of your routine, do it at least when you are overwhelmed by an emotion, it is very soothing.
– Do not reread what you have just written afterwards, as this may re-anchor the negative charge in your brain.
TiL notebooks
Because at TiL, WE are big fans of reading and writing, and because each of the 3 sisters has found many soothing virtues in it, we wanted to share with you our little secrets of serenity. And what better time than at the beginning of the year to entrust in us, to reflect, to enrich our thoughts, to move forward?
To make you want to take up the perhaps forgotten path of writing again, to inspire you and to contribute to your well-being, we have designed for you lovely little notebooks, illustrated with the fresco of the family estate in Dordogne, drawn by the talented illustrator Philippe Goron.
An accessory, not so accessory, to keep in your bag, on your night table, in your office… to put down at any time what you have at heart. May they light your way and participate in your inner calm 😊. And for all those who are already in the lightness (lucky ones), but have a taste for aesthetics and refinement, it will be the prettiest alternative to post-it!
