Sometimes healing starts with something as simple as sitting with ourselves. Pen to paper. Allowing the thoughts and emotions to be expressed on a simple piece of white paper. Journaling for healing may be a foreign concept to you, but I urge you to give it a try. It is free, easy and powerful!
A Moment’s Reprieve
On of the reasons journaling is so impactful for healing is that it takes you ‘away’ from the noise. It offers a moments reprieve from the expectation of the world. The need to be what everyone else thinks you should be. It’s just you and the page. It’s deeply personal but on your own terms. Your journal can be your friend, therapist or priest. Let’s be clear, all our relationships are important and I am not saying to choose the journal above ANY of your relationships. What I’m saying is sometimes we need our relationship with ourselves more than any other, in the moment. Because sometime we are very good at listening to everyone but ourselves. And, when you allow yourself to share your deepest thought and emotions with YOURSELF, you set yourself free.
How to Use Journaling for Healing
- ### Journaling Creates Space for Your Emotions to Breathe
Were you taught about emotions when you were growing up? I think too often we are taught to quiet our emotions, keep them under control. This isn’t helpful. Our emotions are there for a reason and when we don’t listen to them we create more, longer-lasting problems than if we deal with them head on. Being told to be strong, ‘don’t cry’ etc sends the message that we need to shut down our messengers that are our emotions. But what if we could use our journaling for healing in this area of our lives? What if we could express our emotions through journaling so that we don’t have to feel overwhelmed by them in our daily lives? It’s crucial that we understand that pushing our emotions away never actually heals them, it just hides them! It is only when we sit with them that the healing can take place. And doing that in the form of journaling is a gentle way of processing. The simple act of writing down your emotions helps you process and release them in a healthy way. You will feel lighter and more centered after pouring it all out onto the page.
- ### It Helps You Understand the Story You’ve Been Living
Think of your life as a story, written by someone outside of you: the author. Quite often, our lives are in a sense ‘written’ by the narrative of the environment we live in. We are essentially formed into a character by the narrative of our families, religions, and society. It can be quite a shock when we realize a lot of our lives is a story we’ve just accepted over time. But, when we look at it with honesty we realize if we had been the author it may have read slightly differently. So, become the author today by journaling your thoughts on your current story. Look for the patterns that have shown up in your life, behaviors that you’ve displayed, habits that have been created over time etc. Even your goals for life may have been set by someone else! Reflect on what is coming from you and what isn’t. Here are some prompts to begin with:
- What story have I been telling myself about who I am?
- Is it really true?
- What story would I like to start living instead?
- ### It Brings Mindfulness Into Your Everyday Life
The best way to heal yourself through journaling is to be patient and share slowly and gently. Uncover pieces of your story and process what this new realization means to you. Don’t try to rush things. The key is to be gentle and mindful at every new stage of self-awareness. The beautiful thing about journaling is that, because it is coming from you it isn’t forced. It’s a slow, gently process of listening, opening up and allowing. You make the rules. This is a mindful process. Try these prompts to help you ease into it mindfully:
- “Right now, I feel…”
- “Today, I’m noticing…”
- “What my body needs today is…”
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- ### It Helps You Recognize Your Growth Over Time
Healing can feel like walking up on a down escalator. You have days when you feel like all your efforts are wasted. But, these efforts have a compounding effect. You may need to do a lot of self-reflection and processing over time, but if you keep showing up for yourself you will see the impact over time. Then, the day will come when you look back and notice that your healing has been happening in slow, safe, almost unnoticeable stages. You will notice changes in the way you talk about yourself, the way you carry yourself or how you react to situations differently. Things that used to bother you don’t have the same power over you as they used to. What’s fascinating is this day does break down the door. Just like the gentle process of journaling, this day of realization of your healing comes gently. It doesn’t even know, it waits for you to be self-aware enough to notice it. Something that might help you is to check in with some of your journal entries now and then to identify any changes in the words and emotions you are using. Ask yourself where you can see your growth or release in this writing.
- ### It Reconnects You to Your Inner Voice
This is your opportunity to block out the noise and listen to your inner voice. It’s not uncommon for us to not even realize we aren’t in tune with our own values and needs. Starting this process of healing through journaling will help you to see where you are out of tune, and off balance. You have all the answers you need to live your fullest possible life. They are not outside of yourself, you’re just more aware of the outside world than you are of your inner world. The more you journal on your feelings, experiences and reflections, the more in tune you will become. And, the funny thing is that over time you learn to trust yourself. Trust that you have your own back, trust that you know best, and trust that you will always be there for yourself.
- ### It’s a Gentle Act of Self-Love
I like to think of journaling as ‘self-love in training’. As I said, journaling can help you trust yourself more because you keep showing up for yourself. A major added bonus to this self-trust is the self-love training! The more you begin to trust that you won’t let yourself down, that you are always there for yourself, the more you start to soften. This allows you to open your heart up to yourself. ‘I can trust this person. I think I like her’ becomes ‘I love you’ over time. All those days of sharing your emotions and just being that someone who listens to you suddenly come together to build a strong and irreplaceable relationship with yourself. The best relationship you will ever have.
Begin Your Healing Journal
Here are some ideas, if you feel ready to start:
- Create a safe space: Choose a journal that feels special and keep it somewhere private like your bedside table.
- Start with prompts: Start with something gentle like: “What do I need to release?” or “What’s weighing on my heart today?”
- Forget perfect: This isn’t for anyone but you. Don’t worry about your spelling or handwriting, focus on simply expressing yourself in the moment.
- End with gratitude: Finish your journaling with 1-5 things you are grateful for. Gratitude is so powerful for shifting your mind and energy to something positive, a great way to end a journalling session that can be quite emotional.
Remember, it’s a Process
This isn’t about achieving a goal and it certainly isn’t a quick fix, but make no mistake journaling is a powerful tool for helping you work through anything that needs healing in your life. Remember, it’s a process, so be patient. Try not to think of this in terms of outcomes but rather as a new self-care routine that provides a safe space for you to release what is holding you back and hurting you in this life. So, if life feels heavy for you, I’d love for you to simply pick up a pen and a paper and begin today. Share, with no one but yourself. Pick a day, a book, a pen and make your own rules. Just show up lovingly for yourself and let what is on your heart out onto the pages of your healing journal. Steph x Liked this blog? You might like this one too: 6 Ways to Answer the Question: What do I Want?