Journaling is meant to help understand the thoughts that are going on in your head. Writing your thoughts down helps you become more aware of stories you are telling yourself. In many cases, the stories we tell ourselves, are not positive ones. Many folks are surprised by how harsh they are on themselves. With journaling, we can start to examine these stories and ask ourselves, "Is this true?" Examining these stories is a great first step to freedom.
Where I notice people tend to go wrong with their journaling (and I'm at fault here too), is in taking a critics view of what you are putting down on the page. Journaling is meant to be an exercise of freedom. Literally anything goes. If you think, "this is stupid, I can't write that down," then it is probably something that you should be writing down.
So there you go, a simple start to journaling. If you would like a more in depth understanding of journaling, let us know in the comments section!
By: Nicholas J. Smith, LPC
