And why might you want to do that?
Sounds scary. Dredging up your fears, worries, negative thoughts, anger. All those problems. All that negativity. So uncomfortable!
You just want to leave them locked away inside where they can’t bug you right?
Well, how’s that working for you?
Despite being locked away, they still emerge to bug you. Annoy you. Enrage you. Make you lose sleep. Sweat. Stress.
Guess locking them away didn’t do much…?
It turns out that expressing these thoughts can bring some much desired relief from them!
Some might call it JOURNALING. Some might call it RELEASE. Some might call it DETACHING and EXTERNALIZING.
It’s really ALL OF THE ABOVE.
And all you need to do is put these negative thoughts down on paper.
It’s well established research that journaling has amazing benefits in so many domains, including resolution and relief of negative feelings of all kinds. You can read about it here in James Pennebaker, Writing About Emotional Experiences as a Therapeutic Process. Much other research exists following on Pennebaker’s work.
Makes you want to give it a shot right?
No extra therapy needed for this. Just start writing.
Ready? Got something that really bugs you? Maybe something that is eating away at you? Or something similarly affecting you?
Gently bring it into your consciousness. Take note of yourself, your feelings, any body responses like tension or activations like a heaviness in your gut.
Grab a pen and paper. Then START WRITING ABOUT IT.
C’mon. Keep going. Keep writing about it until nothing else comes out.
Don’t worry about grammar. Doesn’t matter. You’re not writing a novel! And nobody is gonna read it but you. And you don’t even have to read what you wrote; IT DOESN’T NEED TO BE RE-READ FOR GOOD THINGS TO HAPPEN.
OK done yet?
How do you feel now? Bring the original issue back into your consciousness. What changes have emerged? Feel free to respond with your results in the comments!
TIPS:
It turns out that pretending to write with an imaginary pen works just as well! Wow! So if you don’t want to actually record anything, try this.
Vocalizing can be as powerful as writing. Try finding a place where you can’t bother any one and let loose with all that is inside you. Speak into a recorder or not. You can use voice dictation into a note, if you want a written record.
If you didn’t feel anything on this attempt, commit to doing this for the next 4-5 days. Just 15 minutes a day, like Pennebaker did in his study. Then take stock of how you feel about the issue.
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