Journalling is an activity often recommended by therapists. Apart from occasional dream journalling it isn’t something I have ever done much of. But over the last 6 months I have been trying it out for myself. Many of us ‘suffer’ with an overactive or busy mind. Most often this is a steady stream of negative thinking about the future, or a constant replaying of negative events in the past. This doesn’t help us stay in a positive state. In Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) our state is linked to our physiology and what we focus on. These three things, state, focus, and physiology together produce our behaviour. As I said, all three are linked together, a change in one can produce a change in another. This is why many people recommend breathing techniques to reduce stress or anxiety. This is about changing your physiology so that you can change your state and what you are focused on. If you are nervous before a presentation, meeting, or interview, if you do box breathing, that can bring your state into a more positive place. This then means that you can more easily imagine the upcoming event working out positively for you. And in case you don’t know what box breathing is; breathing in whilst you count to 4 in your head, then you hold the breath for a count of 4, then you breathe out for a count of 4, and finally do not breathe at all for another count of 4. Continue as necessary. I guess that’s why it’s called box breathing, because it kind of makes a square, no actual boxes are needed. Anyway, back to the idea of journalling. If you can put your thoughts down on paper, it gets them out of your head. Once you have written them down you can see them, this tends to reduce the need for them to go around in your head. Doesn’t mean that immediately you become like the Buddha, but over time you increase your self-awareness, and you can see patterns, then with more time you might start to see improvement and growth in your thinking. What this then means is that you can reduce the negative chatter in your head, and with it your state can improve, and before you know it your behaviour improves too. It’s magic. It might feel like that, but what you are really doing is getting your conscious and unconscious minds working together. It is the job of your unconscious mind to bring your negative thoughts, definitions, and beliefs into your awareness so that you can rationalise them and let them go. Keeping a journal is a way of capturing this negative thinking and crystalising it, so you can see it. This changes your perspective; you become more dissociated. Whether you know it or not this change of perspective then allows you to rationalise your negative thinking and release it more easily.
So how do you do it? I’m sure you can develop your own way. What I recommend is that you buy yourself a nice new book to write in. I do think physically writing is much better than typing, it creates a better connection to your unconscious mind. You are the only one who will read this, so no need to worry about the handwriting or spelling. You can do a mixture of writing about what is on your mind, good or bad; write about what you have done that day; definitely include what you feel grateful about. You do not need to write something every day, and it does not need to be in any way shape or form profound. You do not need to write much either. Some days I write nothing, some days a page of A4, and other days just a couple of lines. I do always date what I write. This is useful when you look back and re-read what you had previously written. This will help you to see growth and patterns, to the extent that you haven’t noticed these so far.
As I said at the start, I have only just taken up journalling, but for over 20 years I have occasionally written down my dreams. This doesn’t mean I write down every dream, every night, just ones that seem significant. This might only amount to 1 or 2 every quarter, sometimes more, sometimes less. When I started this practice, I did it more frequently to improve dream recall. These days that is a little better and I do not feel the same urge to write them all down. This is a process that can add depth to your journalling activity. I include my dream notes in the journal, so that in future I can see them alongside my daytime thinking.
Write this as if no one else will ever read it. This is what Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius did during the second century CE. Then in 1559 his manuscript was published as Meditations. Aurelius is regarded as one of the best Roman Emperors, reigning during its golden age. Through his journal we can see inside the mind of a man aiming to control his own thoughts and actions, whilst accepting the things he could not control. You can do this too.
“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realise this, and you will find strength.” Marcus Aurelius
