If you’d asked me fifteen years ago what journaling was all about, I’d have said: thoughts and emotions. Journaling, for me, was the outpouring of my intellectual and emotional selves. At the time, I didn’t know any different. Fast forward to the present day, with countless hours of study and professional practice under my belt, and it’s clear that I had completely missed another important aspect – one that has a huge amount to offer.
My passion these days is to take a ‘whole self’ approach to journaling. This means bringing together intellect, emotions and the physical self. I practice this in my own journals, and I love to share it with others who come along to my workshops.
This approach weaves together a number of strands that have threaded their way through my studies and my working life over the years. There is reflective writing (the realm of the intellectual self) which is the backbone of so much journaling practice. There’s expressive writing (a natural home for the emotional self) which opened the door to the wonderful world of writing for wellbeing for me. And there’s mind-body writing, which I focused on for my MSc research and which is, I believe, an area of so much untapped potential.
To explain what I mean in more detail, I’ll start with the last point first – the body – since that’s where, in life, we all begin…
The Physical Self
The body is our portal to the outside world. Through our senses, we orientate ourselves in the environment and navigate our way around it. These senses also allow us to interact with others. All of this is, of course, integral to our survival. So much so that long before we can use our rational minds to help us intellectualise and verbalise, (while we’re still very young), our bodies are using their own wisdom and knowledge to keep us alive. Through journaling, we have the chance to bring some of that wisdom out into the open.
Meanwhile, the more I’ve explored mind-body practices, the more I have found myself believing that the body is the first stop for our emotions too. Previously, I would have said that emotions resided in the mind. But there’s increasing evidence that mind and body are far more intertwined than our modern, Western society has led many of us to believe. Emotions have a place in the body as well as in the mind.
What does all of this mean for journal writing? Here are a few thoughts:
- I’m a big fan of sensory journal writing prompts, particularly to warm up and get some words on the page.
- Writing from the body – from the senses – can help to add richness and depth to any descriptive writing we might do in our journals.
- Noticing what the body has to say can inform our reflective writing too (read on to learn more about this below).
The Emotional Self
I was in my early teens when I first started keeping a journal. Into it, I poured my deepest feelings about life – its ups and, in particular, its downs. This was something I did instinctively – using writing as a way to vent and seek some sense of solace.
Expressive writing, in this way, is a core part of journaling. It has also become a key research area in the world of writing for wellbeing. The fascinating research of James Pennebaker and colleagues was what sparked my interest in this field back in 2012. And I continue to be influenced by it today. Taking a whole-self approach to journaling means that emotional expression will naturally be an important element.
In an academic sense, for Pennebaker and other researchers, the phrase ‘expressive writing’ has often referred to a particular method – of writing about deeply emotional events for a set amount of time (usually 15-20 minutes) over a number of consecutive days (usually 3 or 4). However, for whole-self journaling, I use a broader definition of the phrase:
- Here, expressive writing is simply about focusing on the emotions and thoughts relating to anything that you’d like to include in your journal.
- It does not have to involve a deeply emotional event and there’s no set timeframe for completion (it’s still worth choosing one for yourself, though, so that your writing has a boundary around it).
- Self-care is particularly important, here. If you feel overwhelmed at any point, step away from your writing and give yourself some time to decompress. When you’re ready to come back to the page, shift your focus to something positive.
Through expressive writing we can connect with our emotional self through the page, and open the door to relief, self-understanding and perhaps even healing.
The Intellectual Self
A journal is a natural place for reflection. You might find yourself thinking back over your day, or a situation you’re curious about, or a problem that’s been bothering you. Meanwhile, reflecting on prompts that take the form of questions is a popular approach to journal writing. There are endless varieties of question that you might use as a prompt, from very practical to existential to imaginative.
Reflection can also involve looking back through the pages of your journal itself. This can be a great way to gain extra insights. You can learn more about who you are, how far you’ve come and where you’re going in life. All you need to do is:
- Flick back through the pages of your journal to see what catches your eye.
- Do you notice any recurring themes or patterns? Are there experiences in life you’d like more of or habits that you need to break? What insights can you take away with you?
- Jot down any thoughts that come to mind. You might wish to use these as the starting point for a new journal entry another day.
Working Together
At this point, we come full circle since I’d like to bring the body back in. In fact, I’d argue that it never left. In the sections above, I separated out the different ‘selves’ – the Physical Self, Emotional Self and Intellectual Self. This can be a useful approach to writing when we’re getting used to tuning into our different parts. With that in mind, I’ll often invite participants to focus on one area or another during my workshops.
For everyday journaling, however, it’s likely that each part of you will be at work on some level with any writing that you do. It is worth checking-in with these parts on a regular basis to see what wisdom they have to offer. For example, with sensory writing you can ask yourself what emotions you feel afterwards. With expressive writing, you can ask what insights you can gain from your emotional reactions? And with reflective writing, you can tune into any signals that your body sends you.
By checking-in with your various selves, you can tap into a wealth of personal wisdom. You might do this instinctively, already, or perhaps this concept is completely unfamiliar. Whatever the case, my hope for whole-self journaling is that each of us can be more intentional about how we write. In doing so, we can enjoy the benefits of bringing our whole self to the page.