Hello, Fearminimalist, it is Sophilia of the fearminimalist.com. We are back on YouTube with
fresh videos, providing trauma recovery tools for women of color to help you heal complex trauma.
Today, I'm going to share three journaling techniques that I specifically designed for
Black and Brown women to help you improve mental health and wellbeing, so keep watching. For the
best trauma recovery tips, tools and strategies, be sure to subscribe and hit that notification
bell so that you'll never miss a video when I upload new content, every single Wednesday.
Welcome to the FearMinimalist. We are an online trauma recovery community for women of color.
If this is your first time here, just a little bit about me. I'm a trauma survivor,
a mental health therapist, a certified clinical trauma specialist, helping women of color resolve
the effects of trauma and build resilience. So journaling is a hot topic these days,
especially in this current era of COVID-19, where people are looking for all kinds of tools
to help with isolation, loneliness, and just the general impact of the pandemic. And especially for
Black and Brown women who have been hit the hardest by the pandemic, these three journaling
techniques can help you not only weather the storm, but to build a sense of gratitude
as you embrace this new normal. So let's dive in to the first technique.
Okay, so the first thing is to start a story share. This is a technique that was developed
in narrative therapy, where a person who would go through a significantly traumatic event,
or maybe they had a traumatic life. And so, they write a letter to another person or another
group of people who have experienced similar situations. And they talk about the strengths
that they drew on to be able to get through that, how they struggled, how they, just a little bit
at a time, found the strength to be able to get through some of the most horrific times.
And so, for you, you are going to, this is almost like a note to self, if you will.
You're going to write this letter in your journal and you're going to talk about how you have drawn
strengths from your ancestors. Maybe your ancestors went through the Holocaust. Maybe they
went through the Native American genocide. Maybe they went through slavery or the Jim Crow era,
whatever that that case is. Maybe they went through the Great Depression.
What lessons can be learned from that? And you may not have known these people
personally, but you can draw lessons from, maybe you've heard from other relatives,
or maybe just doing a online search about those times, and maybe people who shared your cultural
and ethnic identity. You can draw from comments or narratives that they put out. And so, this
is a way to remind yourself that there are strengths that you can draw on to be able to
thrive, survive and thrive in this difficult time. The second thing is to make a playlist. Dance or
move to it and then write about it. Basically, what you want to do here is talk about what the
songs mean to you, how they made you feel when you were listening to it and dancing to it, and what
they might be telling you about your perseverance. This is basically a mind, body, soul activity,
where you're getting all of the components of yourself to interact and to work together, because
trauma is a mind, body, soul experience. And so, to be able to heal what has been split off,
what we call integration, this is a great activity to be able to do that, because you're working
your mind and your body, and your soothing the innermost parts of yourself.
So if this is resonating with you so far, comment below to let me know that it's making
sense. Just write, makes total sense. Or you can say, "Hmm, I kind of get it," Or, "Yeah,
I think I'm on the right track." Whatever the response is, let me know if this is resonating.
All right. And the final thing is to let your senses create a new type of joy. And what that
means is that you are going to intentionally select cultural items that speak to your sensory
experience and that brings you joy, that gives you new insights, new lessons that provides
encouragement or a ray of hope. And these can be things, so they need to be cultural, as I said, so
things like food that you can taste or smell, or things that you can touch, like grandma's quilt,
or things that you can see or hear, like visual art. I love the art of Jean Michel Basquiat
or Romare Bearden. You can have things that you can hear, obviously, music. I love jazz, blues,
those kinds of things that are cultural and that mean a lot to me as a Black woman.
You have those things, you get those together, and you write about those five
experiences and what they mean to you in your journal. And then, once you're done,
you pause briefly, you take that in. You may even want to do a couple of deep breaths,
and then you just celebrate them in your own way. So now, you know three top journaling techniques
to help you improve mental health and wellbeing. And if you want to go further
to immerse yourself in the healing gifts of your ancestors, be sure to download my free
Catching Fireflies Trauma Recovery Toolkit to help you resolve disturbing triggers and transform them
into your personal power. You can get the toolkit by clicking the link below.
Also, if you're interested in connecting to a tight-knit group of fear minimalists,
you can connect with me on my Facebook page at FearMinimalist, on my Instagram page at
FearMinimalist, where I share education-based content on how to transform complex trauma
into your personal power. You can access those communities by clicking the links below.
All right, that's it. That'll do it for today. Guys, if you liked this video,
hit the like button below, share it with your friends, comment and let me know
what your biggest takeaway was today. I would definitely like to know that. Your feedback is
vital for me to continue making videos that you'd like to see. And please remember to subscribe,
hit that subscribe button. Click the notification bell, so that when I upload a new video every
Wednesday, you'll be the first to know about it. And one last thing. Remember that the sun is
going to rise and shine bright tomorrow. The question is, are you going to rise
and allow your best self to shine with it? I hope you do. I'll see you next week.