From the VA office of Patient Centered and Cultural Transformation. What is therapeutic journaling? Writing down your thoughts and emotions. Reflection which allows you to evaluate and sort through the different events and list issues you had. It is designed to come to a more detained understanding of ourselves. The goal is to help you see difficulty from a different viewpoint. Write down things about the event that brought up anger, grief or any other emotion. Dr James Pennebaker protocols are used quite often in clinical settings. The goal is to improve the physical and psychological health.
You may want to write about things that reflect on things that have meaning to you. Start out with smaller time limits to writing so you don’t get discouraged and give up. Every time you write you don’t have to spend the same amount of time. Gratitude expression exercises is another option. What are you grateful for? If you think of something negative, try and think of two or three positive ways you can possibly look at the event or situation.
Your immune system benefits along with other physical and mental benefits. Sometimes we block out things and journaling can help us heal in many ways. The article also goes into the research. Things like pain and physical health in cancer, pain intensity in women with chronic pelvic pain, unemployment and much more. You will see some guidelines to consider when journaling. Writing topics, length and frequency, write only for yourself. That to expect. Possible depression for the first few times you write. What to avoid. The article also talks about when to discontinue the journaling exercises.
With the following I am speaking to myself and reminding myself to apply things I am posting to try and help other people!
Often the thoughts and emotions caused by a person or event probably is only affecting us who keep replaying can cause harmful stress chemicals and hormones that are linked to diseases. If another person is involved in what happened, they probably have moved on and don’t place anymore thoughts into it. Listening to meditation music so far has had the quickest positive solution to keeping negative things from consuming me. It isn’t a once and done thing. We may need to apply what works when finding things difficult.
We can only control ourselves. We can’t control when we feel others are self-centered, what others say and do. When we keep looping back, rewinding or playing things over and over in our head it keeps us from living in the here and now. I found several studies done by officers in the military on “toxic leadership in the army.” When you think about it we are allowing toxic emotions and thoughts to run full force in our minds. Thus, taking up space in our mind.
Donna Jackson Nakazawa writes about ways to get someone out of your head. I’ll share what she says:
1 Say less and let more time pass before saying anything. Give yourself permission to wait.
2. Wait and see what happens next.
3. Move away from the blame game. It doesn’t mean there isn’t someone to blame. However, it isn’t always productive in doing it. There can be a series of events that led up to what you’re having a hard time with.
4. Try not to fall into other people’s state of mind.
5. Deal with your biggest problem first. To do that more clearly meditate, take a walk do what is necessary to deal with yourself before taking on someone or something else.
6. Don’t act or react to something when you can’t think clearly.
7. Don’t try and figure others out.
8. Thoughts are not always facts.
9. Think of ways you can grow from what happened.
10. You’re not a time magician.
11. Forgive for your sake.
12. Use mindfulness-based stress reduction to occupy a different mind space.
13. Take a time out when needed.
