Clearing your thoughts through journaling
When people think of journaling, they probably conjure the image of a lone child, tucked away in a bedroom, writing down secret thoughts and ideas starting with the sentence, “Dear Diary.”
Fair enough, but without the diary, we wouldn’t have “The Diary of Anne Frank.” Go ahead and mock that, I dare ya.
Today there are bullet journals, gratitude journals, and others. Even the Blog, Vlog, and YouTube, stem from journaling and diary writing.
In my own life, I use journaling almost every day to clear out what’s on my mind-what’s good, what’s bad, what’s right, what’s wrong. But, each day, perhaps a couple of times, I sit down and write the first thing that comes to mind.
It may start off with a thought, feeling, or recalling an event that strikes me in the moment. That can lead to recalling another event or feeling, which leads to a memory, which leads to something else.
It’s about the stream of consciousness of following the thread, whatever that may be. It’s not about writing a narrative or story, but capturing ideas and feelings.
For example:
Process the day’s events and record my accomplishments.
A simple snapshot of life; what happened today? And was it any good?
Take stock of feelings and reactions, like, how did I feel about that company Town Hall Meeting and do I still feel that way?
Revel in the happiness and process the grief.
Before my little dog passed away a few months ago, I spent a lot of time writing down my feelings and preparing for that loss.
Instead of the “Why me?” or “This isn’t fair!” I spent time writing down good memories and reminded myself that all time is limited. I didn’t shy away from my sadness or try to deny it, I leaned right into it.
It’s been several months, and I still feel the sting, but I wrote down those feelings to remind myself they are all normal.
One a different note, I recently hit a bout of, “WTF is going on around here?” at work. There was a series of actions that put me in a terrible mood. After throwing up my hands one too many times, I took time to write down what was going on and my reaction to it.
When I fulled up multiple pages over a couple days, I had a “hang on a minute” moment. I realized I was triggered by events that took place at a previous job.
This action reminds of another action, so I’m having a flashback. I’m mad at a different person at a different company. That’s not helpful.
When I made that realization, I changed my mindset and saw things in a different light. That weight of disappointment literally flew away.
A different me is mad at a different situation. I can fix this.
Journaling is my meditation, and I have more than a decade of digital journals locked away on my computer. Pen and paper is fine, but I type far faster than I write. Plus, you can’t password protect and encrypt paper.
I don’t go back and read my journals, although I have used them to answer, “What the hell did happen on that birthday?”
I find journaling to be an amazing process. It feels awkward at first, staring at a blank page, but after practice and pushing through on the idea, “This isn’t going to be published,” the ideas and feelings flow.
It reinforces the good, and helps to process through the bad.