Looking for a New Year's Resolution? Start Journaling

I am personally a big fan of journaling. Why? because it gives us a quiet moment to reflect on and listen to our own internal experiences. In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it can be easy for our minds to go on autopilot. I like to think of journaling simply as an internal check-in. It provides us with an opportunity to reflect on our needs. Furthermore, the act of journaling allows us to step away and examine our thoughts/feelings with some distance.

Journaling can feel overwhelming because we have this white blank paper sitting in front of us and we don’t know what we want to write. Sometimes, this happens because we are experiencing so many things at once that we don’t know which thing requires our attention. Other times, it could be because we have been numbing our emotions for so long that having a quiet moment seems daunting. We wonder what monsters have we locked up in the attic that might come out and if we have enough energy to lock them back up in time to go to work the next day. It is terrifying to think about making any space for our feelings and thoughts because we might spiral out of control.

So our brain, in an effort to protect us from possible pain will start to question what is the point of writing all of these painful thoughts out on a piece of paper. It makes us wonder why should we suffer? we are perfectly fine with just numbing the experience and distracting ourselves. I would say this is a valid argument, but there is one tiny problem: If you keep shoving things in the attic, it is eventually going to get full and things will spill out. This is the moment when things will truly feel out of control. So why not create a controlled environment where you can slowly sift through these feelings and experiences? I find that a daily journaling activity can provide us with such an environment.

Of course, I recognize that even if we understand the benefits of journaling, it might still be hard to get started. In fact, my clients often tell me that while they know journaling helps, they can never get started. In today’s blog post, I am hoping to provide you with some recommendations on how to make journaling work for you:

Create a Routine

One of the best ways to build a habit is to create a routine. Choose a specific time and duration that you will engage in journaling. You can choose to do it before bed or once you get home from work. I personally prefer to do it once I get home from work ( or for those of you working remotely, when the workday is over) because it gives me a chance to process everything that happened at work. It might be helpful to schedule it on your calendar, so you get daily reminders. When you decided to journal is up to you. There isn’t any benefit to choosing a particular time, I think the most important thing is being able to do it at a time that you are able to have a quiet moment to yourself.

Find Your Safe Space

When you are journaling you are checking in with and making space for the vulnerable part of yourself. Therefore, it is critical that you have a safe space to do that. Think about where is the one space that you feel comfortable and wont be disturbed. I would also highly discourage multi-tasking while journaling. Therefore, I would encourage turning off the notifications on your phone for the duration of the journaling activity.

I also think it can be helpful to create what I like to call a “safe space ritual” prior to journaling. This can be a small self soothing activity that helps you feel comfortable. Personally, I find candles and the sound of water to be very self soothing. So prior to journaling, I might light a small candle and listen to water/nature sounds. Ask yourself what are small self soothing activities that can help you feel safe. If you can’t think of anything, I’ve created a list below that you can choose from and experiment with.

Use Journal Prompts

Sometimes, we might feel unsure about what to write about. Maybe there isn’t a particular situation that we want to explore. That is why I love journal prompts because they can make journaling less overwhelming. Having a set of journal prompts ready means that in those situations, you will have an easier time getting started. You can create your own journal prompts that you know will help you reflect on your day. If you can’t think of any, here are some of my favourites:

Emotional Check in: How Do I Feel Today?
- When using this prompt, remember that you can feel multiple emotions at the same time.
- I find it helpful to use an emotion wheel and pick the top three emotions that are salient at that moment. You can simply google an emotion wheel that you like or you can use this one: https://feelingswheel.com/
Body Scan
- Sometimes, it can be hard to know exactly what we are feeling. At these moments it might be easier to notice the sensations in our bodies. You can do a scan from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet noticing any sensations and then making note of the top three salient sensations.
- Once you have noted the sensations, you can attempt to name that particular sensation. Is it sadness? happiness? anger? frustration? exhaustion? Or you can reflect on the qualities of the sensations? Is it achy? sharp? dull?
- If you want to add a bit of creativity to this, you can draw an outline of the body and then colour each sensation with your favourite colour. I particularly love doing this for chronic pain. I use different colours to indicate the severity of my pain ( red for extreme, yellow for aching & green for no pain). I find that it is a great way for me to keep track of how I am doing physically and it also helps me recognize which body parts need more support.
What Do I Need Right Now?
- This is a simple question but one that we rarely ask ourselves. We are often so focused on what our job, families, or friends need that we forget about ourselves.
What Was Painful Today?
- It can be helpful to reflect on what you struggled with today. The purpose of this question is to provide you with a space to acknowledge and validate your experience.
What Am I Grateful For Today?
- The idea behind this question is not to dismiss your struggles but rather to allow you to recognize that good and bad can happen on the same day ( or even at the same time).
- In responding to this question, remember that you can be grateful for small things. For example, you can be grateful for spending time with a friend or talking to your favourite co-worker.
- I have a variation of this question that I find helpful for my chronic pain: What Areas of My Body Didn’t Hurt Today? This helps me recognize that while most of my body aches, there are parts that are not hurting today. I find that especially with chronic pain, it can at times feel like I am drowning in a sea of hurt. Therefore, recognizing that my ears are not hurting can be really helpful. I might even take a moment to focus all of my attention on the body part that is not hurting. This can sometimes provide me with momentary relief from all of my pain.