Alleviating Stress Through Journaling

Journaling--

Accessing,

expressing, and

processing our feelings is beneficial.

Journaling, putting pen to paper, is an outlet for communicating our thoughts and emotions,

much like a therapy session is effective when feelings and experiences are shared verbally.

Journaling is simply writing down thoughts and feelings to get them out of our heads where they are taking up "brain space."

We often carry thoughts and feelings within us that can cause us

stress,

anxiety,

sadness,

anger, and

confusion.

But if we take some time to write them down,

identify their cause,

understand them more as we reflect on the writing, and

perhaps work through a plan to resolve them,

we would experience more freedom from day to day.

Psychologists agree that avoiding or inhibiting unpleasant emotions or suppressing our thoughts

makes our bodies tense,

our mood negative and

our cognition impaired.

Studies have shown that emotional release from journaling...

---lowers anxiety and stress,

---improves immune function,

---increases self-awareness and

---induces better sleep.

Disclosure is constructive!

Expressive writing is a route to healing--emotionally, physically, and psychologically.

The author of Writing to Heal, Dr. James Pennebaker, explains,

"When we translate an experience into language

we essentially make the experience graspable.

And in doing so, you free yourself from mentally being tangled in traumas."

Interesting scientific fact:

putting pen to paper stimulates the brain like nothing else,

even in this age of emails, texts and tweets.

Bonus: Cursive handwriting stimulates brain synapses and synchronicity

between the left and right hemispheres, something absent from printing and typing.

The Benefits of Journaling: (John Robson and Patrice Steen)

Brings stability

Holds thoughts still so they can be changed and integrated

Bridges inner thinking with outer events

Detaches from and lets go of painful past

Allows the re-experiencing of the past with today's adult mind

Disentangles thoughts and ideas

Reduces the scattering of thoughts

Increases focus and clarification

Dignifies all events

Soothes troubled memories

Reveals and tracks patterns and cycles

Builds self-confidence

Assists in self-discovery and self-analysis

Aids in connecting causes to effects

Reveals our processes--how we think, feel, learn, create

Accesses the unconscious and subconscious

Strengthens memories of events

Improves sensitivity

Allows freedom of expression

Slows us down!

How to Journal:

View your journaling time as self-care when you can de-stress and relax.

Choose a quiet place where you will be uninterrupted.

Use any paper, but some prefer to purchase a bound journal to keep their writings contained.

Write whatever feels right to you:

Thoughts that are circling around over and over in your mind?

Feelings about an interaction you had with someone that day?

A memory or a dream?

Your fears?

Your journal does not need to follow any particular structure.

It's your own private arena to process whatever you want,

whatever way you want.

Let the words flow freely

without worrying about spelling mistakes

or grammar

or what other people might think.

And, if you are not knowing what to write...

...perhaps get some colored pencils out and draw a sketch of how you feel, a memory, an interaction. Choose colors to represent different emotions.

Or cut out pictures from magazines and glue them in your journal, to depict how you feel or are thinking.

Journaling is a personal, unique expression of thoughts and feelings and everyone does it differently.

Take some time,

try out different ways of expression,

and discover what is cathartic for you.

• As well as documenting your actions, plans and progress through life, it can be an indispensable healing tool in times of transition and stress.