By Trina O’Quinn for the NABBW

Trina and her mother

In my last blog, written just before my mother’s death on January 2, 2022, I wrote about the difference between using journals and diaries.

At the end of the post, I said that my next blog would cover several different types of journals and how you can best use them.

I am a bit late, as life got in the way, but here is the promised blog. 

I will start with some guidelines for effective journal writing:

• Forget the “rules.” Penmanship, grammar, and spelling are not important. Write what/however you want. Write with pencil and paper as the computer can take you out of the right brain.
• Start with a quieting process to help move your thoughts from “out there” to “in here”—breathing, visualizing, focusing, relaxing, and entrance meditations. I personally start by slow stitch which is breath work while I embroider.
• Date every entry. It allows for chronological reconstruction. And it makes it easier to track cycles, patterns, and trends.
• Keep what’s written or destroy it with intention. Often writing that feel superfluous contain seeds for future insight. If there is a strong impulse to purge the journal, do so from a place of choice and strength rather than defensiveness, fear, or shame.
• Write quickly…so quickly that the dreaded inner-critic and inner-censor can’t catch up!
• Tell the truth…even when it is difficult, scary or negative. (Corollary: Pennebaker’s “flip-out rule” — if writing it down will make you flip out, don’t write it.)
• Protect privacy. Store the journal in a special place so the temptation for others to read it is diminished. Keep the first page as a title page. Ask others to respect your privacy.
• Give permission. Use different journal techniques, allow for  personal preferences, and find a style that works.

As promised here are a few of the journaling styles I have in my personal wellness tool box.

• A sentence completion process. Finish the below sentences with a word or a phrase.
• This is the most simple way of journaling.
• Sample sentence starters: 
  • I want…I feel…I need 
  • Today I want to …Since I last journaled…What I learned… I can use this learning… 
  • What I can do next…

• Timed writing is designed to bring focus and intensity in short bursts. Can be expanded to 7-10 minutes.
• Excellent for those of us that procrastinate, are time challenged, or resistant or averse to journal writing. 
• Useful to ease into hidden thoughts and feelings.
• Can help set goals or renew them.
• Writing sprints at regular intervals on the same subject allows tracking of feelings, projects, issues overtime.
• Some suggestions:
  • Right now, in my life, I am thinking about… 
  • As I read this I notice…(or, I am aware of … I am curious about… Feel…etc.)

• Taking inventory of a question, problem, issue, obstacle, etc… to build a bridge from “where I am” to “where I want to be.”
• Helps break down overwhelming situations into manageable steps.
• Some areas to inventory might include health, family, finances, relationships, work, home, habits, patterns, etc… Questions might include: 
  • Where am I now?
  • Where do I want to be?​
  • When do I want to be there? 
  • What are the actions steps to get there? 
  • What is my first step

• A series of stem sentences grouped and sequenced to reveal consistency deepening layers of information and awareness.
• Developed to get an aerial view of key issues instead of a head-first dive.
• Promotes self awareness
• Can be completed in 10-15 minutes. 1-2 minutes per stem.
• The basic writing structure is:
  • Todays Date____Start time____Three words describing how I feel right now: ____  ____  ____
  • I want to explore…
  • The first thing that comes to mind….
  • Beneath the surface I find…
  • I feel anxious (scared, restful, mad) about…
  • I feel hopeful (good, okay, at peace) about…
  • My next step is…
  • Three feeling words ____  ____  ____ End time____ 

5.  Unsent Letter

• A letter written to another person with a specific intention that will not be sent or shared with the person.
• Besides free writing, this is the most common way for people to say what they are thinking or feeling.
• Offers immediate cathartic relief and a safe place to be temporary out of control.
• You can establish a ritual to burn or tear up the unsent letter once it has served its cathartic purpose. This symbolizes the hapless release of discharged emotions.
• Can serve as behavioral rehearsal of actual communication.
• Intentionally a one-way communication; a good choice when one’s voice has been silenced.

• This unstructured, un-boundaried, free form narrative starts anywhere and goes where it pleases.
• Free writing is a place most people start in the absence of another idea, but it is not always the most effective, efficient, or helpful choice. 
• Begin by beginning: Dive in and follow the pen.
• Excellent for meditation and connection with inner guidance.
• Watch for natural and organic shifts in voice, perspective, or awareness. Frees up creative expression with spontaneous and unexpected connections.

Finally, here is a recommended way to end each journaling session. 

As I read this I am:

•  surprised by… 
•  aware of… 
•  curious about… 
• I notice… 
• I feel…