Journaling
If you’ve been in therapy, your therapist has probably recommended journaling. I’ve been this therapist sharing this recommendation too. Sometimes I am met with clients that have been journaling their whole life, and sometimes I get individuals that absolutely hate the concept of journaling and will volunteer to do any other meditation or strategy for their mental health. Maybe you find yourself somewhere in the middle. It can often be difficult to start journaling. It can be tricky to know where to start and what to write about. I’ll have some prompts below if you’re interested in giving this a shot!
Journaling provides information. It can be useful to look through past entries and see what you were thinking and feeling in the past. It can also be helpful to see how far you’ve come. I have one client I’ve been working with for about a year now. They’ve mentioned reviewing past journals to remember how they felt about their relationship. They have found seasons where they wanted to continue the relationship and seasons where they’ve wanted to end it. This has given them data regarding their feelings and how those feelings have changed. Ultimately, this information is helping the client decide what they are wanting for the future of their relationship.
Journaling also gives us an opportunity to slow down. It helps us stay connected and focus on one thing at a time. While typing and voice notes can be helpful, I find that writing things out by hand forces us to slow down and focus in the moment. This alone is going to bring us regulation. The thoughtfulness behind manually writing your feelings is going to give you a slowness that your nervous system may be begging you for. It’s also going to help you connect your body to your emotions. As we write about our experiences and how we are feeling, we can begin to connect our thoughts, emotions, and bodily experiences. This process may support greater emotional awareness and regulation by helping us organize and make meaning of our experiences, while also influencing physiological responses associated with stress and emotion.
Take a look below at some journal prompts if you are not sure where to start. You can use these each day or they can be used occasionally. I find that the more you practice writing and journaling, the easier it will be to find what you want to write. It doesn’t have to be a lot. You can write 1 to 2 sentences. Taking time to slow down and understand yourself is going to not just benefit your current emotional state, but it will also impact your future state as well. Thank you for reading! Please reach out if you have any questions or you’d like to set up a session or a free consultation.
Journal Prompts:
What am I feeling right now?
What has been on my mind lately?
What do I need right now?