Writing Self-Affirmations Poem by Kimberly Burnham

Researchers ask,

'Does self-affirmation, cognitive processing
or discovery of meaning explain
cancer-related health benefits
of expressive writing? '

What is known

'expressive writing has positive effects
self-affirmation'

what we tell ourselves
what we write about ourselves
as every cell in the body listens

'plays an important role in buffering stress'

in giving us space to breathe through the challenges
to calm ourselves down
to understand the choices and options

'self-affirmation
a viable mechanism'

could be the cause
or contributor

'of the health benefits of expressive writing'

writing where we look inside
and see who we are
in response to difficulties
like cancer or Alzheimer's
writing expressing ourselves is the key
to changing our way of healing