Holiday Greetings

Writing about periods of upheaval in your journal has a way of telling your subconscious, “I can handle it.”

Rewriting those episodes helps you make things better.

Putting worries down on paper helps to close the issue, “I’ve dealt with that and can move on.”

Finding words to describe your hopes and dreams can make them part of your life story.

Trust your intuition and find what works for you.

Best wishes, Georgiann

Why Write?

Researchers in behavioral science have shown that therapeutic writing can be a good way of dealing with the stress of disease. It may be very beneficial for you; it is not a substitute for talking to family, friends and medical personnel.

Consider the Advantages of Writing:

Feelings happen below the level of awareness. Your nervous system responds to your thoughts and images as if they were real and happening now. There is no past or future for the nervous system. There is only now. Your body reacts to the images in the present and provides the appropriate level of energy. There is no distress when you focus on the present. Distress occurs when you have elicited more energy than you can use now. You do this by worrying, by presenting images of work or threat in the future or the past but do nothing about it now. Your body possesses a wisdom that has been honed since the first forms of life. In order to work in harmony with this inner wisdom, you need to learn how to communicate with your body and mind in clear images that elicit the right amount of energy for your goals. The body is a faithful servant that responds to the images you and your environment present to it.

As you read the following passage, notice how your body responds to the images:
Imagine that you are in a garden. The green grass, trees, and flowers present you with a quiet, peaceful feeling. Not far away is a lush lemon tree, heavy with bright, yellow lemons; its leaves are a deep green. As you approach this tree, your attention is drawn to a particularly large, ripe lemon. You reach for it, pluck it, and take a closer look. You can see and feel the pitted texture of its skin. You now grasp it firmly and cut it open, watching as the juice begins to flow. The fragrance of fresh lemon is in the air. As you bring the freshly cut lemon closer, and prepare to bite into it, you become aware that your body has already prepared you for the tartness of the lemon's juice.

Did you begin to pucker? The point is that even if we don’t fully understand or articulate our situation, our bodies respond and create minor or major biological changes. Joy boosts, not only the spirit, but also the body’s processes. At the other extreme, stressful events have a detrimental effect even if we do our best to shake them off. Writing is a tool for becoming more aware of your deepest feelings. And writing is a way of letting go of unhappiness. Expressive writing can help you overcome intrusive thoughts or worries that insert themselves into your life.

Expressive Writing Guidelines:

1. If you feel your writing about a particular topic is too much for you to handle, then choose something else. If you aren’t ready to address a particularly painful topic, write about something else. If you feel a particular topic will make you flip out, don’t write about it. Later on when you are ready, go back and tackle this subject.
2. Be aware that you can feel somewhat saddened or depressed after expressive writing. Don’t push yourself to do something you know intuitively is wrong. Write for yourself and no one else. After a few days, you should begin to feel better. (Four days is a good point to gauge your progress.) If you are still overly sad or concerned, seek help. Talk your doctor or a qualified professional counselor.
3. Another concern is privacy. If someone finds and reads your expressive writing, it may change your relationship with that person forever, sometimes in a bad way. Secure or destroy the pages no one else should read.
4. The final concern is that — if you reduce your inner conflicts — you may affect the course of your life and the lives of others in unintended ways. Statistically most people say that their life changes were beneficial, but they also acknowledge the power of expressive writing. In some cases, people quit their jobs, stopped seeing current friends and moved to a new city, because they realized they were on a life path they did not really want.

For more information consult:

The Writing Cure: How Expressive Writing Promotes Health and Emotional Well-Being,
Stephen J. Lepore and Joshua M. Smyth, American Psychological Association, 2002

Writing to Heal, A Guided Journal for Recovering from Trauma and Emotional Upheaval,
James W. Pennebaker, Ph.D. New Harbinger Publications, 2004

Cancer a Personal Challenge, edited by Dr. Bob Rich, Anina’s Book Company, Australia, available as a download from http://bobwriting.com

Backstory

Backstory for The Acts of Judas

The nurse sprays my shoulder with anesthetic. The icy fluid quickly deadens the skin. Moments later she inserts a 22-gauge needle into the subcutaneous catheter that leads directly to a vein. A catheter is a relatively safe way to pump one of the strongest chemotherapy drugs available into my body. The prospects frighten me, but the alternative is even more frightening. I watch the needle going in, and I do what I must to survive.

Six surgeries, six months of chemotherapy and radiation treatments kept the cancer from spreading. While going through chemotherapy, it was sometimes difficult to think clearly. My thoughts would stick like a programming loop, and I would say the same things several times without realizing it. In other ways, however, my thoughts were more lucid than before. I learned empathy, especially for people who face hard choices, and I understood life’s challenges in ways I never had.

Both the good and bad experiences of 2001 influenced the novel I was writing. The book ultimately became The Acts of Judas. The idea for ACTS had occurred to me five years earlier. In 1996 I traded novels with a fellow writer, Phil Porter. Phil and I “met” in an on-line writing workshop. His fiction was filled with exciting action scenes, and mine was character-driven. I appreciated his honest critiques of my work and agreed to read a draft of a novel he was working on. Phil was writing a story about the conflicts between Jewish Pharisees and Sadducees at the time of Christ.

My exchanges with Phil sparked an interest I had in Judas Iscariot. I wrote a fictional gospel, as if it were penned by Judas. I also did some preliminary research, but nothing more came of the idea until 2001. That was the year I took out the old files and began to plot the rest of the story. If a Judas scroll turned up in modern times, what controversy would arise? Who would find it? What would the discoverers do — use it for political purposes, or burn it? If you think back to 2001, you may recall that President Bush was beginning his first term. The Palestinians thought Bush favored Israel, and they responded by raising the stakes with more violence. Tensions in the Middle East escalated.

In March I decided to go ahead with my novel. In April the doctors diagnosed my cancer. I coped by not talking about it. Avoidance was my defense mechanism. Instead of facing it openly I put personal pain and uncertainty into the characters. I could vividly imagine how they reacted to duress. By the end of the summer in 2001 I was struggling with the accumulative effects of chemotherapy and trying to write a cohesive ending to the book. Then September 11th made personal concerns fade into the background.

When I finally came back to the book, the terrorists’ actions made the ending clearer. I knew I had to incorporate those events into the story. Not long after that Treble Heart Books agreed to publish the novel. It took two years to see the book in print. Now whenever I look at the cover, I remember what I went through and, more importantly, what the world has gone through. My own future looks bright. I wish I could say the same for everyone who survived the upheaval of 2001.

Treble Heart Books released my novel, The Acts of Judas, in December of 2004. Publication took my journey down a very different road. Whatever else happens, I believe that releasing my emotions vicariously through my characters was a factor in my recovery.

To read the book's reviews, please visit: http://www.trebleheartbooks.com/WDBaldino.html

Periodically I hear about someone new in my circle of friends who has been diagnosed with cancer. Everything I have read and experienced leads me to believe three things about surviving cancer:

1. That the patient needs to feel like an important member of the health care team. His or her satisfaction with the treatment plan works as well as any medication.
2. A patient needs to take charge of the healing process (mentally and spiritually, and not just physically.)
3. He needs to embrace a lifestyle that cherishes and encourages the immune system (the act of choosing what that means for each individual--diet, meditation, massage, music, yoga, etc.--is as important as any of the adjunct therapies he picks.)

Personally, my diet was good before I was diagnosed. I have added yoga and therapeutic journaling. Both comfort me. Both help me move to a climate of health. When you hear of someone who received bad health news, share the four E's with them. They need to

• Embrace a healthy lifestyle.
• Enhance their immune system.

Help make these goals a reality by:

• Expressing deepest

Emotion, either by talking about these deepest experiences with someone who allows you to be totally open, or by journaling. Putting those feelings down on paper has a healing quality, which is hard to understand until you try it.