Art Journals and Creative Healing by Sharon Soneff

Author:Sharon Soneff
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rockport Publishers
Published: 2008-11-30T16:00:00+00:00

SECTION 2

Health and Healing for the Body

Finding Comfort in the Midst of Physical Challenges

ALTHOUGH A CREATIVE JOURNAL CANNOT CURE ALL THAT AILS YOUR BODY, what it can do is act as an important aspect of treatment for physical sickness and unhealthiness.

The creative journal can move us toward healthy habits and cement our resolutions to treat our bodies well. Its pages can serve to record a plan for fitness, document medical test results, and track conversations with our trainer or physician. It can mobilize us during a difficult time, when we need to rally all our strength and courage to fight disease. The same journal might be a confidante when we receive a difficult diagnosis and are plagued by doubts, denial, anger, or sadness. And yes, it can act as a dependable, perpetual balm to chronic pain.

The body has enormous aptitude for self-repair and healing but it tends only to work at its best when we do the necessary internal work. Devoid of negative side effects, creative journaling has only benefits to offer—the benefits of resolve, resilience, wisdom, and inner strength. Our body can draw on all these inner resources to create physical verve and energy.

When journaling for a physical result, aim to incorporate these helpful aspects:

• Integrate tactile mediums. The more tactile the medium, the more physically connected to your journal you become. Assert your muscle and your brain, to achieve that mind/body connection. Get your fingers involved, not only in writing and illustrating, but in raw ways, as well—smudging charcoal, rubbing transfers, or carving niches, for example. Be physically invested in your journal and in your life.

• Be specific in characterizing your physical complaints and goals. Specificity not only helps clarify thought, it can bring clarity to your functional plan of action. Regardless of whether you act on your plan alone, or in conjunction with physicians, the information will prove invaluable.

Natural forces within us are the true healers of disease.

—HIPPOCRATES

• Have faith that the internal work labored over in journaling will manifest itself in a physical way. Because this aspect is the least tangible, it is the most difficult, but it truly is the most important. Science supports the belief that faith and hope can be determining factors in equipping your body to face its most difficult challenges. So, step out into the unknown; your journal will supply the company and the comfort in unknown territory.

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