How to Keep a Therapeutic Private Journal for Personal Growth

Journaling can help you grow as a person.

By writing to clear your mind of worry, you can use journaling as private therapy. With no one but yourself as an audience, a private journal allows you to write without censorship, in order to untangle emotions or simply record what is happening in your life. Although a journal offers a safe place to vent toxic thoughts, be sure to write about positive feelings and experiences, too. You are creating a personal history, which best promotes insight when it reflects both highs and lows.

Things You'll Need

• Notebook or journal
• Pen

Instructions

1. Select your favorite pen and a hardcover journal or a simple spiral notebook. Although some people may choose to journal at the computer, it's often better to journal the old-fashioned way, with pen and paper. Because a computer offers the distraction of one more link to click on or game to play, it can interfere with effective journal writing.

2. Find a quiet, comfortable, private place to write, where you're certain of at least half an hour without interruption. You can journal on the sofa in your living room, in a coffee shop, on a picnic bench at the park, at the laundromat, or while lying in bed.

3. Write the date at the top of a blank page. Then, allow yourself to free write about whatever subject is on your mind. You might journal about a subject that is causing you stress and concern or about something exciting or frustrating. Write quickly, letting the words come out freely. Don't worry about grammar, punctuation, spelling, or whether the words make sense to anyone but you. You can even draw or doodle or make a list. The important thing is to put into words whatever subject is on your mind. Each time you write in your journal, try to fill up one entire page.

4. Store your journal in a private place where others won't stumble across it -- out of sight on a shelf or discreetly in a drawer -- when you're not writing in it. Therapeutic journaling that helps you understand your life must happen without fear of a reader's reaction. While it's OK for other people to know that you're keeping a journal, it's not OK for them to read it without permission.

5. Find a schedule that works best for you, and make time to journal several times a week, more often if you find yourself under stress or need to work through a problem. In the beginning, your journal may be more factual than emotional, more a list of events than about how you feel, but you should gradually allow yourself to explore deeper aspects of your life. You will eventually find yourself journaling about big issues such as love and romance, money or job concerns, family and interpersonal interactions, or significant events or life changes.

6. 

   Re-reading your journal will help you understand the pattern of your life.

   Periodically re-read your journal, returning to it whenever you need to untangle your feelings and find clarity of mind. Don't over-analyze, but use your journal as a tool to remember your own personal history, to understand past events and the feelings that resulted. Re-reading your journal will help you discover themes and trends in your life, making it possible for you to grow and move forward as a stronger person.

References

• "Managing Stress: Principles and Strategies for Health and Wellbeing"; Brian Luke Seaward, Ph.D.; 2011
• Journal Writing: A Short Course