Welcome to the thirteenth month of One Year of Writing and Healing, a month in which I’ve returned from sabbatical and am beginning some renovation work at the site. Adding. Shaping. Rearranging.
The photo is from Wildacres Retreat Center, where I spent a week at the end of July, staying in the cabin there—a snug cabin in the mountains that stayed a cool seventy degrees most days, and, nearly every afternoon, a shower of rain fell on the metal roof. The entire week offering a kind of writer’s paradise. My sabbatical, which included time at the beach as well as this week at Wildacres, has been a true gift--offering renewal in the best sense--and my hope is to bring that sense of renewal to Writing and Healing: Year 2 which I will begin on September 1st. My plans also include creating a site on Mind-Body Medicine which will include information about my medical practice and about mind-body health in general.
Meanwhile, One Year of Writing and Healing is a site where you can continue to find writing ideas, selected summaries of research on writing and health, books of interest, poetry that bears on writing and healing, and some of my own reflections. (I’m a physician and I learn a lot about healing from my patients. I’ve also taught writing in a wide variety of settings and I like to read a lot.) Please feel free to look around. And please know that I welcome your comments and questions via e-mail.
One Year of Writing and Healing was created month by month with each month adding another layer to what is possible in the use of writing to foster healing. To give you a sense of what the site covers, here is The Year at a Glance:
Month One: Creating a Healing Place
Month Two: Gathering Resources for Healing and Writing
Month Three: Finding a Healing Language and Images for Healing
Month Four: Healing Grief
Month Five: Discovering Form(s)
Month Six: Figuring Out the Good Part of the Story
Month Seven: A New Perspective: Thirteen Different Ways of Looking
Month Eight: Healing as a Quest
Month Nine: Two Steps Forward and One Step Back: Dealing with Resistance
Month Ten: Writing as Part of a Healing Conversation
Month Eleven: Practicing Revision and Creating Something New out of the Revision
Month Twelve: Looking Ahead: Writing about Goals and Dreams
