A guide to journaling

As humans our need to represent our reality for understanding and communication, is in our DNA. From the time we created the tools to do so, from language, to clay, charcoal and coloured ochre, to petroglyphs and pictographs all the way to today’s pens, pencils and digital tools, our art, our music, our dance, externalising what is in our head is fundamental to how we operate as individuals and as a society.

Picking up pen, paper and writing is something we have all done. But doing it solely for the purposes of self exploration, understanding and therapy is not as common a practice as it should be for such an accessible and incredibly beneficial tool.

Find a place you love, have a coffee, a cocoa, a tea, enjoy the solace and time with yourself and journal.

Journaling can help us slow down, pause, both physically and mentally. This creates space and in turn enough distance to start the process of understanding. It externalises the most private and deep emotions and feelings that tend to overwhelm us. Putting words to paper helps give shape and make sense of what we are feeling which is key to understanding. Over time journaling helps us recognise patterns and trends in thinking and behaviour and make connections between them. It encourages more self reflection and can help alleviate stress and anxiety.

There are heaps of approaches and styles to journaling. Finding what works best for you and your lifestyle is a matter of trying out a few and seeing which ones fit best. When, how, where is also completely a personal choice. For me, there are days I will write endless pages, days I will seek guidance, and other days I will scribble single words in an attempt to exorcise what is within me. I am not someone who writes religiously daily, but this works wonders for others.

Here are three common techniques to journaling you could try:

Stream of consciousness: Unfiltered and without judgment, write out whatever is in your mind. Thoughts, ideas, feelings, emotions, happenings, fears, joys, worries, uncertainties. Write like you are trying to empty out whatever is occupying the real estate of your consciousness. There is no structure and no time parameters. What you write does not have to make sense. There are no criteria to deem your effort successful or otherwise. The singular objective is to empty your mind. Morning pages journaling, synonymous with Julia Cameron’s book “The Artist’s Way” fits in this category, where the method prescribes three pages of long hand mind emptying, as close to waking up as possible.

Bullet: A more organised approach to journaling, it is often used for categorising all aspects of life, planning, family, to do lists, goals, physical and mental health and any other. As the name suggests, the idea is to write out in a very focused and succinct way what it is you want to express, release about a specific topic or category in your life. Topics you may choose to journal against in bullet point fashion can include gratitude, emotional state, relationships, goals etc.

Guided: This approach will see your answering a targeted question or series of questions. This is a great way to journal not only for when there is so much going on in your head you don’t know where to start; but also when you know there is a specific area in your life you wish to explore but not sure how. A journaling guide can offer high quality questions to guide you and expose ways of thinking that you had not considered and inspire curiosity.

Journal before or after your swim, whatever works for you. If it is after, make sure you warm up and get yourself a hot cup of your fave.

Whatever method you choose, write like no one will read it, ever, no one but you. Do not worry about the quality of your grammar or spelling. This is not meant to be ‘good writing’. Whatever technique you use, make it yours, evolve it so that it serves you. Once you are done journaling, put it away. Go do something completely different. Go for a swim, a dip, a run, a ride, listen to music or dance. Let whatever you have just released, go. Give it space. If you want to go back to it, do so. Do so without judgment, and only with love and curiosity. There is immense value in reviewing prior journal entries, not only because we tend to forget things in the passage of time against life’s fast pace, but also because in reviewing the past you get to see patterns in your thinking, moods, sense of wellbeing, emotional states; and patterns in your relationships with others too. If you can see it, you then have the power to change it.