Journal-Writing: Making Peace with an Old Enemy

I used to wonder what the big hype was with writing in a diary. Thanks to my idealism and perfectionism, for a short time I spent ridiculous amounts of time writing in my diary trying to record everything that I did in a day and repeating the process day after day after day. I hoped that some unknown day in the future I would somehow find the information useful, or at least interesting. It didn't take me too long to give up, being unable to pour so much energy into something that might one day be interesting in the future. I believe that I tried again once or twice in the same way and with the same outcome.

So imagine my dismay when in the early days of one of my first classes in holistic health, I found out that I needed to spend an entire semester journal-writing (a.k.a. journalling) every day. I was horrified at the thought but since I've almost never met a mark I wouldn't try to get, I followed the instructions and started writing. And that's when my opinion started to change. First I learned more about the subject intellectually and in the years since I started working more with journals, I have experienced some benefits myself.

I think Brian Luke Seaward explains the essence of what I learned best: "diary writing is a listing of personal events, while journal writing expands personal awareness and creativity, and offers seeds of resolution in personal struggles."^[1] The more often you write in your journal, the more beneficial it can be but you don't have to do it every day. My journal sits on the shelf for a bit and then I pull it out whenever I feel inspired to work with it.  Also, you don't have to just straight-out write your feelings down to gain the advantages of journal-writing. You can write poetry, draw pictures and use any number of other techniques or exercises in your journal.

Benefits of journal-writing include release of pent-up emotions, increased awareness of one's habits of thought and behaviour, and even increased integrity of the immune system.^[1] If you're interested in learning more about how journal-writing can work for you, please join me for a Personal Health Consultation at Know Thy Health.

[1] Brian Luke Seaward, Managing Stress: Principles and Strategies for Health and Well-Being, 5th ed. (Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett, 2006), 230-243