psychTracker
Articles by Derek Wood, RN, BC, MS
What is a Journal?
A journal is a series of writings don't in response to daily life. It is not a diary, which contains only descriptions of the events of the day. The journal may include these, but it also has your reflections, emotions, feelings, thoughts and understandings of them. Also, although a person may choose to allow others to view their writings, it is not written for an audience. It must be written for the writer alone. Only in this way, can it honest and truthful. A journal is not designed, essentially, to express what is inside, to start at point A, and end wherever this takes you. You may have an idea of what point B is, but the journal is not a creative writing process, where a story is being told, generally.
You can rediscover yourself through the creative process of journaling. It is a very personal and unique experience, never being the same for two people. For a psychologist, it denotes a tool for a patient's self-analysis. For the writer, it may be a notebook of ideas and ramblings. For most, it is a day-to-day log of actions and reactions. No matter how we look at it, It provides for you a small window of time in which to be self-reflective in an otherwise chaotic world. It can be a wonderful way to ease worry and obsession, for identifying hoes and fears, for allowing creativity to flow. It harnesses the power to tap successively deeper layers of the subconscious mind while it withers the nervous, passive energy that ties your stomach in knows and leads to more guilt and worry. Journals can tap the wisdom within, can bring you hope, but can also challenge you. But you know it comes from you. Through this process, you can also dispel feelings of loneliness and confusion by increasing the feeling of unity within yourself.
Journaling is powerful because it allows us to captures our thoughts and feelings on paper. And when we can see what we are thinking, we can work with our thoughts in new ways, and learn new ways of thinking. It allows us to access our inner thoughts and find answers to lingering problems. We reach deep into ourselves and allows us to have freedom of expression. This is especially important to those who have a mood disorder and are stuck in a single mindset. Journaling allows us to identify our personal challenges such as: defenses, life themes, blocks to growth, justifiers and excuses, victim statements, and our limiting beliefs. It is the very process of journaling that brings the power, not the end result, as it becomes a route of self-discovery. It allows us to look at the meaning and purpose of the people, events, feelings, ideas and experiences in our lives.
Where and when you journal is important as well. Experiment with both. Some people may like to journal by a sunny window, while others reclined in a favorite chair. Some may journal over lunch, while others lying in bed at night. But try to be consistent with both. This well help extraordinarily with the process.
One of the major focus points of journaling is that it needs to be done in a non-judgmental manner. Recording thoughts, feelings and observations without judging for being right or wrong. Over time, this allows us to take the past journaling, and look back and gain perspective on our current events to gain focus on where our actions may come from, and how we may be able to handle events the same through insight, as actions may have worked well before, or differently, as actions may have failed before. In the end, we begin to recognize our strengths, see possibilities, and see our resources and talents.
When you write in your journal, you are allowed the opportunity to be candid about your inner-most though and feelings. It helps to see you through the most difficult times, and can give you personal-growth insights. It becomes a ritual that is calming and adds meaning on a daily basis. By adding a picture to your journal, you are given the opportunity to add even more of a creative element, and to express what you cannot put into words, and it may help you to break free the words you were unable to put down.
You may wish to stimulate your journaling sessions with mood music appropriate to the days events. Whether you are sad, happy, or somewhere in between, music can bring out additional emotions, thoughts and feelings for you to access, assess, and possibly put down on paper. Instead of drawing a picture, you may wish to "scrapbook" the day by pasting in picture, whether it is a photograph, a picture from a magazine that reminds you of how the day went, or a comic strip that is particularly relevant. If you come across a quote that strikes a chord within you, that summarizes your emotional state, by all means write it down.
Two methods of journaling that you may try if writing in a narrative format does not work include the "unsent letters" in which you write a letter to a person or thing that stand between you and your goal or your forgiveness, or have caused you distress. You can write anger, or sadness, whatever you want the letter to be about. Then sign it. But you never need show it to anyone. This is done as a cathartic release. Clustering is another method for when the words don't easily flow. Write a main ideas in a bubble in the center of the page, then, begin writing words that associate with in bubble around the central idea. The result will be a complex matrix of associations, some tied to the central idea, some tied to other associations. You may choose to leave it like that, or then you can tie them into a more typical journal entry.
Tips for journaling include: write quickly, allowing the words to freely flow, without editing them; keep writing, without erasing or crossing out any words. If you begin writing about something uncomfortable, you may choose to explore it, or stop that avenue and start a new paragraph, and know that you need to explore that issue further; After you have finished writing, take a break, take a walk, doing something different for a while, then come back and re-read what you wrote, then write a simple sentence or two that summarizes what you think your journaling is trying to say.
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