Accessing the Healing Power of Journaling through Intention
“What a comfort is this journal. I tell myself to myself and throw the burden on my book and feel relieved.”
– Anne Lister
I have owned more unused journals than I can count. Over the course of my life, they’ve sat there empty, begging to be written in. And to be honest, most of them have the first page or two filled with a journal entry. Beyond that—blank.
What it came down to was that I didn’t know what to write. I would write the first entry, usually recalling the events of my day, and have a general feeling of, “So what?” There weren’t any new discoveries for me, and it took time from other things I could be doing that were more fun. So I would stop for a while until I saw a new journal I wanted and would convince myself the next time would be different.
For the first time in my life, I’ve been sustaining a journaling practice. And I’ve gotta say, it’s been a real game-changer. While talking with a friend and colleague who also journals, we agreed that the practice can be whatever you want or need it to be in that moment and can be a powerful outlet for expressing thoughts and feelings that might have otherwise been blocked.
The way I approach journaling now is incredibly different from how I approached it before, as I approach each entry with specific intention. The intention varies day-to-day, entry-to-entry, depending on what I feel I need that day. I want to share a few of my favorite intentions I’ve found that help me raise awareness of my inner world and ultimately lead to healing and growth.
Write freely: Empty the contents of your mind onto the paper without judgment, filter, or revision.
Choose a topic: Write about something specific that has been on your mind recently.
Get to know a part of yourself better: Write from the perspective of one of your parts that you would like to get to know better and see what it reveals to you through writing.
Cultivate gratitude: Write about things you are thankful for or that you appreciate in yourself, others, and the world around you.
Write a letter: Journal using the format of a letter to either yourself or others to experience, express, or gain clarity about your feelings.
Focus on feelings: Write an entry specifically about the emotions you are experiencing to get to know, understand, and accept them more fully.
Cultivate self-compassion: Use journaling as a way to share compassion with yourself regarding a hard time you are going through, treating yourself as if you were a dear friend.
Reflect on a recent experience: Journal about a recent social interaction, meditation, or other experience you had that you want to remember or more fully understand.
The magic of journaling is that it can be whatever you need it to be in that moment. It can take the form of writing sentences, bullet points, or some other format that feels right to you. Writing invites us to both learn more about our inner world and begin to reflect with compassion and love.