Does writing about your trauma make it WORSE?

If I had a quarter for how many times I’ve seen “self-reflection” and “journaling” on the list of items that can help improve your mental health and get you through traumatic experiences …

I’d be on a yacht. Full-stop.

But let’s take a step back.

Followers of the master himself, David R. Hawkins – you know, that guy who wrote “Letting Go” – might remember what he said about expression:

Expressing your negative emotions is the OPPOSITE of overcoming them. You don’t destroy them, you STRENGTHEN them.

So why write about them, right?

Because writing isn’t just a tool of expression.

It’s a tool of introspection. Self-awareness. Realization. Perspective. Opening the mind. Epiphanies.

Studies have shown that writing about trauma actually LESSENS its emotional burden.

Why?

Because the first step to Letting Go of a negative experience or emotion, is to realize exactly where it came from. To be self-aware. To understand exactly how an event from your past created the behavior you’re experiencing today. That’s not something we’re given after trauma.

That’s something we UNLOCK.

And guess what?

That’s also one of the first steps in Hawkins’s Letting Go.

Understand the emotions you’re feeling. See them. Recognize them. Don’t give in to them – but see them for what they are.

Self-awareness is the only way to heal.

Because…

How do we heal from something we aren’t even aware of?

Writing is that tool.

So next time you’re repressing or suppressing some emotion, go on. Write about it.

Writing is healing. ♥️

Self-awareness is the only way to heal.

Faith Twardzik

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