---
title: Writing Your Wrong Ways
description: Get out of your own way and start Journaling.
image: https://www.createwritenow.com/hs-fs/file-13038514-jpg/images/fotolia_7002897_xs.jpg
---

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# Writing Your Wrong Ways

Tag - [Creative Journaling](https://www.createwritenow.com/journal-writing-blog/topic/creative-journaling)

Author - [Mari L. McCarthy](https://www.createwritenow.com/journal-writing-blog/author/mari-l-mccarthy)

Published - September 10, 2008

![Writing Your Wrong Ways](https://www.createwritenow.com/hs-fs/file-13038514-jpg/images/fotolia_7002897_xs.jpg)

**"As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way"**  
*Ralph Waldo Emerson*

![Journaling](https://www.createwritenow.com/hs-fs/file-13038514-jpg/images/fotolia_7002897_xs.jpg)

I now admit I had a childhood! The most amazing thing is how I have been living my life over and over again as the scared, shy child I was 50 some years ago. I now see that who I am today cannot be blamed on mommy, daddy, the St. Bernard School nuns, or the crotchety neighbor across the street.  I am responsible for who I am, what I say and what I think. If I am not happy with my life then I can do something about it. That’s why Journals were created: to help clear out the clutter we’ve accumulated and get into living life from who we really are using all the gifts we brought into this life with us.

Before I started journaling I survived in an abusive self-relationship. My inner life was a rainy rush hour hundred car pileup. And that was on a good day. I treated myself dreadfully. As the authors of <http://www.amazon.com/Mindful-Way-through-Depression-Unhappiness/dp/1593851286/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221171164&sr=1-1>**["The Mindful Way Through Depression"](http://www.amazon.com/Mindful-Way-through-Depression-Unhappiness/dp/1593851286/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221171164&sr=1-1) **informed me I employed an ongoing “rumination” process of self-blame, criticism and worse. Changing my word choices like “Why do I always do that…to “Hmmm, I wonder what’s really going with me here?” make me feel healthier.  Lots and lots of journaling later, I enjoy approaching inner peace. My **[inner chatterboxes](https://www.createwritenow.com/writing/managing.html) **are quieter, and well into my process of elimination.

According to Wikipedia: Journaling is the oldest and most widely practiced form of self-help through writing is that of keeping a personal journal in which the writer records their most meaningful thoughts and feelings. One individual benefit is that the act of writing puts a powerful brake on the torment of endlessly repeating troubled thoughts to which everyone is prone. Quite what happens when near-obsessive ruminations, which frequently take place in the small hours of the night, are committed to paper is difficult to describe. It does feel as if the trap door of a mental treadmill has been opened to allow persecutory thoughts to escape. Though the accompanying feelings may persist for a time, the thoughts begin to integrate or dissipate or reach some constructive resolution.

[![Journaling Who Are You Blog Banner](https://www.createwritenow.com/hs-fs/file-311647817-jpg/images/journaling_who_are_you_blog_banner.jpg)](https://www.createwritenow.com/Who-Are-You-7-Days-Challenge-Free-Samples/)

 

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