Empty Chair

Photo by Kelly Miller on Unsplash

My initial journal entries were addressed to God.  Each one started “Dear God.” I will admit I was likely influenced around that time by Judy Blume”s Are You There God?  It’s Me, Margaret. That being said, I will also admit, I was writing to God and asking a ton of “why” questions during that period of my life (ugh, adolescence).  

It wasn’t long into my journaling experience that entries started addressing other people in my life.  My parents were recipients of these private messages, boys I thought I loved, my siblings, my best friends, bosses who might have fired me had I not instead wrote them very personal and graphic journal entries…  Often times these private explorations of what I was really feeling and wanting to say led to a better understanding of my part in a conflict, or a better understanding of where another person may have been coming from, or an understanding of a destructive pattern I seemed to be struggling with.  

I call this tip for journaling the “Empty Chair” technique. The Empty Chair is a Gestalt Therapy technique in which the therapist asks the client to speak to an empty chair as if someone is occupying the chair; someone the person really wishes to express something toward.  Using this technique in conjunction with journaling has been very helpful for me.

In consideration of our initial tips in this blog series, we can still write like no one will see our writing. We can write without censoring.  Even though we may be writing to someone, we can still write with the knowledge there isn’t an audience. This process of Empty Chair is for you and the page.  Do it without thought of ever giving your writing to whom it is written to. You may decide later to share part or some rendition of what you write… but for this moment, let all emotion, thought and being out onto the page.

What has been your writing experience; what tips and techniques do you use to help you write?

Love,

Melissa

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