By Naomi Rachel, writer & teacher.
Telling our stories is good for our brains and it can also be a great deal of fun and help build community.
When I decided I would like the challenge of teaching memoir writing to elders, I approached Molly Briggs, the incredible education director at Frasier . So many people signed up for the eight-week course, we had a waiting list.
The class is now in its second year. We all know the values of storytelling and self-expression and recent medical studies have suggested that we are healthier when we write down these stories. According to the research “ People who write down the events of their lives are better able to make sense of them and the emotions that result. With that clarity may come a sense of calm. Writing frequently can help relieve stress and allow people to see things from others’ perspectives, making them more effective at solving conflicts.” (PsychCentral).
It’s great to know that writing your memoir may help your memory and health , but I prefer to teach the class because remembering our past and sharing it with our community is a wonderful life experience.
The class published a book titled Creative Crones, Having and writing the time of our lives. The book is organized around the class writing assignments . There is a reading from the book at Boulder Bookstore, Pearl St., on December 4 at 7:30p.m. Everyone is welcome.