Sometimes it is difficult to find the right words to describe a stressful, emotional or volatile period in your life. You may have days where you sit down with your personal journal, wanting to write, but you have trouble sifting through and expressing your thoughts. When you are feeling stuck, play a word association game as a fun and helpful journal writing therapy technique to relax your mind and get your pen moving.
Journal Writing Therapy Word Games
1. Sit for a few moments quietly before you start this activity. Focus on breathing slowly and steadily and notice how you are feeling mentally and physically. What thoughts are at the forefront of your mind right now?
2. Gather a stack of magazines and a pair of scissors, and flip through them with an open mind, paying attention to words that resonate with your emotions or thoughts. Cut out these words as you go, and set them aside for later. There is no one way to do this, so don’t think too hard about your word selections – just follow your gut and have fun with it!
3. After about 20 to 30 minutes, stop and spread out your word cutouts in front of you. What is your first reaction to the words? Do you notice any obvious themes, or do they seem more loosely connected? What do they mean to you? For example, your words might have a clear, linear relationship -- career, pressure, change, freedom, search ¬¬– and represent something that has been on your mind. Or they may be more subtle and require more exploration to determine their meaning – path, clutter, optimistic, embrace, create.
4. Make a small collage out of your words by arranging and pasting them onto a left-hand page in your personal journal. On the facing page, write about why you were drawn to these words and how they fit into your life at the moment. What do they represent individually and collectively?
Share some of your word selections from your Journal Writing Therapy in the comments!
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