Mar 04 2024 70 mins
Have you ever heard of the Pennebaker Method? It’s a protocol of using expressive writing to move through traumatic or stressful situations in order to find more peace and hope in their aftermath. It’s completely free and available at anytime to anyone, which is one of the reasons we recommend it - no matter what you’re going through it could help! People who use the method widely report feeling much better in body and mind after the practice. Here we discuss it in detail and share our personal experiences using it to work through our own real life hang ups.
If you need to remember the protocol for your own use remember the Es: write for at least 15 minutes, on 4 separate days about the Event, your Emotions (at the time and now) and the Effects on your life.
Though it can be an intense process to write expressively about something painful in our past, we also discuss the science of why it works to face these things head on. When we bring the situation out of our subconscious through language, we can handle it with our whole mind, which helps our systems regulate and our spirits find peace.
This episode is based on information from the Huberman Lab Podcast: A Science-Supported Journaling Protocol to Improve Mental and Physical Health