Read at your own Risk
Most consider journal writing a private affair, but what if you did not care who read it?
I love how one of my colleagues refers to journaling. “It’s like having a therapist in your pocket” she says. Well put.
The benefits of journaling are many, and have long been touted as a way to process our feelings and experiences. Getting the inside out is the goal for all of us in order to be healthy. Everyone experiences times of deep emotions. We all have loss, hurt, disappointment and a myriad of other painful events happen to us throughout our lives. People being people, they let us down, hurt us, exclude us, and even make us angry at times. Then there is the regular life stuff: death of loved ones, motor vehicle accidents, job losses, house moves, divorce, traumatic incidences…the list goes on.
When these things happen, it causes a reaction within us. This reaction carries energy, often intense energy. Our job is to move that energy out of our bodies. If we stuff it, or deny it, and pretend that it didn’t matter or that it didn’t bother us, that is where we get in trouble.
Holding this intense negative energy in our bodies is what makes us sick. That is why it is important to know the connection between psychological pain and physical pain. Injustices that we hold within can become toxic to our bodies, resulting in a number of problems: compromised immune systems, stomach problems, bowel issues, headaches, muscle tension and fatigue, to name a few. A naturopath was even so bold as to tell a friend of mine who had cancer years ago that her personality type was more likely to get cancer. She was the type that never stood up for herself or spoke her mind. So again, getting the inside out is the goal.
How we move this energy out of our bodies is person dependent. Some people like to go for a run, or do exercise of some sort. Others benefit by talking it out and venting. Then there are the people who prefer a creative outlet, which can include journaling.
I am obviously biased, as I actually enjoy writing. Even as a kid, when I was upset about something, I would grab a pen and paper and write away. Often my writing would take the form of poetry. I found all of this quite easy, and very rewarding afterward, as I felt the relief of expressing myself. Side note: a funny story about poetry. When I was younger and we had the poetry section of our English class, my friends would get me to write their poetry for them! I wonder if the teacher ever caught on? This is how easy and enjoyable I found it.
Throughout my career I have often worked with adolescents. Invariably I would get the call from a parent, “I found my child’s journal, and their poetry is so dark! I’m afraid they might be suicidal!” After due diligence to ensure that this was not the case, of course, my typical response would be relief. If your child is writing about it, expressing themselves, and getting it out, they are actually less likely to be suicidal in my experience. Expression is key.
So what if you haven’t been blessed with this gift of writing, can you still do it? Will it still have the same benefits? Here are some of the arguments I have heard and my thoughts on each….
“I’m not good at writing. I never know what to write”
I hear this regularly as a reason not to journal. My advice: ‘free-flow’ or ‘stream-of-consciousness’ writing. Grab a pen and paper*, and whatever comes to your mind, let it flow. Write down everything you are thinking. If what you are thinking is “I don’t know why Jen asked me to do this, this is stupid!” then, that is what you write. You can be very surprised where the pen takes you. I had to do these types of assignments when I took my Master’s Degree, and often to my surprise some random previous experience would emerge. Sometimes they were painful memories that must have gotten stuck in my subconscious. Often, a memory that I was not even thinking about would pour out, I would be in floods of tears as I was writing, and then I would experience relief afterward. I would say that these occasional happenings were cathartic. Definitely worth the journey.
- *notice that I said pen and paper. In my experience, fingers on the keyboard do not provide the same opportunity and experience; less personal. In my imagination, the feelings and stories that we hold in our head and in our heart move out of our bodies, through the pen, and onto the paper. Thus, getting the inside out.
“I am afraid to put my thoughts and feelings on paper. What if someone finds my journal and reads it? It happened to me when I was younger, even though I hid it under my mattress!”
My answer: so what?! This is your authentic self. Transparency, or vulnerability, usually proves to be therapeutic in the long run. This is just another way of doing it. I actually leave my journal lying around, and I welcome others to leaf through it and get to know me better. However, reader beware! If you want to know what I really think of you, it is probably in there. Read at your own risk.
Whether it is natural for you or not, give journaling a try. You just might find that it is a way that you can get the inside out too.
