Journaling: Self-therapy with pen and paper
Who knew therapy was this affordable and accessible?
Everybody has problems, and everybody could use some help.
Life is hard, and it always will be. The one thing that almost always help people is therapy. The problem is not available everywhere, and even if it was, not everybody could afford it.
Enter: Journaling.
How can journaling help you?
Journaling has always received lots of praise from both researches and personal anecdotes. But, how can journaling help you?
- You will be happier.
- You learn a lot more about yourself.
- You can help yourself like a therapist.
- You can move towards your ideal self.
You will be happier.
Dr. Rober Emmons and Dr. Michael McCullough tested gratitude journaling against journaling about the hassles of daily (or weekly) life and not journaling at all.
They found that those who journaled about their “gratitudes” had a better outlook in life, and they were more likely to help others through emotional support or in general (Emmons and McCullough, 2003).
In a world where almost everything is troubling and worrying, it’s easy to forget what we’re thankful for. That is where gratitude journaling comes in. Every day, you write at least one thing that has made you happy or you’re thankful for.
This simple habit has given a lot of people much more happiness and gratitude into their lives, something you and I need more.
You learn a lot more about yourself.
Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.
- Aristotle
Everything you know in life starts with yourself.
Matt D’Avella, a famous YouTuber tracked his mood every day for a year (2023). As he tracked his days, he noticed different patterns in his life. He found that a lot of his best mood days are from when he went on trips and vacations. This gave him the push he needed to schedule more vacations and trips.
When you write down about your every day life, you will start to notice different patterns that arise. You will gain more insight on what makes you happy, sad, and a lot more.
You can help yourself like a therapist.
The reason why therapists are very effective is they make sense what you’re feeling.
They prompt you with certain questions that help you come to the best conclusion. They are essentially an expert on self reflection prompts, that also guide you towards the right answers.
Journaling can give you a very similar experience.
As I’ve mentioned in “how to listen like a therapist,” you can prompt these questions to anybody having a problem:
- What was it like for you?
- What made you feel that way?
- Is there a better way to go about what happened?
If you haven’t figured it out yet, anybody includes you.
Asking yourself these prompts in your journal helps you realize more about how you approach your problems, and change accordingly. It’s harder to lie to ourselves when we’re writing it down for us to see.
You can move towards your ideal self.
Donald Robertson, in his book: “How To Think Like A Roman Emperor,” mentioned the concept of journaling about your ideal self.
In the book, it is discussed that Marcus Aurelius would journal about Antoninus Pius, his father figure. He would contemplate and ask himself how Antoninus would go about his actions, and act accordingly. The book mentions that in lieu of a figure we look up to, we can think about our ideal self.
You can ask yourself: what would my ideal self do? or even: what would my ideal self say?
These prompts are what different people who journal use to move towards their ideal self; a reminder to always try to become the best version of ourselves.
So is this the best cure?
Of course no.
While this can be the best help for you right now, nothing still beats the professionals. Well, because they’re the pros, but journaling is as close as it can get.
Let’s face it, sometimes you’d rather seek comfort by yourself, not with others. Sometimes, you know that the answers that you want are within you, the only problem is you tend to lie to yourself about the things you think about.
Journals are a way for you to be accurate; to log your data candidly; a record of your reflections, the history of your improvement.
Help yourself now.
