A challenge for the individual with a more highly sensitive nervous system is learning to live comfortably in the midst of emotional experience. This is important because our response to emotions either enhances or imbalances the functioning of our nervous system and our overall health and well-being.

When we’re able to consciously be with our emotional experience in the present moment, rather than being triggered emotionally and reacting unconsciously, our nervous system maintains its integrity and we’re mentally, emotionally, and physically more resilient.

On the other hand, when we can’t stay present and we’re emotionally reactive, the autonomic nervous system loses integrity and so does our mental, emotional, and physical health. 

Expressive writing is a relatively simple and effective process that HSPs can employ to live more comfortably, emotionally and physically, in their own sensitive skins.

It’s backed by hundreds of studies over a thirty-year period that demonstrate how effective it is for resolving emotional overwhelm while restoring mental clarity, maintaining neurological balance, and supporting physical health.

This form of writing, that’s easy to learn and cost free, is effective for both trauma reduction and stress management. 

Translating Experience into Language is Healing

The research around expressive writing shows that putting our stressful or traumatic emotional experience into language not only makes the experience easier to live with but also reduces the impact that stressful or traumatic experience has on our nervous system and resulting health and well-being.

The original study, conducted by James Pennebaker in the early 80’s, had two groups of college students writing about either a traumatic experience or about uneventful daily experiences. The groups wrote for fifteen minutes each day over a four day period. 

The results of the study were both unexpected and significant. The group that wrote about a traumatic experience noticed a reduction in health related complaints over the next year, while the group writing about a mundane experience did not enjoy a similar benefit to their health.

Easy Guidelines for Expressive Writing

While we may decide to write about stressful events, this form of writing is actually stress free. What do I mean? Other than yourself, no one will view, review, or grade your writing. Spelling, punctuation, and grammar are of no concern here. We’re only interested in telling our story and expressing our feelings. If you’d like, when you’re done you can destroy or delete what you’ve written.

Here’s a simple writing process can be done in two parts. In the first part we write about how we feel. You can write about how you feel concerning a present time stressful event, such as apprehension around a medical visit, or anger in response to an acquaintance’s rude comment, or any other bothersome happening. 

You could also tell the story of a previously upsetting or traumatic event like the research subjects did in the study I mentioned earlier. In either case you’re simply going to tell your story and express your feelings. 

You can spend 5-10 minutes with this first part.

Here’s the second step. Now that you’ve expressed or vented emotionally, it’s time to shift gears and focus on what you really do want. 

Begin writing about the ideal life that you’d like to create for yourself, if you were no longer influenced by limiting beliefs, behaviors, or emotional programming.

Write for another 5-10 minutes focusing on what you really do want and how that new reality would actually feel. You can describe the positive feelings that would accompany such a new reality as well as any fears or doubts that are triggered.

You can experiment with this process by repeating it over the duration of four days as I mentioned in the original study, or simply experiment to find what frequency works best for you.

Just write, keep the experiment simple, and be mindful of how it influences you mentally, emotionally, or physically.

An expressive writing session might be viewed as an opportunity to connect respectfully and patiently with yourself. It can be a time for listening more deeply to what’s inside you and allowing what’s inside to feel really heard and then expressed in words. 

If you’d like to read more about expressive writing, any of James Pennebaker’s numerous books can be helpful.