Have you ever kept a journal?
It’s known as Journaling, and it is a recognised therapeutic tool for many people with depression, anxiety, over-thinking and general low mood. Why is this?
Journaling is a way of writing down thoughts, feelings, observations, moods, and anything that might occur to you. You can vent, celebrate, and most importantly identify your feelings and thoughts in a safe and private space. You can write pages if you want to, equally you can scribble down a few lines and leave it at that, draw pictures or diagrams. Anything you want to because it is your journal.
For some people, keeping that journal has helped them on the journey of self-discovery and recovery. It works well because it is a way of externalising that inner landscape which, when troublesome, pulls a person down and affects their thoughts and behaviours and moods. By putting these thoughts on the page, you are putting them in a place where you can reflect and sort out, in your own time, objectively.
It’s not like a diary, where you recount your movements and events that have taken place, it is simply a place for expression, validation and observation. Ultimately it is a safe outlet for emotional release which over time can be a healing experience leading to a connection with the inner self and, ultimately, inner peace.
Lucy Ferguson Counsellor, Psychotherapist and Hypnotherapist
Ad. Dip. PC MNCS (Acc), Cert Hyp. CS, MA (Hons)
Linda Burley Counsellor, Psychotherapist and Hypnotherapist
(Ad Dip PC MNCS (Acc), Cert Hyp CS, BA (Hons) ,PGCE