Psychotherapy underlines the importance of journaling.
Carl Jung's journal of self reflections-his black books and red books, one of the prized capital of the psychotherapy world is unhindered journaling and him looking at himself from the outside with inquisitiveness and genuine desire to know without aspersions of good or bad, sane or insane.
Journaling is an act of opening of self-awareness. This self-awareness in Carl Jung's case is still serving how we approach counseling and therapy of mind. He called it automatic writing. Various researchers have proved that journaling is more to do with the flow of thoughts converted into emotions coming down on a piece of paper. It doesn't have to make sense- It is allowing the irrational bits of self, express themselves, so they don't catch you off-guard. It helps embrace the unacknowledged parts that we keep locked up, the bits that fear judgment. The bits that are vulnerable and hurt before.
How do we make it familiar to the mind, to do it daily?
Step 1 (If you are a perfectionist working from outside in) Get a beautiful notebook that makes you want to fill its pages
Step 2 Create a format: How are we? (making yourself impersonal always helps to lower the voice that runs to self-preserve)
What's on my mind?
What's needs to improve and upgrade about me
If I had to express myself, what would I say?
What's a bizarre/ weird/ interesting about me or event?
What's weird about events in the world? How does it affect/ trigger me?
What am I feeling? (unhinged)
Step 3: End the journaling in 20 minutes maximum of 30 minutes. Stop.
Step 4: If there's more from where it came, Put the keywords of continuation for the next day.
Step 5: Close the can of worms inside a beautiful box and put a ribbon on it to check on it again. What do I mean by that? Write a list of simple to understand and be grateful for.
Step 6: Make it familiar by doing it again and again and again.
In my personal journaling cycle, I still find myself not able to stop after 20 minutes. I am always like What!! The juice just started flowing! Write the keywords for the next day. This pouring always leads to refill. Hopefully, it won't recycle to a large extend and you can map growth, plateau, or GPS of your path to self-reflection.
Psychotherapy considers journaling as a binary action- one that engages the left and right brain to process feeling as fast as walking. Letting the wave of fear-based feelings pass whilst giving them an expression. Most rap songs are journals. Most Graffiti are art journals. Journal pouring out pain, beauty, injustice, confusion, wants, needs, skills, and confusion of mind between self-preservation and self-actualization. There is some truth that you feel, no one talks about- that's journal material. You will save on a therapist like me. You will feel better in the moment. You might unstuck yourself. Authenticity is something to be worked on as well. The goal really is to continue the flow and not withhold it.
As a byproduct, you will also find yourself more empathetic and attuned starting with self. As Carl Jung says we operate for the collective unconscious and you would know some of it, in self. He also said one who knows his/her shadow is closer to experiencing the light.
Rupika Moitra
Wings Counselling & Therapy
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