Can You Write Yourself Better?
by Harley Therapy | Self Help
Looking for a self-help tool that really works? You might not need much more than a pen and some paper. But how exactly can a 'mental health journal' help?
1. Keep track of your moods.
When we are depressed it can seem difficult to remember a time we ever weren’t. But then once we feel better, we can downplay the issue and think we are fine. Until the blues hit again.
Write down how you feel each day, along with what triggered any low moods or good moods. The next time you are down, look back to remind yourself low moods eventually change, or what helps you shift things. If you instead find you are constantly recording sadness and despair, then you have the proof that it's now time to seek proper support.
2. Record things you are grateful for.
Better yet, try to record five things you are grateful for in your journal every day, no matter how small or big.
3. Raise your self-esteem.
As well as journalling about what you are grateful for, try recording three things each day you achieved, or are proud of.
4. Learn your real thoughts and feelings.
Journalling, if you do it daily and try not to judge what comes out onto the page, can be a way to learn more about who you really are.
5. Write yourself calm.
The worst thing we can do if we don’t like what someone has done or said is to instigate a discussion when we are ‘hot’ with emotion. We end up saying things we regret, and rarely get the result we want.
It’s far better to approach things from a calm space where we are rational. But how? By journaling first.
It can help in this case to use loose pages you promise to rip up after. This creates a safe space for your unconscious to feel free to unload. Let yourself write out everything and anything, no matter how ‘bad’ or ‘mean’. Don’t worry about penmanship and don’t read it back. Just write until you feel the mood shift. Then do rip and throw out.
6. Get it off your chest.
The above ‘stream of consciousness’ journalling technique also works if you feel frustrated and don’t know why, or just woke up not feeling yourself.
Write without judgement, letting yourself say outrageous things, then rip it up. If emotions rise, keep writing until you feel a release, such as breaking into tears.
7. Find forgiveness.
Take a tip from gestalt therapy and use journalling to ‘dialog’ with someone or something that has long upset you. For example, write a letter to the grammar school teacher you felt singled you out.
Say all the things you wished you could have said then. You can then also take the other perspective -- write a letter from that other person to yourself. Keep going back and forth until you feel a sense of resolution.