Holding onto negative emotions and resentment can have deleterious effects on the body. The brain doesn’t recognise the difference between negative emotions experienced in the present or what we have experienced in the past. Recalling these past experiences can place the body into the fight/flight/freeze mode and create the negative neuro-endocrinal flow of damaging hormones into the brain and body.
In fact, these old negative resentments, although occurring far into our past, can be instantly triggered especially when we are experiencing any challenge or difficult transition. The mere thought of this negative experience can place the body into hyper arousal and trigger the flow of negative hormones into the body. Often in cases such as these, the amygdala in the emotional brain is triggered and this response leads to the firing of neurons on the right hand side of the brain instantly secreting epinephrine and nora-epinephrine and ultimately cortisol the stress hormone. If left unchecked this stress hormone attacks our immunoglobulin A – our immune system and over time can lead to disease. Suppressing negative emotions can be really bad for one, as they can cause the negative neuro-endocrinal cascade that can lead to poor health.
For starters, self-awareness helps to become more aware of what this memory and its associated emotion means to you. Therefore, sitting quietly in a space where you are not interrupted, you can allow the memory and its emotions to come into the body, carefully noting where they are anchoring themselves. We have sacred energy centres in the body and where we feel these negative emotions can be highly informative about their meaning. Constant pain or discomfort in the throat is associated with not speaking one’s truth. Discomfort in the heart-centre is related to the lack of love, self-love or close relationships. Discomfort in the solar plexis may indicate that one is transitioning
through accelerated change and feelings of tightness or discomfort in the abdomen is related to fear. So, a good way of identifying the meaning of this negative experience is to allow yourself to feel it and notice where it is anchoring in the body. We cannot suppress or negate these emotions and should never even try. All emotions, especially the negative and powerful ones provide us with very helpful information to guide us to a higher learning or understanding of these experiences.
Once we have increased our self-awareness therefore, a very therapeutic idea is to write it down. There is a hand brain connection that is revealed when we take pen to paper. Let’s consider this research by :
Pamela B Rutledge,
• Writing by hand instead of typing deepens content processing and supports emotional health.
• Regularly practicing handwriting may improve brain structure and function.
• While slower than digital, writing by hand daily may help fight cognitive decline.
While it seems most relevant to boomers and Gen X, we should all take note of the study by Van der Weel and Van der Meer (2024), too, who found writing by hand (rather than tapping away on your keyboard) increases brain connectivity. It may be time to consider deletin some of those list-making and journal apps from your phone and return to paper and notebooks. Healthy media use of any kind is, after all, about balance. I realized that I write very little by hand but if doing so activates the whole brain, then it may join the list of activities, like doing crossword puzzles and learning a new language, that help stave off cognitive decline. There’s lots of empirical evidence that writing has psychological benefits. Writing helps people process life’s emotional ups and downs through sense-making—the greater the cognitive effort to find meaning (Ullrich & Lutgendorf, 2002), the greater appreciation of the benefits and improved mood. Meaning and positive emotions are central to well-being.
Cognitive Activities Enhance Brain Structure
Wilson et al. (2013) reported that evidence from neuroimaging indicates that cognitive activity like handwriting can enhance brain structure and function and may enhance cognitive reserves. Many studies tested these hypotheses on students’ academic performance, but I’m more interested in the ability to use media (and yes, pen and paper still count as media) for healthy aging. So, add handwriting to your list. I’ve never been one to keep a journal, but I now wonder if the exclusive use of computers and the lack of handwriting practice is doing my brain a disservice by decreasing the activity of cortico-subcortical components of the writing network (Longcamp et al., 2016). My reliance on computers has certainly not done any favours for the legibility of my handwriting.
Like many things, shifting behaviors requires conscious intention, attention, and effort, but it may be time to actively integrate handwriting into some each day. It’s OK to start small. And no one says you have to throw out your computer. As each year passes, I am more interested in what I can gain in quality, not what I lose in quantity and lack of efficiency”
So now that I’ve convinced you to write again, follow these steps to attain emotional freedom:
1. Write down the negative experience you have had in all its detail. Include all emotions you felt at the time and the way in which this has negatively impacted your life. It should be at least two fully written foolscap pages. If you can write more do so.
2. Now put yourself in the shoes of the other person/party. This is much more difficult to do and may require some imagination. Don’t worry about that, just imagine, for a moment that you have been required to walk in this person/party’s shoes and record the experience as you imagine they did. Try to write at least one foolscap page.
3. Imagine that an independent reporter has come to interview you about the incident. Again, this may be difficult to imagine yourself viewing this matter in an objective way. Put on your simulation cap here and try to record the experience from the independent reporter’s
perspective.
4. Approach a good friend, coach, mentor, partner and ask for their assistance in allowing you to share these experiences with them. Firstly, share your experience, then the other party and finally the independent reporter’s view.
5. Place a fire proof tray or oven dish in the garden where you can perform this ritual of release. Tear all the notes into fine pieces and set them alight repeating – “I release you to God” over and over again until all the notes are reduced to ashes. Note how you feel after this release.
6. Now take your pen and paper once again and write a letter from your higher self, thanking yourself for having the courage to release the experience.
I have coached many clients who have performed this Emotional Freedom Release and everyone felt an immediate release and lightness of being. However, should you not experience this release, consider re-doing the exercise, until you do.
References to Pamela Rutledge’s research
• Amanollahi, M., Amanollahi, S., Anjomshoa, A., & Dolatshahi, M. (2021). Mitigating the negative impacts of aging on cognitive function; modifiable factors associated with increasing cognitive reserve. European Journal of Neuroscience, 53(9), 3109-
3124.https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.15183
• Galassi, F., Merizzi, A., D’Amen, B., & Santini, S. (2022). Creativity and art therapies to promote healthy aging: A scoping review. Front Psychol, 13, 906191. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.906191
• Longcamp, M., Richards, T. L., Velay, J. L., & Berninger, V. W. (2016). Neuroanatomy of handwriting and related reading and writing skills in adults and children with and without learning disabilities: Frenchamerican connections. Pratiques, 171-172. https://doi.org/10.4000/pratiques.3175
• Salthouse, T. (2012). Consequences of age-related cognitive declines. Annu Rev Psychol, 63, 201- 226. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100328
• Ullrich, P. M., & Lutgendorf, S. K. (2002). Journaling about stressful events: Effects of cognitive processing and emotional expression. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 24(3), 244- 250. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15324796ABM2403_10
• Van der Weel, F. R., & Van der Meer, A. L. H. (2024). Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread brain connectivity: A high density EEG study with implications for the classroom [Original Research]. Frontiers in Psychology, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1219945
• Wilson, R. S., Boyle, P. A., Yu, L., Barnes, L. L., Schneider, J. A., & Bennett, D. A. (2013). Life-span cognitive activity, neuropathologic burden, and cognitive aging. Neurology, 81(4), 314- 321. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0b013e31829c5e8a
