Eat your greens, do your exercise. Having a balanced diet and leading an active life has almost become a prescribed formula for many towards Good Health. But should healthy living be just about our physical well being? What about the emotional? Our emotional and mental health spans from how you cope with stress, pain, sadness, and even getting older. Are they of lesser important than physical well being? If you believe the body and mind aren’t related, think again.

Emotions have a greater impact on our physical condition than many people believe. Many physicians are looking at this connection now because studies are showing that being in a better state of mind helps the immune system and disease. Numerous studies have found that prolonged emotional stress can weaken the immune system, promote heart disease, and worsen the course of arthritis, asthma, and many other diseases. In one particularly startling example, a study published in the December 16, 1998 issue of the "Journal of the National Cancer Institute" found that elderly people who were depressed had nearly double the risk of developing cancer.

So the question remains, how should or can we safeguard and improve our emotional and mental well being? Have you ever considered writing as something therapeutic? Writing can help you deal with stress and pain. It can improve your emotional well being by expressing thoughts and feelings you might otherwise keep bottled up inside or express through anger and even physical illness.

Many of us often find writing to be a daunting task. How do we get started? What should we write about? Well it is not as unfathomable as we think. We are not trying to write a Best Seller here, the main concern is to make an effort through the aid of words and connect with your inner self. It’s about writing from the inside, sharing perhaps your penned-up anxieties or fears, a form of outlet, reprieve from the stress that modern lifestyle may carry.

Here are some ideas that can help get you started

· Carry a small notebook or a PDA if you are more tech-savvy. It comes in handy for you to scribble down ideas or thoughts whenever it comes to you. Write every day, if possible. Even if just a line or two, triggered by a sudden occurrence or on a thought.

· Be a Blogger. Web Logs are basically online Journals which people keep, penning down their personal thoughts on the cyberspace. It’s a great way to start for those who are most comfortable working on computers or find it easier to organize themselves with online Journals. Web Logs can be shared or kept private depending on individuals.

· Pamper yourself with fancy stationery if that helps you to write better. You may wish to use coloured pens or pencils, fancy notebooks, whatever you find most comfortable.

· Find your Best Writing Hour. Start experimenting at different times to find when you’re most comfortable and inspired.

· Open up when you write, express thoughts and feelings not just events and activities. Has something bothered or upset you today? Were you confronted with a difficult situation? How did you react to it? Write what you’re experiencing, pain, stress, or sadness, trying to convey all that you are feeling.

Although Writing as a form of therapy is a relatively new concept, recent research is beginning to justify that emotional health does have direct results on the immune system and disease. Writing can help your emotional health, which can have a great impact on physical healing and health.

So if you are looking for ways to improve your general well being, perhaps you may want to harvest on the therapeutic qualities of writing. The results may just amaze you.

- May 2001, Aspire
Copyright © 2001, all rights reserved