How Journaling Heals: There’s No ‘Write’ Way to Journal

January 11, 2016
By Laurie Leinwand, MA, LPC, GoodTherapy.org Topic Expert Contributor

Words have power, so it follows that the process of journaling does, too. It’s a tool I often recommend to the people who see me for therapy.

Some situations in which journaling might be helpful include:

Feeling overwhelmed: The process of writing down all that’s on your mind can help you organize your thoughts and prioritize. Once you identify all that you’re dealing with, you can choose where to focus your time and energy, whether to delegate, and what to delete in the short term.
Feeling overcome by an emotion (anger, frustration, sadness) and not really knowing why: Ever feel a shift within your emotional self and not really be aware of the cause? Putting pen to paper and recounting what came before can help you discover what the triggers may have been. Once you know what precedes emotional turbulence, you can begin to develop strategies for preventing it and coping with it effectively.
Processing grief or loss: Writing can help you recall memories you want to hold on to. It can also help you work through the anger and disappointment associated with loss. Journaling the things you might not have had the chance to say but wish you had can be incredibly therapeutic as well.

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Figuring out next steps: Have a big goal but uncertain how to reach it? We don’t always know the precise path from A to Z, but mapping out the next step or two can be enough to move us in the right direction. The steps that come later will then become apparent.
Discovering themes or patterns in behavior: If you are someone who already journals regularly, you might find, in reviewing what you’ve written, there are things that come up on a regular basis that need to be addressed, or ways in which you respond to situations that you might be able to preempt by being more proactive and aware.
Externalizing negative thoughts and feelings: Writing down “poisonous” thoughts and feelings can help you feel less controlled and bound by them.
Determining how best to communicate with others: Journaling can be means of preparing for what might be a challenging conversation. Writing down precisely what you want to express and how you want to say it can help you collect your thoughts, rehearse, and hold true to your intention when you speak your piece.

Sometimes people share that they’ve thought about journaling but never moved forward with it. When I explore why that is, it’s often because they saw it as a chore or obligation, something that had to be done the “right” way.

However, there is no right way to journal. The key is to utilize this tool in the way that will work best for you.

You might choose to buy a beautiful book with empty pages, but you could just as easily grab a notecard, a yellow legal pad, or a piece of printer paper and begin.

You need not worry about writing regularly. There’s no rule that says you have to record things daily. Write when you believe it might serve you, not because of an arbitrary “should” that you or someone else has placed on you.

You have the option of sharing what you’ve journaled with others or keeping it private. You decide. You make the rules.

There is no requirement to write full sentences. You can jot down thoughts as they come to you. You can scribble them all over the page if you want and draw lines connecting those that are related to one another, literally connecting the dots of your thoughts in a deliberate way.

Another therapeutic way to journal is to vent on paper all that you are upset about so that you have a sense of expelling that negativity. Give yourself permission to be as “ugly” in these rants as you want so you have the opportunity to empty yourself of toxic thoughts and feelings. Many people resist this at first, fearing others might discover about them what they’ve been trying to hide. In that case, I suggest symbolically ridding yourself of those thoughts and feelings by ripping up the words or shredding them. This act alone can be a powerful one, a moment of triumph over something that was possibly poisoning you from within.

Sometimes people struggle to find the words to express themselves accurately. I encourage such people to draw or sketch what comes to mind. Scribble if need be. Let the pen flow over the paper in a way that mimics how you feel. Even choosing your writing tool might be telling—a pencil’s lead that can be erased as though it never was, a ballpoint that moves smoothly, a colorful marker, a thick, permanent Sharpie. You can grab what’s nearby or you can be more deliberate when selecting.

You have the option of sharing what you’ve journaled with others or keeping it private. You decide. You make the rules.

The preceding article was solely written by the author named above. Any views and opinions expressed are not necessarily shared by GoodTherapy.org.

How Journaling Heals: There’s No ‘Write’ Way to Journal

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