For the past week or so, I’ve been embracing solitude, honoring the need to pull back and retreat from the busyness of my past many weeks of travel, family visits and non-stop activity of the holidays. I’ve rediscovered the joy of the quiet routine that nourishes my writing life, re-created a place of sanctuary in [...]
Archive for the ‘writing to heal’ Category
For the Week of January 22, 2012: The Small Islands of Sanctuary
Posted in expressive writing, healing arts, writing as a way of healing, writing for wellness, writing prompts for cancer survivors, writing to heal on January 22, 2012 | 5 Comments »
For the Week of January 8, 2011: Waiting
Posted in expressive writing, writing as a way of healing, writing for wellness, writing prompts for cancer survivors, writing to heal on January 8, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
What you do with time is what a grandmother clock does with it: strike twelve and take its time doing it. You’re the clock: time passes, you remain. And wait. (From: “Mother,” by Kurt Brown) I admit it. Waiting is something I don’t do well, whether I’m waiting in line in at airport security, for [...]
For the Week of January 1, 2012: Shaping A Life
Posted in expressive writing, healing arts, writing as a way of healing, writing for wellness, writing prompts for cancer survivors, writing to heal on January 1, 2012 | 4 Comments »
Last night the sound of celebrations echoed through our neighborhood, amplified by one of the many canyons that cut through San Diego. Fireworks, songs and shouts announced the departure of the old and the arrival of a new year, and perhaps for many, a list of well-intentioned resolutions: exercise more, lose those extra holiday pounds, [...]
For the Week of December 18, 2011: Winter Lights
Posted in expressive writing, life writing, writing as a way of healing, writing for wellness, writing prompts for cancer survivors, writing to heal on December 18, 2011 | 1 Comment »
We put up our Christmas tree last night, waiting until our five month old granddaughter, Flora, arrived with her parents so that they could share in our annual holiday tradition. Long after everyone went to bed, I sat alone in the dark, staring at the colored lights and remembering dozens of Christmases past. Finally, exhausted [...]
For the Week of December 11, 2011: The Cycle of Life
Posted in expressive writing, life writing, writing as a way of healing, writing for wellness, writing prompts for cancer survivors, writing to heal on December 11, 2011 | 3 Comments »
I live in a place where the advent of winter is less noticeable than in other places I used to call “home.” The succulents that dot the slopes of our property, the silk oak and palm tree standing in our backyard, are green and unchanged in this winter season. There are buds on my bird [...]
For the Week of October 23, 2011: The Comfort of Ritual
Posted in expressive writing, healing arts, writing as a way of healing, writing for wellness, writing prompts for cancer survivors, writing to heal on October 23, 2011 | 2 Comments »
The shoes put on each time left first, then right. The morning potion’s teaspoon of sweetness stirred always for seven circlings, no fewer, no more, into the cracked blue cup. Touching the pocket for wallet, for keys, before closing the door. How did we come to believe these small rituals’ promise, that we are today [...]
For the Week of October 16, 2011: Exorcising Negative Emotions
Posted in expressive writing, writing as a way of healing, writing for wellness, writing prompts for cancer survivors, writing to heal on October 16, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak; whispers the o’er-fraught heart and bids it break (From Macbeth, by William Shakespeare) Have you ever felt the need to get feelings or frustration with something off your chest, the ones that keep you awake at night or gnaw at you until they’re voiced? As it [...]
For the Week of October 9, 2011: When Night Stretches into Forever
Posted in expressive writing, healing arts, life writing, writing as a way of healing, writing for wellness, writing prompts for cancer survivors, writing to heal on October 9, 2011 | 5 Comments »
Even in the cave of the night when you wake… you push with your eyes till forever comes in its twisted figure eight and lies down in your head… ( “Waking at 3 a.m.,” by William Stafford, in Waking at 3 a.m., 1972) We’ve all had them, those sleepless nights when our fears and worries [...]
For the Week of October 2, 1011: The Stories of our Scars
Posted in expressive writing, healing arts, life writing, writing as a way of healing, writing for wellness, writing prompts for cancer survivors, writing to heal on October 2, 2011 | 5 Comments »
i was leaving my fifty-eighth year when a thumb of ice stamped itself hard near my heart you have your own story you know about the fears the tears the scar of disbelief … (“1994,” by Lucille Clifton) There’s a scar on my head, behind my hairline, that runs from one ear to the other. [...]
For the Week of September 25, 2011: The “C” word.
Posted in expressive writing, healing arts, writing as a way of healing, writing for wellness, writing prompts for cancer survivors, writing to heal on September 25, 2011 | 7 Comments »
At a breast cancer rally she rises Above sixteen positive lymph nodes To tell the world that cancer is a wakeup call That resonates to the cell level… (“The Lesson,” by Judy Rohm, in The Cancer Poetry Project.) The “c” word: courage. Imagine a shiny quarter. On one side, the word “cancer,” and on the [...]
