Journaling Through Grief

As you may remember from our last session, we discussed Susan Fee's journaling exercises that sh adapted from The Way of the Journal by Kathleen Adams (Sidran Press, 1998.) During her presentation, Fee discussed that there are different types of exercises based on each person's journaling goals.  The first set of exercises she addressed are for getting started. These are ones where they are structured, contained exercises that are good for when you're feeling overwhelmed, want information quickly or have limited time to journal. Sentence Stems To begin with, she addresses what is called Sentence Stems. These are where you fill in the blank with one or two words, or a sentence. (The length of the sentence in terms of words is up to you. A simple sentence is approximately 5 to 8 words.) During our session we answered five of the sentence stems Fee provided during her presentation. Remember, the point of the exercise is to start simply. Only spend a few moments on each senten...

Grief is an inescapable part of life. For many, grief is associated with losing someone dearly loved. However, it is important to note that grief is not always associated with losing someone; you may be grieving the loss of a job, the collapse of a dream, or the breakup of a relationship. As human beings, we possess deep, complex, multi-faceted emotions, and it's our responsibility to learn how we individually need to process those emotions.  If you are facing a season of grief-whether you've lost someone you loved, or are experiencing some other pain-keeping a grief journal might be the answer to helping you cope with and process your feelings.  I know now that we never get over great losses; we absorb them and they carve us into different, often kinder, creatures. ~Gail Caldwell Why Should I Keep a Grief Journal? Writing things down can often make you more aware of what you are feeling. For some people, they don't know what they are feeling until they write it down. Putti...

For this week's Weekly Writing Prompt, take 15-20 minutes and answer the following questions that we talked about for the Structured Write point that Susan Fee mentions in her The Healing Power of Journaling  presentation. Remember that the questions must be answered in order, with no more than one to two sentences for each. At the end of the 15-20, take the time to review your answers and expand on any new awareness or insights. I want to explore... The first thing that comes to mind is... Beneath the surface I find... What feels uncomfortable about this is... I would benefit from... My next step is to...

Journaling Through Grief Session Three Wednesday 27 May 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 talked about the space in which we journal in and how it should be free of distraction, but also comfortable and inviting and personable for us. We also reviewed the purpose of journal writing and the mechanics of journal writing as presented by Susan Fee, M.ED., PCC for Hospice of the Western Reserve. (You can read more about these in our blog post The Healing Power of Journaling) We concluded with our weekly writing prompt, which focused on Memorial Day. (You can see the Memorial Day weekly writing prompt by visiting last week's review or reading the Weekly Writing Prompt) This Week's Discussion For those joining us this week, our session this week will cover the following: We will continue reviewing Susan Fee's presentation The Healing Power of Journaling , focu...

The Healing Power of Journaling is a presentation I attended back in March, 2014. It was presented by Susan Fee, M.Ed., PCC on behalf of Hospice of the Western Reserve and Lakeshore Educational and Counseling Services. Tonight's blog post is going to focus on three of her topics: What is Journaling? Fee says that journaling is made up of three points. The first is that it is a special type of writing, in which you are exploring and pouring yourself out on paper. Journaling is also something that anyone can do. It is important to remember that if you can't name something, then you can't work through it and journaling allows you that chance to name your grief. It is also helpful to know and remember that because anyone can do, regardless of age, it is okay to have spelling errors, run on sentences and other grammatical mistakes. The point of journaling is to explore emotion, not be perfect spellers. Remember that journaling is special and unique to each individual.  Lastly, ...

Let the words flow through the pen. Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash found via a Google Search The grieving process fills us with many different feelings. They dash in and out, some linger for a time, some grip us tightly and some become a part of us. As we grieve, we carry them around with us and often we are overwhelmed. We wonder, "What do I do with these feelings?" We may wish that we could find someone to share each feeling wit us, as well as each story and memory. However, this solution is not always possible. One of the ways we can identify and express our feelings is through creating and using a personal journal. The purpose of journal writing is to afford ourselves the time to attend to our grief by expressing the feelings we so often keep inside. Our journal may house our innermost thoughts and provide a health release from these emotions. It provides a safe place to express ourselves. It acts as a reflector of what we are experiencing and can give us ...

Welcome, everyone!  I'll keep my introduction short, but I want to welcome you all to YOUR blog space. This blog is going to be specifically kept for our Journaling Through Grief sessions that I'm currently hosting every Wednesday evening at 7PM.  On this blog, you will find links to each weekly Live Stream for Youtube Live, as well as a podcast audio version of each session held. We will also post our Weekly Writing Prompt that we share live, as well as articles referenced, stories, and other tips and guidelines to help you in your grief journaling.  We hope you will continue to join us each week. Please let me know if you ever have questions or concerns regarding your journaling that I can ever address. Stay safe and remember you are not on this journey alone.  Victoria