Journaling for Growth

Journaling can be a tremendous tool for personal growth if used properly.  Over the years, I’ve learned how to journal ineffectively and effectively.  I’ll share with you what’s worked and hasn’t worked for me.

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I’ve journaled off and on my entire life, but  it has only been the last few years that I’ve realized the potential journaling has for healing and growth.  Before my divorce, my journaling was just writing about what was going on in my life and what was wrong with my life.  I read through the journals of my early adulthood and through my marriage and I see a lot of the same themes showing up again and again, but I never used that information to drive change.  Instead I passively accepted what was going on in my life and played the victim.

Journaling can take many forms and one of my favorite books to explore journaling is The New Diary, which provides a number of ways to journal.  I pull this book out every so often when I feel my journaling has gotten stale to explore new ways to change and grow through journaling.  I categorize journaling as undirected or directed.

Undirected Journaling

Undirected journaling is simply recording facts or feelings with no true purpose.  Undirected journeying can be a great place to dump your feelings on the page, but unless you go back and mine your journal for themes, undirected journaling won’t truly help you heal.

A perfect example of undirected journaling is Morning Pages.  Julia Cameron’s terrific book, The Artist’s Way, explains that Morning Pages are simply three pages of long hand pages written first thing in the morning with no stopping, no analysis, and no review. I’ve done Morning Pages a number of times, but I found they actually caused me to sink deeper into depression because I kept writing about all the bad stuff in my life.  If I knew then what I know now, I would have taken the next step and used Directed Journaling to mine those morning pages for themes.

Another type of undirected journaling is the type done in those page a day diaries that teenage girls often kept.  There was one page per day to record what had happened during the day.  These are useful for having a record of what happened to us, but without putting the events in context, they often became a dumping ground for seemingly random events.

Directed Journaling

In contrast, Directed Journaling seeks to answer a question, find a solution, or explore a theme for growth.  Directed journaling has a purpose and through use of specific techniques helps us to grow and heal. Directed journaling can be done alone or can utilize undirected journaling as a starting point for change.  There are several methods for directed journaling and I’d recommend exploring different methods.  I tend to use several methods based upon what I’m hoping to accomplish.  There are dozens of variations on the below methods of journeying, but I’ve provided an overview of the different types of journaling below.

• Prompt–When you first get started journaling, it can be difficult to decide what to write about.  A recitation of the day might seem boring and writing about your feelings can seem overwhelming.   That’s where prompts can come in and save the day.  Prompts are simply questions that you reflect upon in your journal.  They can be prompts from classes such as Joanna Powell Colbert’s excellent 30 day e-courses, prompts from journaling sites or books, or personal prompts such as “How do I feel about my job?”  Once you have decided upon a prompt, write it in your journal and then write your thoughts and feelings about the prompt.  I’ve found that this type of directed journaling often reveals unexpected insights.

• Visual Journaling–People typically think of words when they think of journaling, but using pictures, images, and artwork to journal can be tremendously effective.  Pictures touch a different part of our brain than words do and images can help  cut through mental blocks that words might enable.  I tend to use visual journaling and written word journaling together.  I’ll create an image and then journal about what the image means and what is important.  SARK has some great books out that are basically visual journals and I will turn to her books every so often when I need inspiration.  Lisa de St. Croix also has some amazing visual journaling ecourses that use Tarot.

• Interviews with Ourselves–Interviews are an incredibly effective way of eliciting interviews.  I do interviews periodically for work and I am always amazed at what people tell me when I ask follow up questions such as “What do you mean by that?” or “Why do you feel that way?”  When I “interview” myself, I will start out by asking a question and writing a response.  I then ask myself follow up questions to elicit more information.  I’m never sure if it is a higher self answering the questions, Higher Power, or what, but interviewing myself always helps me to gain clarity.

• Card / Rune a Day–One of the tools I’m exploring right now is using Tarot with my journaling.  I’m pulling a card a day and then writing about any insights that might come to me.  You can do the same thing with oracle cards or runes.  I first pull the card, write down what it means to me, then look up the meaning in the book.  I’ll then journal on any images from the card or words that strike me as important.

Handwritten or Typed

The question of whether a journal should be handwritten or typed.   I tend to use both depending upon what I’m writing about.  I use OneNote for journaling on specific topics or when there is a possibility I will want to share something I’ve written or turn it into a blog entry.  If I want to just write what comes to me, I use a paper journal because I find that when I type journal entries I tend to get more obsessed with cleaning up my grammar, etc. than with what I’m writing. When I write by hand, I don’t have the little squiggly line telling I misspelled something or used the wrong grammar.

Getting Started

Journaling is one of the easiest spiritual practices to begin as all you need is a paper and pen.  You can journal in cheap school notebooks or get a more expensive blank book.  I tend to use sketch pads because I’ve never been one to stay in the lines and sketch pads have thicker paper which means if I use markers they don’t bleed through.

What are you waiting for?  Get a pen and some paper and start journaling.  Just remember there is no wrong way to journal 🙂