Days when you just don’t feel like opening your journal and writing are often the days that you can benefit most from journaling. Maybe you’re tired and stressed from work or feeling emotionally drained because of family issues, and you would much rather escape in some evening TV instead of doing your daily journal writing.
We all have hyperactive, manipulative Inner Critics that will do ANYTHING to keep us away from our soothing, self-nurturing daily journaling practice. So tell the SOB to go play in traffic. And then just "Take Five" and see what happens. You might end up with a few rambling paragraphs about how exhausted you are and decide to stop after 5 minutes, or you might find you still have a lot more to say and want to keep going after the timer goes off. Either way, you will have successfully put some of your thoughts into words, which does wonders for your peace of mind.
Author Kelley Harrell explored this topic in a post for The Huffington Post earlier this month:
Often in response to my suggestion to journal as a means of coping with stress I'm met with conflict around why it won't work. "I don't like to write." "I can't write well." "I stare at the paper and nothing comes." "I don't have anything to say." I get some stern looks when I encourage folks carrying these ideologies to write even more than those who greet the opportunity openly. Why? Not because I, personally, love to write, but because if you can put something into words, you've already made progress in eliminating the stress. The ability to associate thoughts with feelings goes a long way in taking the charge out of those feelings. Once free of emotional involvement, you can make clearer choices about how to proceed in the dynamic.
3 Reasons to Journal Anyway
1. It’s a release. Journal writing gives you an outlet for all of the thoughts and emotions and "crazycrap" crowding your mind and causing you stress and physical disease.
2. It’s whatever you need it to be. One day, you can make a to-do list of tasks you don’t want to forget; the next, you can explore your big goals for the future. It's a come as you are gathering.
3. It gives you perspective. One of the benefits of journaling is that you can write what you feel at the moment, then set aside your journal and come back to reread your words later. You will often find that you have new insights when you revisit previous journal entries.
And if your spirits move you, you can always tear out the page(s) and start a bonfire!
So, how do you do it, how do you get the page especially when you feel like going there?
Our Journaling Challenge next week helps you answer the ever burning 'Who Are You?' question. Sign up for the Journaling Self-Discovery Challenge
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