We all have suppressed emotions that we keep buried within us. As daily life goes by we are subjected to various degrees of internal warfare because as you may well know, not all days are the same.
Journal healing is the process of writing down how you feel within in order to process emotions and heal by confronting your emotions to create harmony between the world and your mind.
In this article I’m going to address how you should go about journal healing so that you may use it in your own life.
I’m super excited to write about this topic because journaling has helped me confront some of my deepest emotions that stood in the way of progress.
If you would like to do this in your own life, in your own way; keep reading because I’m going to break down how exactly you should journal to heal.
Get a Book or use your phone
First things first you need to define your preferred medium for journaling.
Some people prefer using a physical book so they can physically write and engage fully into the process while others prefer to simply write everything down on their phone or other devices.
Of course each method has its pros and cons but I’d advise you to go with the method that works for you. I say this because you’ll need to stay consistent with whichever method you choose in order for the process to be easily doable.
The last thing you need is switching between physical book and phone because it may put you off and make the process feel different depending on the medium you’re used to.
So, choose a desired writing method and stick with it.
Become self aware
The very essence of journaling is becoming attuned to how you feel. This is easier done when you have a direct awareness of the life that you live.
Therefore self awareness is a vital piece in effective journal healing because it will set the tone for how you do it.
To become self aware, you need to watch your emotions as you go through life.
Watch how you feel as you go through life… for example, observe yourself and how you feel when you talk and interact with people.
The more you practice self awareness the easier it will be to do it more and more.
Be honest (use truth)
When writing or journaling, you only ally is truth and honesty otherwise the entire process is waste of time.
I’m going to tell you right here and right now that if you cannot be honest when journaling, the whole process of healing will not work for you.
The whole point of writing down how you feel everyday is to become attuned with yourself and know yourself better to make change possible.
So, don’t be tempted to sugar-coat things. Write as honest as possible to allow yourself to see the emotion and follow it down until you find the core emotion and belief that governs that emotion.
If you can find the core belief you can make progress.
Write without a filter
One fact about writing honestly is that it is unfiltered. You can’t write like somebody is going to read what you’re writing so save all your political correctness for dissertations.
If you want to make progress and heal, you need to write honestly and this sometimes means writing things that you would not otherwise to say to others.
For example, you may feel the urge to use profanity in your writing. Don’t fight it.
Write explicitly and honestly because anything else will just be self-delusion.
Write to somebody (third person)
It’s not easy to just start writing from scratch if you have never journaled before. This is why it’s important to give yourself some context.
An effective way of doing so is writing to somebody, even if that somebody is fictional.
You can write to your future grandkids, kids, imaginary friends etc.
When you write to a third person use the context of explaining to them how you feel and using truth to reconcile emotions and your mentality.
Write everyday
Journaling is not easy if it’s being done honestly, it can expose some of your deepest feelings and this can be exhausting but necessary for your growth.
Therefore, it’s important to do it everyday.
Find a specific time that you can use to journal how each day went and how you emotionally navigated through it.
Write down what you could have changed about yourself to make the day better, write about the times you felt angry, write everything.
The goal of this entire process is to extract thoughts, feelings, emotions etc. and making them consciously known so you can process them and have a good look at them.
Make improvements based on observation
Journaling should be a very analytical process that should allow you to grow and become a better person.
This is why it’s important to take note of everything you write down and make assessments of how you can do better and how you can grow to become the person you want to.
For example, if you realise that you suffer from anxiety and it makes it unbearable to go through everyday, you should consider learning how to calm yourself down by using meditation, breathing techniques etc.
That example is of course not the only thing you can discover through journaling. I’ve included it there to give you context and understanding of how you should effectively use journaling.
Journal your adjustments
All adjustments you make to become a better person should also be written down as part of your daily log because it is necessary in assessing the change occurring in your life.
There’s no specific process to journaling however the various things I’ve discussed in this post are sort like guidelines that should help you think better and know how to accurately express yourself to yourself.
So don’t leave out anything. If you felt it, thought it, experienced and it carried merit. Then it should make it to your journal.
