Journaling through Grief with Barbara Stahura - a podcast by Rivers Fog

Barbara Stahura shares going from the corporate world to becoming a published author and freelance writer. However, her writing and work took on a new role after her husband suffered from a traumatic brain injury. Barbara recalls the roller coaster of grief and emotions and shines a light on how journaling not only kept her sane, during this challenging time, but also how she wrote a book and helped others by becoming a certified journal facilitator. She has guided countless people with brain injuries and family caregivers in harnessing the power of journaling for healing and well-being, and also created numerous other programs for various audiences across the country. 

She recommends a great place for beginners to start is: Kathleen Adams's book, Journal to The Self;  https://www.amazon.com/Journal-Self-Twenty-Two-Personal-Self-Understanding/dp/0446390380

Barbara's book, After Brain Injury: Telling Your Story, the first journaling book for people with brain injuries is available at: lapublishing.com 

Now that she is retired her website is coming down, however I had to capture just a portion of one of her articles:  8/2018: BE THAT BUTTERFLY: We all know the story of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. But do you know what actually happens to the caterpillar inside the chrysalis? If you were to cut open a cocoon or chrysalis at just the right time, caterpillar soup would ooze out.” Ick, right? Maybe so, but housed within the body of the dissolving caterpillar are certain dormant cells called imaginal discs. They contain all the caterpillar’s potential for future growth, and they become active during this transition period, using the goop to fuel the process that creates the wings, antennae, and all other parts of the butterfly. Eventually, an entirely new, beautiful creature emerges. It’s no surprise that the metaphor of caterpillar-into-butterfly is so often used to represent transition, with its three stages of letting go of the Old Way, the In-Between, and the New Way. Look closely at any life transition you have successfully navigated, and you will see yourself in this metaphor, although, I hope, not so goopily. When your Old Way ends, you have to go through the In-Between to truly and fully arrive at your New Way. While the In-Between is usually the most confusing, messy, or even painful, stage, it’s also the time that holds the most opportunity for creativity, imagination, and vision—if you allow it. I love that those transformative cells in the caterpillar are called “imaginal.” The definition of that word is “of or relating to imagination, images, or imagery.” And what better time to use your imagination to create your New Way than when your Old Way is dissolving? That’s the cool part of this process. While you’re navigating the In-Between, you can “try on” various ideas of what you want your New Way to be. If you’ll forgive a switch in metaphors, it’s like trying on a bunch of clothes in a dressing room, peering at yourself in the three-way mirrors, turning this way and that, and deciding which one fits and looks best. You don’t have to buy any you don’t like, and you can keep searching until you find the perfect one. 

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