
Why Is Journaling Helpful?
Writing/journaling exercises are an excellent way to gain a deeper understanding of your active beliefs. Taking the time to be with your feelings and emotions (even uncomfortable ones) allows you to explore the beliefs that may be causing them. Often we assume we know what is going on, but journaling about our feelings and emotions adds insight into the beliefs causing them.
You can listen to this lesson as a recording, or read it below.
How to Use Journaling
Listen — 4 min 21 sec
There are three ways we use writing. Continuous writing is a brain dump: keep your pen moving even when you do not know what to write. Repetitive writing is writing an affirming statement over and over, which helps a new belief settle in more deeply. A thought record is a structured note of the situation, the emotions you felt, the belief behind them, and the evidence for and against that belief.
While you are journaling you may find that nothing is coming up. That’s OK, simply write “I have nothing to write” and then wait for more insight to come to mind.
The more you practice, the better your skills will become. Be gentle and kind with yourself as you practice this exercise.
Let’s put insight into practice.