Why Journaling in Grief Helps
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Journaling is older than the written word. Humans have been tracking their lives since time began. So why is writing in a journal helpful and what are benefits of journaling in grief.
What is Journaling
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To put it simply journaling is to draw, or write as a means to express yourself. You may of heard of gratitude journals, a daily journal to record your life. But what about journaling in times of grief. In this article we look at the benefits of journaling through grief and why it may help in the grieving process.
Processing your thoughts in a safe place or creating a documentary of a journey, is a effective way to sort through life and create new outcomes.
There are three big benefits to keeping a journal in times of grief and grieving:
- Allows for a safe place to write your thoughts (and vent)
- Expressing the processes of life
- Act of writing connect you with yourself
Safe Space to Vent
Journaling creates a safe space to ponder any and every thought that comes to mind. Sometimes one of the best ways to manage the overwhelm of life is to empty your head of the thoughts, ideas, and information running through your mind.
Help to Take Care of the Mind
Writing down the information allows you to move thoughts and free up to let it go. The brain is no longer required to manage so much information.
Journaling your thoughts fires neurons that expand ideas. Writing things out creates a space for thoughts to come and go similar to the practise of meditation.
Then you can go back and add to the ideas or thoughts or let them go if they no longer suit you. The simple act of asking yourself what if invites the possibilities to come. Journaling is like breathing space for the mind. Something you may not be able to get elsewhere.
Express Yourself in Difficult Times
Just as art, music and dance are forms of expression, journaling is a fundamental way that people express themselves. Whether you are doing Bible journaling, bullet journaling or writing long hand in a leather bound book filled with empty pages. You are expressing yourself in a very profound way.
No two journals are alike and there is great power in having an outlet to share whatever is on the forefront of your mind.
Expressing yourself gives you an outlet to manage the emotions of a difficult time in life. The activity of writing in a journal can be a way to recharge your batteries and do some self-care. Journaling can give a pathway to a passion to write about, draw, or capture your thoughts in this time of grief.
Capture Your Thoughts
Life is fleeting. What you are experiencing today is going to be a memory in a very short amount of time. What you feel about life, happiness, sadness, eltation, or confusion won’t always be the case. Journaling creates a timeline to help you live in the moment and help to record memories that you may worry you’ll forget. Such a memories of a loved one.
One day your family may read your journal and have a new and profound understanding of who you were and what you were managing at different times of life. Especially in difficult time there is a lot of confusion and stress which can lead to forgetfulness.
So in grief and loss a journal can store memories while expressing them as you want them to be. There are undeniable advantages to exploring the possibilities, expressing yourself and have a historical perspective on life.
Ways to Journal – Here Are Some Ideas
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Not every journal has to be a blank paged book that you write in for hours sharing your innermost thoughts. Some journals take minutes to update. Others use no words at all. Journaling isn’t so much about how you do it as it is that you do it with frequency and consistency.
Depending on the outcome you desire from journaling, you can design a journal practice that accommodates your needs. You can keep track of a goal, work through difficult times, express yourself creatively, engage in self-care or simply catalogue your dreams or thoughts. Whatever your need, there is a way to journal it.
Let’s Look at Some Traditional Journal Ideas
- Blank notebooks
- Electronic notebooks
- A writer’s pad
- Fill-in-the-blank prompting journals
- Gratitude and or memory journals
Traditional Journals
Traditional journals are great for people who love to write and spend time laying out their thoughts and ideas with minimal prompting or influence from the outside. For those more comfortable at the keyboard, an electronic journal may be ideal.
Here are some unconventional journal ideas
- Bullet journals
- Video journals
- Bible Art journals
- Art journals
- Vision boards or boxes
- Mind maps
These unique journal styles usually appeal to men and women who prefer alternatives to longhand or traditional journaling. Busy people who don’t have spare time may find bullet journaling an effective way to stay on track with the expressing themselves without sacrificing too much energy.
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Artists type people may prefer expressing their thoughts, ideas, and dreams in a doodle journal or through a series of painted pieces in a collection. Sometimes the mere activity of making the art opens the mind to new thoughts while it is distracted by the art activity.
For those who prefer no-nonsense and practical methods of journaling, a mind map may be just the ticket. Mind mapping takes ideas and thoughts and creates compartmentalized areas for each thought. Then the ideas that match that thought are neatly assigned to the thought. This is a very unique way to organize anything from starting a moving through grief journal or ways to reclaim your life as you heal from grief.
Concluding the Benefits of Journaling in Grief
The take-away about journaling is the fact that there are as many ways to express ourselves as there are ideas in our heads. You may enjoy writing longhand about how grateful you are each night for the little things in your life. Or you you may prefer an electronic notepad to journal that you take to the park or a quiet place and express your thoughts.
Journaling is a safe and personal means to do what you need to get off your chest, or record memories. It is your personal time to write for a few minutes a day or a few times a week. This is one part of your process through grief and loss, it is unique to you.
Grab a journal that is pretty along with a nice pen. Nothing helps get it all out while putting pen to paper. Get started today!
loss and journaling has many benefits. on your smart phone that you use to jot down bullet points on business ideas that pop into your head at work. Having more than one journal is as common as journaling itself.
