My Pen – Writing as a Healing Tool

                  Having lived with depression most of my life has required me to develop coping strategies and healing tools. I have a great mental health team, but I can’t lean on them 24/7. So, I need tools to rely on in those moments when I am struggling on my own. Some of these tools have become a part of my daily life. The most significant tool I have is writing. 

I write every day. I write more when I am struggling. I write in different forms. Poetry has always been my go-to writing form. It is the type of writing that I discovered first in my battle with depression. I started writing poems as a teenager. I filled notebooks with these poems, which expressed what I was going through. I still write poems decades later. The poems seem to just pour out of me especially when I am struggling. I don’t know. Maybe I think in poetry. Many of my poems are dark, which makes sense. Depression is dark. As I have found healing, I have been able to write poems that evoke that healing. I am proud of both types of poems. They express who I am and what I live with. 

My writing has taken other forms over the years. You are reading one of those forms. This blog keeps me going. It provides me with a space to write about depression, which is healing for me. I hope that my posts bring healing to others. I also hope that it brings an understanding of depression to those who do not experience it. It is through understanding that we can help each other. 

Before I share a poem, I would like to invite readers to learn about the healing power of writing. I will be giving a talk for NAMI Glendale next Thursday, June 20^th at 7:00 pm. It is on Zoom. The link to register for this free event is at the bottom of this post. It will be an interactive talk that provides attendees with the opportunity to try writing. 

Now, for the poem. This poem can be found in my book, A Light Amidst the Darkness: Illuminating Mental Illness and Suffering. The poem is titled, My Pen. It explores what is happening inside of me as I write. Rather than explain the poem, I’ll let you draw meaning from it. 

 

 

My Pen

 

When my mind is full of turmoil I turn to my pen,

Reach for my journal and begin to write.

Words take the form of lines.

The poison pours out of me.

My pen is an instrument of healing.

The ink gives life to the words I cannot voice.

Line after line, page after page filled with my thoughts.

I feel each thought as it leaves my mind to make its mark upon the page.

The page soaks up my memories;

Becomes stained by my pain.

Dark thought after dark thought is released

And allowed to breathe on the page.

In these moments I feel lighter.

A sense of healing envelops me

As my turmoil escapes

My pen provides this passage to healing.

Each poem I write gives me the courage to continue.

My journals hold the reality of my pain.

Relieving me of my pain

And allowing me to live.

 

 

                  If you are interested in joining my talk, Writing as a Healing Tool, use the link to register.

 

https://namiglendale.org/event/writing-as-a-healing-tool/