I returned to San Diego last evening after a weekend collaboration with colleague and artist, Heidi Darr-Hope in Columbia, South Carolina. Heidi’s artistic work is well-known as well as her long-time involvement in the cancer community, leading healing arts workshops. Our collaboration began in 2004, when I traveled to Columbia to lead an all-day expressive writing workshop at [...]
Archive for the ‘writing to heal’ Category
For the Week of September 18, 2011: The Colors of the Cancer Experience
Posted in art and writing, expressive writing, healing arts, writing as a way of healing, writing for wellness, writing prompts for cancer survivors, writing to heal on September 19, 2011 | 5 Comments »
For the Week of September 11, 2011: Life Changes in an Instant
Posted in expressive writing, writing as a way of healing, writing for wellness, writing prompts for cancer survivors, writing to heal on September 11, 2011 | 3 Comments »
You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends. The question of self-pity. Those were the first words I wrote after it happened….I had made no changes to that file since I wrote the words, in January 2004, a day or two or three after the fact. For a long time I [...]
For the Week of September 4, 2011: The Metaphors of Illness
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 4, 2011 | 5 Comments »
When writer and New York Times book critic Anatole Broyard was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1989, writing was a natural way to reflect on his experience with illness. ”As a patient I’m a mere beginner,” he said, “yet I am a critic, and being critically ill, I thought I might accept the pun and turn [...]
For the Week of August 21, 2011: Remembering Gratitude
Posted in expressive writing, life writing, writing for wellness, writing prompts for cancer survivors, writing to heal on August 21, 2011 | 4 Comments »
We rose at dawn yesterday to begin the trip home from Toronto, where we’ve been visiting our newest granddaughter and her parents for the past two and a half weeks. We’re seasoned travelers, and we arrived at the airport, as advised, two hours ahead of departure to check our bags and clear U.S. Customs. It [...]
For the Week of August 14, 2011: Looking for Home
Posted in expressive writing, life writing, writing for wellness, writing prompts for cancer survivors, writing to heal on August 14, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Understand, I was only a girl living the days as they came. I did not know I would leave. though I had a secret I did not tell and will not ever, I did not know I would leave. –From “Translation of my Life,” by Elizabeth Spires. “You can’t go home again,” my husband [...]
For July 31, 2011: But I Didn’t Ask to Join
Posted in expressive writing, life writing, writing for wellness, writing prompts for cancer survivors, writing to heal on July 31, 2011 | 1 Comment »
I received an email this past week from Sister Anne Higgins, whose blog, “Scattered Showers in a Clear Sky” is a beautiful blend of narrative, photographs and poetry. Anne sent me several of her poems, written during cancer treatment, and one in particular has stayed in my mind. Entitled “At the Gettysburg Cancer Center,” it [...]
For the Week of July 17, 2011: Writing as Prayer
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 July 17, 2011 | 1 Comment »
On the final day of my PSR course, “Writing as a Healing Ministry,” we participated in a closing ritual. First, the class members wrote about the experience of the week, and each defined how writing is part of their healing ministry. We shared those words aloud, then, as our final activity, wrote our hopes or [...]
Week of July 3, 2011: Two or Three Things I Know for Sure
Posted in expressive writing, life writing, writing as a way of healing, writing for wellness, writing prompts for cancer survivors, writing to heal on July 3, 2011 | 9 Comments »
I began teaching again this week, an online section of “The Art of Creative Nonfiction” for UCLA extension Writer’s Program. My preparations took me, as they always do, to my bookshelves, and I scanned them in search of a favorite anthology of creative nonfiction, but instead, my attention was diverted by the narrow blue spine [...]
Week of June 26th, 2011: Paying Attention
Posted in expressive writing, writing as a way of healing, writing for wellness, writing prompts for cancer survivors, writing to heal on June 26, 2011 | 1 Comment »
There’s a book of poetry I love, one I return to from time to time to read in its entirety. Written during his recovery from cancer treatment, Ted Kooser’s Winter Morning Walks: One Hundred Postcards to Jim Harrison was inspired by his postcards sent to colleague and friend, Jim Harrison. Simple in format, eloquent in [...]
For the Week of June 12, 2011: Anniversaries
Posted in expressive writing, writing as a way of healing, writing for wellness, writing prompts for cancer survivors, writing to heal on June 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Today is a day of celebration for me. I awakened to breakfast in bed, a stack of cards, and my husband’s birthday greeting. I’m another year older, and even though I eschew the idea of aging, unlike the enthusiasm I knew for it when I was young, I celebrate the day. Then, I looked forward, [...]
