Negative emotions can have a serious impact on your mental as well as physical and spiritual health. A psychological benefit of writing is that you can purge these negative emotions from your mind and thereby reduce their toxicity and impact on your overall health. Transferring difficult emotions from the recesses of your brain onto a piece of paper produces other benefits as well. The act of writing hard-to-face thoughts and feelings down can place an emotional distance between the intensity of these emotions and your physical being. Many times this creates a sense of objectivity, which helps you to gain a new perspective on the issues you are facing. With greater objectivity, you may find it easier to come up with achievable solutions for a particular problem.
Similar to the muscles of your body, the brain needs lots of regular exercise for optimal functioning and long-term health. Writing stimulates your neural activity. A byproduct of stimulation to the brain is the production and release of natural chemicals your brain and body need in order to function properly. These hormones are also responsible for producing feelings of happiness, contentment, pleasure, excitement, love, and other “feel-good” emotions.
Challenging yourself with various writing drills exercises the brain and mind. The psychological benefits of this include increased comprehension, memory, retention of information and decision-making skills. Keeping your mind “fit” in the present provides more benefits in the future as well. Scientific studies have shown that some older adults demonstrate higher rates of memory recall and mental acuity well into their advanced years via practicing brain-stimulating exercise such as writing and writing drills.
There is also documented and anecdotal evidence about the psychological benefits of writing as observed in clinical settings. A reduction in the risks for developing depression and other physiological disorders is a benefit of writing which has broad implications. Stable moods assist people to better relate with others and to improve their relationships. Having a positive outlook on life leads others into trying new things and achieving their life goals. People who do not actively suffer from depressive and other psychological disorders generally live longer and more fulfilled lives than those who do. Writing can help you to lift yourself out of the doldrums before it can take over your life and become a major issue.
Writing improves your mood and mental health in a variety of great ways. Get out paper and pen, or open a new file and begin writing. Enjoy all that writing has to offer in your life.
Read: Part 1