Healing with Journaling

Grief journaling is one way of allowing ourselves the space for genuine healing to take place, whether we’re ready and willing to express ourselves to others or not. Due to the copious amount of research suggesting that grief journaling after a significant loss has therapeutic value, journaling is a favourite Sibling Grief Club coping method.
Below you will find tips and prompts that can help you get in touch with what’s showing up for you, what’s keeping you stuck, and/or what’s begging to be shared so you can mindfully be present for your healing.

Journaling Tips

 

Grief journaling is not about writing perfectly.
Natalie Goldberg offers these tips in Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within
Keep your hands moving.

Do not pause to reread the line you have just written…that is stalling and trying to get control of what you are saying. 

Do not cross out.

That is editing as you write. Even if you write something you did not mean to write, leave it, let it be.

Lose control.

Do not worry about spelling, punctuation, or grammar. 

Do not think or be logical.

Let your right brain take over. 

Dive into the tough stuff.

Do not avoid the scary, unsettling parts of grief…this is sometimes where the best processing and healing takes place. 

Keep it simple.

Journal on a grief emotion, use a sentence starter or grief journal prompt or draw/paint your grief.

Be compassionate and gentle with yourself.

Remember, this is a judgement-free zone.

Journaling Prompts

You must remember that your grief story matters. What you journal has the power to change your perspective, restore your sense of being, or find ways to remember your loved one.

Today, I am really missing…

The hardest time of day is…

I have been feeling a lot of…

I feel most connected to my loved one when…

I can honour my loved one by…

A comforting memory of my loved one is…

Whenever I start to feel overwhelmed by pain, regret, guilt, or despair, I will…

To be more compassionate towards myself, I am willing to try…

Some of my grief triggers are…

I could use more of…

I could use less of…

I am grateful for…

My favourite memory of my loved one is…

My most difficult memory of my loved one is…because…this memory makes me feel…