Normally, when people hear the word “journal”, they think diary or some place to release my feelings. Journaling can help you heal. Whenever you put pen to paper, while you’re upset, you are releasing the pain. If you’ve ever written down how you were feeling, after a heavy experience, you may have discovered that you felt a little better, lighter, after doing so. Today, I’m sharing a more structured way for you to release your pain onto paper and get more out of the exercise than being able to vent freely.
Sure, writing your feelings down is a way to cleanse your mind of those thoughts and to clear your body of that energy, but what if there is something for you to learn from the feelings you experience? Would you notice, on your own, some patterns that may help you move differently in the future? How about information that may be hiding in plain sight?
If you use this guided exercise, the next time you need to vent through writing, you may be a better person for it in the long run.
How to Heal Through Handwriting
-
Take a moment to write down everything you’re feeling right now. Release onto the paper, what you feel, what your thoughts are about it, why you may feel this way, and what you think it all means.
-
Write down what sparked these feelings. Share what all may have contributed to your feeling this way.
-
Observe. Think about possible triggers. Have you ever felt this way before? Has this same situation ever occurred in your life before? Look for patterns throughout your life that may offer you some insight to why certain things continue to happen the way they do.
-
Reread your thoughts and feelings, and write down any lessons you could possibly learn from this situation.
-
How might you handle things differently, in the future? What can you do to cause a different outcome next time?
Of course, this exercise doesn’t apply to every situation, but in most times that we are emotional as a result of something happening, we can use this exercise to find the lesson in it all. By simply writing, you will begin the healing process. Getting it out is just the beginning, however. It is the process of working through what you’re feeling, and finding the lesson in it that will help you to not only release the pain, but to actually heal from your experiences.
What things will you be working to heal from, using this exercise?
