When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak. - Audre Lorde

Exploring Your Self (2 of 2)

Pacing Yourself

You will spend the next few weeks digging deep into your history and psyche to find your story. This process can get intense, so remember to take a day off if you need a breather. I also strongly encourage you to keep any negative experience exploration at half or less of your selections. Please take some time to explore your strengths, positive experiences, and healing moments as much as you explore your wounds. We women have to be mindful of our risk of rumination (going over negative experiences in our mind over and over), which can start a nonproductive downward spiral. (We are all at risk of this!)

Feeling Your Story

With the therapeutic writing prompts we are doing two things - going deep to see what we can stir up and also trying to make sure you are actually feeling the story you decide to tell. Pay attention to whether or not your writing is touching your emotion or if your writing feels distant and too objective.

Therapeutic Writing Prompts

Read the questions below and select the one that resonates with you most. Close your eyes for a moment and reflect on the question and your experience. Allow your feelings to come up. Open your eyes. Write at least one page or for at least one minute. You may choose more than one prompt, but please don’t write for more than 15-20 minutes.

• A quality I have that I’ve always liked is...
• A quality I have that others have always liked is...
• Looking back on my whole life, if I could change one thing, it would be...
• I will never forget the first time I...
• If I really told the truth...
• I used to believe...
• I feel most connected to myself when…
• They didn’t know it, but I....
• The truth that I am resisting is…

StoryList

Remember to jot down any stories that are coming up for you after today's exercise. After you do so, please review your StoryList. Are you detecting any themes in any of the items in your list? If so, jot a few words down about that theme next to the items. (eg., loss, my mother, putting myself last, relationships, etc.)

Perhaps it is just as well to be rash and foolish for a while. If writers were too wise, perhaps no books would get written at all. —Zora Neale Hurston