Writing Practice Prescription » spiritual http://ellentaliaferro.com Time to Think Outside of the Pill Box Thu, 10 Mar 2011 21:02:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 The Forgiveness Prescription http://ellentaliaferro.com/the-forgiveness-prescription/ http://ellentaliaferro.com/the-forgiveness-prescription/#comments Tue, 11 Jan 2011 00:54:49 +0000 Ellen Taliaferro, MD http://ellentaliaferro.com/?p=234 Forgiveness. Is it a health problem? A growing body of research emerging the past two decades indicate that forgiveness possesses the power to restore well-being and promote healing. The concept of forgiveness as a healing endeavor is not new: worldwide philosophical and spiritual traditions have long promoted forgiveness for inner peace and well-being.

What the medical research now contributes is the fact that it seems as though just imagining yourself as granting forgiveness may lower your blood pressure, decrease your heart rate, and produce skin conductance changes–all physiological signs of improving your health. Best of all, your mood can improve when you focus on forgiving. This is helpful for a number of conditions ranging from anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and chronic pain. (1)

If you have dropped in on this blog in the past, then it should come as no surprise to you that I endorse expressive WellWriting to promote well-being and health. As I have continued the work of writing for healing (WellWriting), it has become apparent to me that hanging onto anger, old hurts, and resentment contribute considerably to many chronic health and pain syndromes. The answer? Forgive to live and for the health of it.

Forgiveness is a learned skill and very much a process. My current work is a book in the making. If you have a story of forgiving and then being better and want to share that story, please add a comment to this blog entry.

Meanwhile, a number of books exist to address the issue of forgiveness. To browse a few, click here.

_________________________

(1) Source: Integrative Medicine: Text with BONUS PocketConsult Handheld Software (Rakel, Integrative Medicine)

]]> http://ellentaliaferro.com/the-forgiveness-prescription/feed/ 0 Cleansing Your Soul with Therapeutic Writing http://ellentaliaferro.com/cleansing-your-soul-with-therapeutic-writing/ http://ellentaliaferro.com/cleansing-your-soul-with-therapeutic-writing/#comments Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:09:23 +0000 Ellen Taliaferro, MD http://ellentaliaferro.com/2008/04/03/cleansing-your-soul-with-therapeutic-writing/ Here’s a nice blog post I found while surfing the net this morning. Enjoy.

Writing as Therapy

by

Laura Woodruff, LCSW

I have found writing to be such a good tool for emoting. It is such a great way to cleanse the soul! There are some things that are not appropriate for the blog, as we all know. So, I have had to find some other writing outlets! I just wanted to suggest to anyone that may be having rough times—- write, write, and write some more. I think some of the most beautiful writing is done in painful times. It can also be a great comfort to others as pain is a universal emotion we have all felt. So, when in pain—write, write, and write some more. I have also discovered that it feels better than eating, eating, and eating! So, those are my words of wisdom for others! I know, such a nugget of wisdom! Luckily, there is always humor too, which is also very helpful. I rely on humor a little too much. Thank goodness for kids and the rigors of life, that force you to forget about problems and delve into reality. I never thought I would be thankful for poopy diapers, but sometimes the mundane can be a relief from reality. Frightening but true. These are my thoughts for today!

__________________________________

Laura is a 35 year-old mother of five who lives in Utah. You can check out her blog by clicking here.

]]> http://ellentaliaferro.com/cleansing-your-soul-with-therapeutic-writing/feed/ 2 Your Tagline Is Showing http://ellentaliaferro.com/your-tagline-is-showing/ http://ellentaliaferro.com/your-tagline-is-showing/#comments Sun, 30 Mar 2008 21:46:56 +0000 Ellen Taliaferro, MD http://ellentaliaferro.com/2008/03/30/your-tagline-is-showing/ “Just the facts, Ma’am, just the facts,” may be good advice to keep your writing simple and on track, but there’s no reason why you can’t arrange those facts to put color and a little grin into the essence of things.

Consider the standard tagline used by many authors: “XXX is YYY who ZZZ. He/she lives and works in Mysterland and can be reached through his/her website www.bestwebsiteever.com.” Brief and to the point to be sure, but do you have any idea whatsoever about who the writer is?

Some authors breathe a little life into their taglines by mentioning hobbies, pets, and small children. Anne Bingham, pictured in this post, has a short tagline that stopped me in my tracks. In less than 40 words she tells the reader what she does and where she lives. And her detail-rich copy hints at who she is: a person with quite a healthy sense of humor:

“Anne Bingham writes business copy on the computer, edits manuscripts with a 9mm mechanical pencil, and reflects on faith and family life in a spiral bound notebook with a rollerball pen. She lives a few miles west of Lake Michigan.”

What does your tagline say about you?

]]> http://ellentaliaferro.com/your-tagline-is-showing/feed/ 0