Write for Life: Healing Body, Mind, & Spirit through Journal Writing

“Why, oh why didn’t someone walk up to me when I was 25 and hand me a book like this?” wrote Frank McCourt, Pulitzer Prize author of “Angela’s Ashes,” “‘Tis,” & “Teacher Man.” Complaining and dumping problems and worries in a journal can make you healthier without spending a penny! More than 25 years of research on the effects of journal writing reveals that people struggling with chronic pain or recovering from health or emotional crises experience significant benefits by writing instead of just talking about their problems or stuffing them. “Whine and complain all you need to,” says Dr. Sheppard Kominars in this fourth book on recovery, “Write For Life” that appears this June in a Revised Edition to extend health literacy in the world. With a lively introduction by Frank McCourt, Dr. Kominars’ book presents fifteen different journeys into healing that include Dreams, Legacy Letters, Last Rights, Zen, along with scientific research and entries from both famous and infamous journal writers. This book creates a personal wellness center for healing body, mind and spirit through journal writing and makes the process easy for everyone. Reluctant writers as well as long term journal writers explore fifteen journeys through such areas as: Self-Caring; American Indian Spirituality; Legacy Letters; Travel. Bringing the facts discovered by research on the healing benefits of writing into the daily perspective of self-discovery, this self-paced book offers a life-long adventure into living healthier and having more fun doing it. With over sixty years of journal writing experience, and the expertise from workshops all over the United State, the author presents a coherent long-term program for the body, the mind, and the spirit. This journal writing program helps develop inner strength and support for every kind of experience. The book offers important insight into participating more completely in life before, during and after retirement. With its focus on healing, the book is inspirational as well as practical; it sets the stage for living BETTER. Unlike other journal writing books, this one is not about making art or story-telling; it is about healing whatever needs to be made whole in everyone who reads it. Reluctant writers, and long-term journalers will love it! ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr. Sheppard B. Kominars has written two previous books on recovery (Harper, 1989, and Hazelden, 1996) and is himself a cancer survivor who has worked over the past twenty-five years in counseling and consulting. His workshops at UCSF, Stanford Complementary Care Center, Kaiser Permenente, Cancer Center of the Desert, and other senior residences and centers, Faithful Fools Ministry in the San Francisco Tenderloin have inspired participants. He began teaching writing in 1956 at Washington College and has a long career in higher education and consulting in health and education. He is a cancer survivor and has been writing journals for over 60 years. He was born in Philadelphia, PA, and has lived in San Francisco, CA, since 1986. He is a graduate of Kenyon College, B.A. Columbia University, M.A. and Boston University, PhD.