Why and How to use Thought Journals:
- Annetha Kruger
- Aug 30, 2018
- 3 min read
Why Thought Journals?
We go to all sorts of therapies to help us process our thoughts. Even coffee with your friends are therapy. When you are married you voice project your thoughts on your spouse. If you are single- copy the process by writing. There’s a saying: “What gets measured gets managed” – this is also true of our emotions and thoughts. Solving problems always starts with an awareness- thought journaling helps us track our thoughts so we become aware of the problems. I am one of those people who speak to think instead of thinking to speak, thus for me writing down my thoughts helps me create new thoughts. Our thoughts turn into our beliefs, and this shapes how we respond to everything we do in life.
What Can We Journal about?
Gratitude lists, this helps us remain positive in our thinking. We get what we focus on, if you focus on what you have instead of what you don’t have, you attract more of what you have and want.
Fears – we can have many fears that all have an underlying main fear and that fear stems from a belief based on thoughts of experience. E.g. I am afraid of the devil and snakes; both these are characters representing deception. Being afraid of deception could come from past experiences of someone disappointing us by not being truthful. – what's interesting one of my top values are brutal honesty.
Emotions- our emotions are the first sign that something is going well or that there is a problem that we need to investigate.
Setting boundaries- keeping journals on your value’s, what you want etc. can help you set clear boundaries and helps us to stay consistent in them.
To-Do lists, Vocation tracking and Goals – these are simple ways to manage our time and productivity in what we value.
Relationships & Intuition – When we use thought journals to write about feelings and hunches we have or about other people’s situations, we start to see how accurate we are in understanding and perceiving emotions of others and our self.
How to use a thought journal:
Choose a specific time in your daily routine to write down what you experienced that day
Highlight Negative or Positive thoughts and feelings when you are done writing them down.
Next dissect each thought or feeling by asking yourself why you thought or felt that way.
Write down your answers. Ask yourself why up to 7 times if necessary until you see the true reason for your thought or emotion.
E.g. Anger, why am I angry about someone being late? –Because I feel they let me down. Why do I feel let down? – Because I trust this person. Why do I now struggle to trust this person? –Because if they are late it shows they maybe don’t value me as much as I value them. – Why does this bother me? – Because I am very Loyal and fear deception. – Why? Etc.
Remember to add the date so you can track your growth.
As you can see I am a bit of an over analytical person, but thought journals help me to investigate thoughts thus also managing my over analytical nature. Thought journaling has turned into a fun hobby for me and it has many advantages that I feel is worth sharing.
Keep Improving
The Ameliorate Team
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