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Table of Contents
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WRITE FOR LIFE: Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION: Frank McCourt
OVERVIEW AND USER'S GUIDE: The Big Question: Why Write a Journal?
Making the case for writing (health crisis, 1955). Linking healing with self-expression. Finding answers.
PART ONE: INITIATING THE HEALING PROCESS
There is no "right way" or "wrong way" to write in a journal. This means discovering what works for you to improve the quality of your life.
CHAPTER ONE: Square One
Focus on healing: Being a survivor. Other journal writers and their obstacles. Scientific research on the health effects of journal writing. The mystery of healing. Personal expectations.
CHAPTER TWO: Getting Started
The basics: Choosing paper, pen, where to write, when to write, what and how much to write. You are the audience. How do you support your efforts?
CHAPTER THREE: Staying Started
The power of inertia: Framing the obstacles. Writing about feelings. Dealing with confidentiality.
PART TWO: FIVE WINDOWS ON HEALING
The following chapters shed light on important areas for exploration. You are encouraged to open any of these windows during the writing process to explore new insights and encouragement.
CHAPTER FOUR: Survivors and Surviving
Life after cancer diagnosis. Guilt and denial. Valuing life; changing old rules. Emily Gibbs' discovery in "Our Town." Invocation.
CHAPTER FIVE: Journal Excerpts
By Anna Dostoevsky, Marjorie Fleming, Anne Frank, Alice James, Katherine Mansfield, Frank McCourt, Randy Shilts, Virginia Woolf, and many more.
CHAPTER SIX: Scientific Research and Writing Techniques
Research by James Pennebaker. The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron and other books.
CHAPTER SEVEN: Healing the Survivor
New and old ideas about healing. Homeopathy. Hopelessness. Paying attention. Healing and wholeness.
CHAPTER EIGHT: Expectations
Creating time. Dealing with writer's blocks. Managing change. Returning to journal writing after a long interval. Dealing with aging. Having fun.
PART THREE: EXPLORING NEW DIRECTIONS INTO HEALING
In these fifteen adventures, you will discover ways to heal yourself as you write. Some will be familiar; others you may be encountering for the first time. Choose one (or as many as you like) that appeals to you.
CHAPTER NINE: Self-Caring
Getting Started: Crises and fallout. Personal values.
Staying Started: Creating a body, mind, spirit inventory.
New Directions: Assessment of "unfinished business." Setting priorities.
CHAPTER TEN: Food and Nourishment
Getting Started: Our own "movable feast." The politics of food.
Staying Started: Obstacles and limitations. Food and identity.
New Directions: Exotic foods and metaphors. Spiritual dimensions.
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Travel
Getting Started: New impressions. Literary heroes and romance. Childhood journeys.
Staying Started: Traveling companions. Destinations. Savoring expectations.
New Directions: Journey's end.
CHAPTER TWELVE: Legacy Letters, Part One (Laying the Foundation)
Getting Started: Taking your pulse. How you wish to be remembered.
Staying Started: Creating a framework. Surveying past and present values.
New Directions: Framing questions about your family of origin. Finding answers.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Dreams
Getting Started: Significance of dreams. Dream recording technique.
Staying Started: Encouraging the dream. Revelations, connections, and resistance.
New Directions: Nocturnal consciousness. Dreamwork ideas. Sharing dreams.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: "Now and Zen"
Getting Started: Physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Wholeness vs. incompleteness.
Staying Started: "Everyday mind" in focus.
New Directions: Living as-if. Mindfulness.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Confronting "Not Yets"
Getting Started: Immortality and denial. Wish-lists. Filling in the blanks.
Staying Started: Fantasy and fun. Identifying priorities. Assessing risk.
New Directions: Initiating the planning process. Accepting limitations.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Legacy Letters, Part Two (Creating the Letters)
Getting Started: Identifying recipients and content.
Staying Started: Setting the stage.
New Directions: Drafting letters. Practical details.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: American Indian Spirituality
Getting Started: Interconnectedness. Good medicine. Reconsidering old answers. Staying Started: The Uniworld. Medicine walk through nature.
New Directions: Shifting perspectives. Sacred spaces. The Great Spirit Prayer.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Creativity
Getting Started: Allowing energy to flow. Fun with color.
Staying Started: Not-knowing vs. knowing. Needs and obstacles inventory.
New Directions: Extending limits. The bogeyman (perfectionism). Getting unstuck.
CHAPTER NINETEEN: Work and Play
Getting Started: Defining terms. Valuing accomplishments. Expectations.
Staying Started: Choices made; choices declined.
New Directions: Childhood and adult games. Retirement considerations. Importance of fun in healing.
CHAPTER TWENTY: Meditation and Prayer
Getting Started: Focusing on needs of the spirit. Meditation practices.
Staying Started: Spiritual calisthenics. A visual approach.
New Directions: Encountering obstacles. Inspirational guides.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: The Experience of Joy
Getting Started: What is happiness?
Staying Started: Relationships. Significance of the past.
New Directions: The changing search for happiness.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: "Last Rights" (Embracing Life and Death)
Getting Started: "Surrender to Win." Writing about death.
Staying Started: Surprising questions. Balancing the scales.
New Directions: Health-care directives. Telling your own and others' stories.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: Pilgrimage
Getting Started: Journey milestones.
Staying Started: Facts and feelings. Five crucial events of your life.
New Directions: Lightening the load. Today's wishes.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: Lifelong Journaling
How to use what you've learned so far in your ongoing healing process.
PART FOUR
FOOTNOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
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