Start a Journal

Many people find it hard to start journal writing. If writing down your intimate thoughts and ideas doesn’t come easy to you, here’s a few suggestions to get you going.

1. Start with the present moment

Begin by writing about what you see or feel in the moment. Describe a scene from your window, or try to capture an image or feeling that represents your current mood.

Go on to describe what it is that has prompted you to write. Do you have a problem that needs to be worked out? Is it perhaps that you need to make an assessment of where you are in life now – what are your expectations? Positioning yourself in the present moment in this way can provide a stepping-stone to a deeper understanding of yourself.

2. Try writing about the immediate past

Find the period in your recent past that was most meaningful to you.
Was it a problem, an achievement, an incident? Perhaps this period spanned a number of months or years. You married, changed jobs, moved to another city.
Try to keep it simple. Ira Progoff recommends brevity. If you can, capture the details in a simple statement that includes an image like:

‘I feel as if I’ve been walking a tightrope …’
‘My journey to now has been a rocky road …’

Make sure you don’t make judgements about yourself during this writing exercise. Simply record the facts. If an emotion surfaces that you want to get rid of say goodbye to it in your journal. This is a simple method for dropping the heavy emotional baggage you might be carrying.

3. Write a self-portrait

Describe yourself in a few brief sentences. What sort of person do you believe yourself to be? What events led you to the present moment of understanding? Where are you going?

Using imagery here can also be a great help in defining yourself in your imagination. A few moments of quiet reflection can often produce quite powerful images that contribute to self-knowledge.

4. Try word clustering

When writing seems like a chore, use this technique as an alternative. Sit in a quiet place and relax. Clear your mind by focusing on your breath. When you are calmer, allow a word to come to mind. Focus on this word until you feel it is right for the present. When you are ready, open your eyes, take up your pen and write the word in the middle of a page. Circle it, and then add other words in the same way. Associate these words to others until you have clusters of words on the page.

This technique breaks the dependency on linear structures of writing and allows you to see patterns of thought you might not have otherwise identified.

When the exercise is complete, write a brief paragraph about what you have understood through this clustering of ideas.