September brings a new season, and for many, a new phase of grieving and loss. Fall can offer many opportunities to reflect and work through times of grief. One way to bring attention to your grief and allow for reflection, is using a helpful practice, journalling.
The Greater Good Science Center (2020), based at the University of California, Berkeley,
identified several benefits to journalling including an opportunity to open up, to disclose
emotions, to give our heads space, and to form a coherent story of our experiences. Journaling can be very powerful throughout our grieving experiences because there is no judgment coming from a piece of paper. A journal simply provides a space to capture our true thoughts and feelings.
For many, it can feel intimidating to stare at a blank page and begin to journal. A few points for consideration to get yourself started might be whether there is a preferred time of day to journal, a preferred space to sit to journal, and a preferred secure and safe space to store your journal.
Setting up these logistics of journaling can help tackle some of the fears around starting this
practice.
If you still feel concerned about where to start with journaling, The Grief Recovery Centre out of Houston, Texas, suggests some of the following journaling prompts:
1. Today, I’m having a hard time with…
2. Describe a memory with your loved one that makes you laugh.
3. Describe a memory with your loved one that makes you cry.
4. Write about where you feel grief in your body.
5. Do you feel comfortable asking for help? Why or why not?
6. Create a mantra you can return to when you feel overcome with grief.
7. What songs make you think of your loved ones?
8. What is something you need from your support system?
9. What is one way you can celebrate your loved one’s memory?
10. What are some activities I can prioritize for myself to do daily or weekly?
With the journaling process, you may find that you move away from prompts and begin to take more of a free-writing approach. You might find that you start by expressing emotion through your writing and eventually shift to more of your overall thoughts about the grieving process. It can be both challenging and enlightening to go through this experience. If you feel like you could use some extra support with journaling and with processing the emotions and thoughts that come up, then it may be beneficial to reach out to a counsellor.
Submitted by: Walking Through Grief Society
Funded by FCSS; City of Lloydminster, Towns of Vermilion and Wainwright, Villages of Kitscoty
and Marwayne and County of Vermilion River.
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