Journaling is simply writing for your own use. Like being your own coach - you notice how you are feeling and what is troubling you. When you write, you are basically talking to yourself though the pen. This is a time to treasure, and to look for buried treasures inside you. Journaling can help you clear your feelings in the face of challenges—job loss, divorce, and so on. You can record the joy and appreciation you feel about the good things in your life.
Most of us have had a diary or written about some life experience. So you already know how to do it. Remember the cute diaries we had as little girls, with the tiny lock and key — maybe hidden away somewhere in your room? You can think of starting where you left off. Hidden in your weary adult soul is that same young girl or boy, longing to come back to life.
The Benefits
Studies by James Pennebaker indicate the following benefits from journaling:
Stress reduction, improved mood, and strengthened immune system
Better concentration and memory
Those who have lost their job find a new job more quickly
Unwanted thoughts and feelings seem to magically disappear. Journaling “puts powerful brakes on (obsessive) thoughts… as if the giant trap door of a mental treadmill has been opened to allow worry to drift away, (and you) reach some constructive resolution.”[1]
Getting Started
Get a special notebook or blank book, the best you can afford, maybe with a picture on the cover of something meaningful to you. Use this book only for journal writing, and think of it as a container for wisdom, love, and comfort. Use your favorite type of pen. Ignore grammar, spelling and punctuation (if you wish). Vow to keep it for your eyes only. Vow to yourself:
I believe in myself.
I will write.
I won’t think, analyze, or censor, the improper or impolite.
This exercise may help you to begin. Start with your eyes closed for a minute or more, then write down what you see in your mind’s eye - the first thing that pops into your head. This is your inner voice. To work, you must trust it. You may see a tree and receive a message that you want to put roots down. You may picture a beach and realize that imagining the ocean helps you think clearly. You feel as powerful and free as the ocean, especially when you are in a difficult situation.
How to Keep Going
It’s fine if you keep going, stop entirely, or stop and start. Don’t make your journal another chore on a long list. Like aspirin—use as needed. When you’re stumped, these exercises can give you a kick start:
Think of a movie, song, book or person that has touched you—describe what you admire about that person, book or movie. The quality you admire is a quality you already have. You cannot see a quality in another that is not already within yourself. How does this relate to the challenge you are now facing?
List on one side of the page something you can see. On the other side, list the images, thoughts and feelings stimulated by what you see.[2] You could use something in the room, such as a magazine with a politician on the cover. You might think, “I want to lead, to make the world better,” or “This guy is handsome. I am lonely. I want to have fun.”
Write a letter to yourself when you were younger, or when you are older (picture yourself many years from now). Alternatively, write a letter to another person (alive, dead, friend or foe) but don’t mail it. Then read the letter and see what clues it holds for your present situation.
After an alleged failure or a great loss, write in the voice of a wise, kind and loving parent or friend. When you’re feeling lost, sad, or fearful — they know just what to say to put you back together again. State what it is like to be with this person — you’ll feel as if you just got a great big hug from the kindest person in the whole world — yourself!
Journaling can be an adventure. Along the way, you just might find that buried treasure. So how do you know where to look?
“Look at every path closely and deliberately, then ask ourselves this crucial question: Does this path have a heart? If it does, than the path is good. If it doesn’t, it is of no use. All paths are the same, leading nowhere. Therefore, pick a path with heart!”
~~Carlos Castaneda
1. http://penzu.com/content/health
2. http://www.ericdigests.org/1997-2/journal.htm
About the Author
Scrapbook Coach & devoted scrap booker, Tammy Morales is the publisher of ScrapbookersInnerCircle.com. Besides usually finding her in her scrapbook area, she loves reading, traveling & sharing her life with husband Rumilio & their 2 children in their home within view of the Canadian Rockies.
