Is Journaling Really a Good Idea?

This morning, I found myself asking the Universe AGAIN “is journaling really a good idea?” after reading some random journaling prompts online. Here are some prompt examples:

What is one present you’ve always wanted?   Who were your favorite relatives? What are your best/worst memories of school?    How has art saved you?

Did you ever get into trouble?   What was the saddest moment of your life?   How would you describe yourself as a child?

What is your daily routine?   What was the best night of your life so far?   Are you proud of who you are?   How would you like to be remembered?

What are you waiting for?   Where did you grow up?   What was the worst thing you ever did?   Write a love letter.

Now go back over them to notice where your thoughts and mind have to go in order to answer the prompt. Mark down a P for Past, F for future, and N for now or the present after reading each one. Go ahead…. 🙂 Then tally the categories.

My tally is 8 for the past, 2 for the future and 3 for the present or now.  I think this list represents what I find most prompts are like these days. Right? And yet they lead your mind mostly backward into the past, yet your power, your agency, to do anything is in the present. If you journal about the future, you have only now to do anything that may or may not affect your future. Dreams without action are imagination, not plans. I’m all for exercising your imagination, but staying there can be a form of procrastination.

So, is journaling really good for us? I think it all depends on the purpose and focus you bring to it. There are as many reasons to journal as there are methods.

Dr. James Pennebaker has conducted many studies on the power of journaling for healing and even overcoming psychological distress and trauma. He’s authored books for the public, the most recent being “Opening Up by Writing it Down” and his most famous book is “Writing to Heal.” I use his methods with my clients, and have for many years because I’ve seen how much it helps them.

Another major academic journaling expert is the late Ira Progoff. 

I took Progoff’s journaling workshop many many years ago when it was somewhat novel to both the psychological field and the public.  The essence of his “Intensive Journal method” was personal development, through a non-analytic, integrative system to bring forth and interrelate the contents of an individual life. Progoff wrote two books describing the method: At a Journal Workshop and The Practice of Process Meditation.

Today we have women, often leaders in journaling, that followed from the works of the men above, and women who have been keeping diaries over the centuries before us. They who could write and read put their thoughts on paper and even cloth. Some of the leaders, authors and promoters of journaling for more recent decades are Kathleen Adams, who started a certification program for using  journaling for self-discovery and/or healing, Christina Baldwin, Louise DeSalvo, Beth Jacobs, PhD, Lucia Capacchione, PhD, and Lynda Monk, MSW, head of the International Association for Journal Writing. (IAJW.org, check it out)

So why then, with all of this evidence both academic and anecdotal, am I asking if journaling really a good idea? I ask this specifically when I see the list of prompts that draw people into their past, especially when focused on digging up unmet desires or miserably memorable points in their life. The brain fires up that old well-worn pattern and subsequent habit of thinking that brings their mind, body and mood into doom and gloom, anger, fear, unworthiness, apathy, or whatever the emotion is that is associated. Without the right setting, i.e. a class, discussion group that offers support, or a therapist, you could be worse for it, not relieved.

So what to do instead when no group or counselor is around- focus on the present when you journal. Write about how you are feel at that time and what’s occured to stimulate that feeling or thinking or action as a result. Also, understanding what you feeling, thinking, doing right now keeps your mind from going backwards and missing the present.

When your personal private journaling is in present time try to use your senses to expresses the experience you are having now. Write about what you see, hear, smell, taste, touch, and what’s going on in your physical or spiritual body to add to your journaling entry. Done mindfully, I recommend this approach  when you are journaling alone.

Let’s go back to those prompts and use them as examples. I would place numbers 8, 10 and 15 square in the present. Numbers 5 and 7 have potential, if answered in the present tense about your present experience of them.

Take for example, “How has art saved you?” If you no longer engage in art then your response would not be relevant to your current life. If glancing at the prompt triggered memories so that you are stimulated to reconsider how art could be beneficial today and therefore worth exploring further, go for it from that angle.  Better yet, view or make some art, and write about the experience you just had or while you’re having it. You can write words or sensations that enter your experience and later expand on them when you’re done creating. Labeling your experience with a word or two helps clear your mind and open it up to the new moment, so it’s a good idea to do this when your mind is looping on one thing.

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Please share in the comments.

Finally, I am teaching my  one afternoon journaling workshop again on    Saturday, Oct. 12, 1-4 PM in Ventura, Meditate on Paper.

Meditate on Paper