Bring your conscious self out onto the page. Here’s how:
1) The Pomodoro Technique. Let’s begin with the most basic of journaling approaches. The pomodoro technique is a method to stay focused and mentally fresh. It was devised in the late 1980s by then- university student Francesco Cirillo.
Finding it hard to focus and feeling overwhelmed by his study workload, Cirillo set his kitchen timer (in the shape of a tomato, hence the name) for just 10 minutes of study time and found it to be very productive.
Gradually increasing the time to twenty-five minutes, Cirillo found this low commitment time management strategy to be most effective, whilst erasing his dreaded procrastination.
While this technique can be applied to journaling writing stints, it can also be applied to pretty much anything where procrastination occurs. Cleaning the house, washing the car, sorting paperwork, etc. just set a timer and off you go.
2) Morning Pages. Early morning writing in our private journal catches us just before our rational brain kicks in. It’s a way to record exactly how we feel and why. Our likes and dislikes, what we want and don’t want, and with disregard for spelling, grammar, or even making any sense.
In her book The Listening Path, Julia Cameron simply describes this journal writing approach as a daily practice of stream of consciousness writing, written first thing upon awakening.
“There’s no wrong way to do them,” says Julia. “They range from the petty to the profound. They say, ‘this is what I want more of…. And less of…’ They tell us how we really feel. They are private and intimate.”
By getting into the practice of writing daily pages, it will become easier to get specific on what it is you really want and need in your life.
Knowing what it is you truly desire is key, and it can be surprising how it manifests. For instance, you might think you want to win the lottery. But what for? what would you do with all that money?
Perhaps what you really need is more time and space to spend with family or to work on a passion. Maybe working four days instead of five days each week in your present job is more attainable and contributes positively to your overall health and wellbeing.
3) Expressive Writing. If you require a deeper dive into your psyche, then this form of process writing is for you. The focus of expressive writing is to write continuously to piece things together and work through things in the conscious, on paper. It is personal and emotional. Stop if you need to.
Author of Expressive Writing: Words That Heal, James Pennebaker is a social psychologist and researcher who conducted extensive research studies on the benefits of expressive writing during the 1970s and 80s.
Pennebaker and his students investigated trauma and discovered expressive writing positively affected people’s health, work efficiency, sleeping habits and connection to others.
Research found links between certain chronic conditions and repressed traumatic memories or emotions that the person had been unwilling, or unable to express, due to lacking the language to do so. Over time, these factors suppressed the immune system, leading to stress-related disorders. Pennebaker found in this research that the ability to openly acknowledge and label emotions, both negative and positive, helped the process the most.
Some researchers put it down to the exposure to the conflict making it less and less emotional, while others believed it was the identifying, labelling and eventual integration of the negative emotions into a broader context that lessened the response. Either way, the unburdening of the emotional load was evidently healing.
Overall, writing in an open and honest way, expressing in a reflective way mostly brought about a positive change. Education and writing ability are not important, while no grammar or spelling required takes pressure away. It was found that a four-day writing approach, writing continuously for twenty minutes per day, improved people’s physical and mental health.
Writing about what keeps you awake at night or causes emotional upheaval is a good place to start. Trust where the writing takes you and follow the flip out rule- if anything too upsetting or distressing comes up, don’t write about it. Writing to learn where you need to go, is how Pennebaker puts it.
After journaling with any of the three journal approaches, be sure to always leave a little time to reflect, to measure any changes. Observe. Do you feel calmer, more positive, less irritable after your writing? If you can answer Yes, then it’s working.
Laura Gouldbourne, January 2024.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Laura Gouldbourne, MA Graduate in Creative Writing & Wellbeing from Teesside University, UK, is the author of And We All Live Happily Ever After: Exploring the Nature of Happiness Through Stories, Wellbeing and Psychology. Available on Amazon Kindle.
Her writing can be found on Medium.com @Laura.G23
