Releasing Emotional Baggage With Automatic Writing
Our ability to navigate through adversity and stressful situations helps us to grow and gives us resiliency.
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One of my personal favorite techniques that I use to manage stress, and suggest to my patients is called AUTOMATIC WRITING.
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This technique helps us to process unresolved issues so that we can move forward.
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Hereโs how you do it:
ยท Set aside about 20 minutes
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ยท Get a pen and notebook in front of you
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ยท You can either mediate before hand or go right into the writing
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ยท Write whatever comes to you; itโs also called stream of consciousness writing. Write from a non-judgmental place or concern for spelling or grammatical errors for 20 minutes or until you can write no more. For me it feels like a weight is lifted as you feel less of a need to carry around those thoughts that have been ruminating in your head.
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ยท Once finished I like to tuck the paper away for a day or two.
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ยท After this, go back to what you wrote and after re-reading it, do you get any insights to the situation or stressor? Is there an underlying theme? Can you identify any patterns that you fall into? Can you identify a pattern that is no longer serving you?
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What you do with this paper afterwards is up to you.
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Some like to keep the paper so that they can refer back to it.
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If what comes up is about a relationship in your life and long held feelings that need to be let go of, I like to get rid of the paper and release these emotions. You can get as dramatic about it as you wish here. You can rip it up, cut it up, or even burn it. Use it as a practice to release emotions, which no longer serve you.
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This is one example of a mindfulness practice that I teach my patients, which I find is extremely effective. If you are interested in working with me please follow the link in my bio, to schedule an in-person visit or a Skype consult.
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