Write On!

I really enjoyed reading an article about how writing changes our mood. The name of the article is: The Write Mood by Juliet Waters and it was featured in this past Tuesday's edition of Salon.com. 


Here's a link for those of you who are interested in reading it in its entirety: http://open.salon.com//blog/juliet_waters/2009/07/21/the_write_mood Some parts that caught my attention: Of course humans didn’t only use writing to console ourselves. We’ve also tried to use it to control ourselves. It makes so much sense. Thoughts influence our emotions. Writing gives our thoughts permanence. So writing should be able to give our emotions permanence. Or to be honest about what we really want, it should be able to make one emotion permanent: happiness. New books are published every month about how to use writing to make you happier. If you’ve ever undergone cognitive therapy for depression you’ve experienced the relief of understanding, finally, what was missing from your eight years of talk therapy. Fifteen minutes of daily writing. You didn’t need that psychotherapist probing your memories and denials. You just needed to write down your negative thoughts, and replace them with more rational ones. Your brain is smart. How could it not realize the folly of this constant flow of irrational frustration and negativity? Writing can be used to articulate our values, and break down and make visible our goals. It can make us aware of commitments we want to make and remind us when we’re not making them. Writing can be used to define what is truly meaningful to us and to humanity. And most of all it can be used to redefine happiness. Writing can help us start thinking of happiness as the feeling that sometimes comes over us when we’re living a complex, rich, interesting life; when we’re taking consistent action towards things that are important to us--whether these are the basics like friendship, family and work, or the higher pursuits like meaning, and spiritual and intellectual challenges. Writing can help us understand that real happiness necessarily incorporates all the frustrations, anxieties and disappointment that are part and parcel of living a full life.

So, if that isn't inspiration to all of you non-bloggers to start your own blog of thoughts (or spend your 15 min. of daily writing by commenting on mine), I don't know what is! In the short time I've been started this blog, I've already noticed a change in my mood, and this article does the perfect job of explaining why.