4 Powerful Reasons Journal Writing Is Good for the Soul

         4 Powerful Reasons Journal Writing is Good for the Soul 

I’ve used journal writing for self-care for more than fifty years. During each stage of life, journal writing has helped me identify and accept troubling emotions and thoughts and gradually convert them into positive ones. I found that by spilling my anger, hurt, sadness, worry, amazement, shock, grief, or confusion out on to the page, my attachment or tendency to “rethink” a particular issue lessened and I felt relieved.

In the past, writing in a journal has enabled me to look at the stories I tell myself to determine if I’m interpreting things realistically or letting my emotions take off on a roller coaster ride. As I hold pen in hand and scribble away, I feel the synergy of mind, soul/spirit, and body and this grounds me in the moment. 

In situations that involve other people, my journal acts like an intermediary, a designated place to take a “time out” to vent anger, hurt feelings, and fear. This step allows me to cool down hot emotions. If I later think it's necessary to communicate to others about my feelings, I'm able to do it in a kind, direct, and authentic way. I’ve come to believe soul’s plan is to help me encounter and love myself wholeheartedly. My soul writing helps me grow-up my attitudes and behaviors in relationships with myself, my family, friends, work relationships, and even with people I casually relate to from time to time.

Quiet time spent like this has helped me connect with higher purpose, my soul’s purpose. Soul guides me back to my core, a place of gentle trust and love. 

See a definition of soul here from Merriam-Webster.com

Soul is a noun \ˈsōl\

1: the spiritual part of a person that is believed to give life to the body and in many religions is believed to live forever

2: a person's deeply felt moral and emotional nature

3: the ability of a person to feel kindness and sympathy for others, to appreciate beauty and art, etc.

My belief about soul has evolved over the years, yet one constant is that journal writing has been a direct pathway between mind, body, and spirit. I don't always know what will be revealed through writing, yet this reflective time taps into the “self-empowerment potential” and blessings of connecting with higher wisdom.

One of my life goals is to become the “best me” that I can be. If that is something you care about, read on. Here are 4 reasons soul journaling can help you.

1. Our soul wants the very best for us and others. It awakens our senses and helps us find ways to be more compassionate, empathetic, and generous.  Soul work through journal writing can improve our relationships with friends, family, and ourselves. It can also help us leave or detach from relationships that are unhealthy for us.

2. Soul writing allows us to take a break from the hectic pace of keeping up with modern technology and the material world. Even if you have to get up a few minutes earlier than everyone else in your home, you deserve to reserve space where there is no noise pollution or distractions. If you're anything like I am, it's important to remember not to listen to thoughts that tell you "you should do something else" or "be somewhere else." Take time to nurture yourself in this way. Journaling allows us to check in with ourselves. Often, it helps us shift gears enough that we can find peace and serenity in the process. Then, we can face the world refreshed and renewed.

3. Whenever we're in-touch with negative thoughts, judgments, shame, and even resentments that we harbor about ourselves and others, a journal is a good place to leave them. When I look at what I’m writing, I can catch those times when I’m blaming others for something I need to accept responsibility for. When I fess up and laugh at what I’m doing, my soul unburdens me of guilt, self-judgment, and I readily accept responsibility for myself. I’ve also learned that just because I feel momentary panic about an event in the future or fear confronting another person, I don’t have to act or change the situation immediately. My soul journal is there to help me see the light.

4. Journaling for the soul can unblock stale energy. It allows us to be a witness to things we're stewing over, but can’t control. Whenever I feel I'm not right with myself, journal writing can be used as a form of meditation. Awareness is often all that I need to let go of obsession about other people, places, and things. Observing my mind like this, helps me remember to mind my own business and leave the rest. What about you? Have you tried journal writing as a self-help tool?

Here’s what great writers, thinkers, philosophers and wise sages say about the Soul. It's from Oprah on Super Soul Sunday.

 Video Super Soul Sunday

A definition of Soul that resonates most with me is Marianne Williamson’s belief about the soul. “The soul is the truth of who we are: the light, the love, the truth of us.”

Journal writing can help you too. It’s a way to check in with your feelings, thoughts, and perceptions. It’s a safe place to vent your anger, sadness, joy, secret longings, as well as record successes and triumphs.

Journal writing has helped me access the innate power I have inside myself to heal emotional suffering. I’ve found that writing about my unresolved hurts, fear, and pain experienced in my mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional body, I'm able to process the stress factor in them. This relaxes me and usually lessens physical symptoms like headache, backache, stomach ache and tension.

When I lack faith, feel overwhelmed, or realize I'm bent out of shape, journal writing often calms me down. Those are the times I address my journal entry to my higher power. Being this specific is just what I need to get closer to my soul and let the rest go.

My journal doesn’t try to fix me, change me, or otherwise force me to snap out of whatever I’m feeling, as some people try to do. My journal loves me unconditionally. It's a best friend who listens, honors, and comforts me by letting me express my innermost despair to my greatest joy uninterrupted. 

If you want to take better care of yourself, please check out Colors of Joy: A Woman's Guide for Self-Discovery, Balance, and Bliss. It features 12 weeks' worth of self-development activities and color-coded exercises in an interactive journal format. It's easy and fun to follow. 

Find it on My Website

Find it @ Amazon Books

Do you journal? Has it helped you sort things out? Do you feel a soul connection when you journal? How does that make you feel? Please let me know. I appreciate your input. Have a great day!

This post was updated 10/26/17

The quotation for today is: 

“Writing is the act of discovery.” 

― Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within

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