Journaling A Tool for Well Being

Written By: Mary Abranyi - Cashiers Valley Fusion | Issue: August - 2022

As a Life Coach and previous counselor, I encourage my clients to keep a journal as a tool to enhance their self-awareness and personal growth.I myself have been an avid journaler for almost two decades. Here are five reasons I recommend it to clients, continue to use it as a means for my ownwell-being, and encourage you to try itas a tool to living your best life.• DECISION MAKING: Getting quiet and taking the time to write out the prosand cons of decisions, especially majorones,  unclutters the mind, brings clarity, and gives insight into which choice bestmatches the values and desires you arewanting in your life.• PROBLEM SOLVING: Writing out anissue, whether it’s a business dilemmaor a relationship struggle, can helpclarify what is really going on. Solutionsoften arise from taking a close look atthe issue and our thoughts and feelingaround them. An added benefit to thisprocess is an enhanced ability to solvethings more creatively.• A SAFE PLACE TO DEAL WITHHARD EMOTIONS: Grief, heartbreak,betrayal, and other complicated emo-tions find a safe home in your journal.Unexpressed emotions can have a tollon our health. Using your journal torelease emotions keeps our physicalbody healthy, as well as our mental andemotional well-being. In addition, themore we’re able to express emotionsin our journal, the better we become atcommunicating them to others in a skill-ful way, thus improving communicationand healthier relationships.• SELF AWARENESS: You can learna great deal about how you processevents and your typical thought patternsthrough journaling. Some of these maybe pleasant to discover and others will behelpful in aiding changes towards a moreauthentic, loving self. • DEEP DISCOVERIES: I never tire ofseeing how journaling uncovers wisdom,creativity, compassion, and more lovingand skillful ways of being. The act ofwriting itself and a desire to understandwhy things are the way they are in one’slife, can lead to a very deep uncoveringof these internal resources.Typical of new journal keepers is PageFright, the fear of the blank page andwhat to write, the fear of writing and notbeing a writer, the fear of not wantinganyone to find and read their journal.All valid fears. Journaling, however, isnot like writing a book or a school essay.It can be in the form of lists, bullet-pointphrases, even drawings or pictures.There is no worry about spelling,grammar, or punctuation. Letting go ofthe “inner critic” – the little voice thatsays you can’t write, or you shouldn’twrite that – is also essential. There’ sno need for censoring in a journal. It isimportant that you feel safe so you canexpress all your thoughts and feelings.Find a safe place to keep your journalor, if you write something you hope noone ever reads, tear it out then throw itaway or burn it. The point is to be ableto express your feelings and thoughts…the good, the bad, and the ugly. Thatfreedom alone will change your life.If you like to journal or are interestedin journaling, our Barbara Banks holdsa monthly class at Cashiers ValleyFusion Yoga and Wellness Center. Themonthly classes focus on differentjournaling techniques with participantstaking part in journal exercises. Thetopics are different each month. She willalso be starting and in-depth six-weekjournaling series in August. Go toCashiersValleyFusion.com/events formore information.by Mary Abranyi,Cashiers Valley Fusion Yoga & Wellness