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Grief Journaling: 10 Healing Benefits (+40 Prompts)

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  Grief journaling offers an elementary yet surprisingly helpful way to cope with your bereavement.  All you need to do is grab a pen and paper and start writing. Journaling as Grief Therapy Just grab pen and paper and start writing... If only it were that easy. On one level it is-you're simply picking up a pen and writing. But to get the most out of this process you will need to put in some good old fashioned effort. Grief journaling as therapy requires dedication, motivation, end energy. It can be time-consuming and energy-draining. If you have experienced any form of therapy you know it can bring out some dormant feelings. Feeling you would rather not disturb. Also, like any other therapy, journaling will get easier and make you feel better the more you do it.  Read on for valuable tips that will give you all the motivation you need to start writing! We'll even close out with an assortment of grief journals and grief journaling prompts to get you going. What is a Grief Journ
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A New Understanding: Processing Grief through Writing

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 "Being able to reflect on a loss through writing may allow you a safe and healthy way to process and adjust to your grief journey."  Throughout my life, I have always been a journaler. Once or twice a day in high school and college, I would open my journal and take stock of my day. Random musings, snippets of poetry, or the play-by-play of daily events may come up. But most importantly, this world of written words was my space to reflect on complex emotions, even those I could not fully explain or understand.  Within grief, we may find it hard to verbalize everything we're experiencing. There may be times when writing something down-something you can come back to and reflect on-can be just as helpful as talking to someone about it. Experts in the field of writing and writing theory suggest  that the act of writing can allow the writer to produce new ideas and increase awareness. According to the philosopher Paul Ricoeur, "to narrate is to reflect on events and, in t
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A Labor Day Journaling Prompt

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  As we celebrate Labor Day, we share with all of you a journaling prompt from A Year of Special Days: A Journal for Coping with Grief  co-authored by Jennifer Mosely, M.S.W., L.I.S.W and Marilyn Deliberato, L.F.D. for Foresight Family Funeral Homes. "Come to me all of you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28) Focus for Today:   This special holiday is a time to take a break from the tasks of daily life. On this Labor Day, focus on rewarding yourself for the toil of your grieving. You have been working hard!
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Journal Theme: Feeling Unprepared

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  I always knew He would die But not... This moment- Not now. ~Ellen Olinger, In Memory of her father, Harold A. Borgh As brutal as it may seem, death is an inevitable part of the cycle of life. Yet death, whenever it comes, shocks and surprises us. Can we be prepared? Probably not. It is unlikely we can ever be completely ready for the finality that death represents. In this moment, my loved one's death is incomprehensible. Still, I know that I would never feel there was a right time for my loved one to die. I can write about... ...a kind gesture someone made to comfort me.  
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Weekly Writing Prompt for Session Four

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For this week's Weekly Writing Prompt, focus on one, small, specific moment and create a vignette*. Include all the senses: sight, smell, sound, touch, and your feelings. Photographs often serve as inspiration. For this exercise, the purpose of a vignette is as follows: a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or character and gives a trenchant impression about the person, an idea, setting, and/or object.  
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Journaling Through Grief: Session Four

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Journaling Through Grief Session Four Wednesday 3 June 2020 7PM Review of Last Week For those who were unable to join us, or joined us late last week, during our last session we discussed the following topics: We had some issues with Live Streaming so we re-recorded our session. The video was posted to our Youtube channel and is also available on last week's blog page. We continued reviewing Susan Fee's presentation The Healing Power of Journaling,  and focused on her first three journal exercises: Sentence Stems, Five Minute Sprints/Timed Exercises and Lists and Structured Writing. (You can read about these first three exercises in the blog post Journaling Exercises for Getting Started) Our Weekly Writing Prompt was to work on the Lists and Structured Writing exercise. Our first Journal Theme was entitled A Changed Life. This Week's Discussion For those joining us this week, our session will cover the following: We will continue with Susan Fee's presentation The Heal
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Journal Theme: A Changed Life

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"A death has occurred and everything has changed...Life can never be the same again." ~From "A Death Has Occurred" by Paul Irion The death of a loved one abruptly changes your life. One day you and your loved one are together; the next day you are apart. The change is unfathomable. Your heart is stunned. You can't believe it has happened. Yet the change has occurred, and you can feel the dull weight of it on your soul. Your life will never be the same. Your loved one gave your life so much meaning and purpose. Your sorrow is a tribute to this gift of love. My loved one's life had meaning. I will let this thought guide me through the changes that death has brought. I can write about... ...a vivid, positive memory I have of the two of us. ...what my loved one's life meant to me. ...another time in my life when change was painful.  
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