Write for Life: Healing Body, Mind, and Spirit Through Journal Writing
by Sheppard B. Kominars
(Cleveland Clinic Press, Cleveland OH, 2007)

I’ve always had an uneasy relationship with journaling. Countless times in my life I’ve begun a journal, only to stop abruptly a few days later because I think I’m too busy or because I’m too bored by what I’ve written. Sheppard Kominars’ Write for Life comes as a refreshing tool for overcoming those kinds of obstacles.

Kominars, a member of All Saints, San Francisco, advocates journaling as healing. Keeping a journal, he points out, is not the same as writing for publication, or even like blogging, when the writing is meant for an audience. Journaling is a form of self-care, a therapeutic way to connect your mind and body with your feelings.

Kominars began journaling as a way to cope with severe migraines, quickly making it a daily routine. Eventually he began to share the benefits of journaling through workshops with people in recovery from addiction and cancer survivors. This book contains the wisdom and some of the stories that Kominars has amassed over many years of journaling and teaching journaling to others.

The book istremely accessible, clearly written and well structured. Part One tells how to write a journal and how to overcome blocks; Part Two addresses writing as a healing process, including what it means to be a survivor, scientific research on the healing properties of writing, and excerpts from other writers’ journals; and Part Three offers fifteen different “journeys” to inspire your journaling. Kominars recommends beginning with the journey of self-caring, when you meditate on being self-caring rather than self-critical.

Throughout the book, Kominars offers exercises and prompts aimed at overcoming the myriad problems encountered when we get in better touch with our feelings. A survivor of both addiction and cancer, Kominars consistently demonstrates compassion and insight into the self-discovery process of journaling.

Kominars’ cure for my excuse-making is a tremendous gift, and makes this a book great to give to yourself or to others this Christmas. Though I may not quite be ready to jump into journaling with both feet, I find it comforting to know that Write for Life is here on my shelf, waiting to guide me along in my own journaling travels.