[JonB]

Any suggestions for journaling topics? I feel the need to move beyond just documenting my sessions and tracking what's on my mind. What do you guys journal about in regard to therapy (or life in general)? Just looking for a little inspiration here. As long as I'm not sleeping these days, I might as well be productive and write.

[Bleufacez]

When I can't write... I write poems. Sometimes update blogs. Do picture collage. Journal don't necessarily means write... it's recording what's on your mind that day and what happened to you (feelings, factuals, imaginary) and can be interpreted w/o words.

If there's nothing to say.. then I don't journal. You can try writing a short story? Maybe an autobio?

[alexandra]

Feelings?

You could use 'what happened' as a base...
And what you thought as a base...
And add to the story how you felt...
And why...

Though creative stuff like poems can be fun too :-)

[Numbers]

I just write whatever is on my mind. Sometimes I just doodle something or write questions I've been thinking about. How I wish something would be. Sometimes if I feel I learned something important I write it down or if I find a new flower or see a funny looking bird I look it up and write about it. Poems, drawings, feelings descriptions (of places, smells, conversations), dreams, wishes, goals, prayers, achievements, regrets, fantasies, stories, funny situations during the day, misunderstandings. Good ideas I got and lists of all the good things in the day.
If I miss somebody I write about them.
Sometimes I write about myself in a siuation I wish to be or sometimes I write what realy happened that day and then rewrite it into something positive.
If I've had a song on my mind I write it down... Or some math I couldn't do.
Confessions if I've done something bad, a summary of a book or an article I read... anything bassicaly.

I've never been to therapy so I couldn't say anything about that.

[Sarah116]

Sounds great! I write down anything and everything. there is an old book called Harriet the spy whom does the same exact thing that is where I really got started after reading that book years ago. I also like to keep track on how I am doing.

[Perna]

I often journal about what touches me when I'm reading or about responses I make online.

I look at whatever reminds me of something my T may have said that I see outside of therapy. My T called me names :-) and I look for my behavior outside therapy that may show me what she sees. I just made a post in a school forum that reminded me of her comments and that got me thinking about whether I could "be" the positive version of what she sees while I work on loosening or controlling the negative version.

Everything has two sides, pick a word/feelig you have trouble with and work on it? My T "assigned" me a word a couple times (first "humiliation" then, "disappointment") and it was really interesting the things that happened that I realized were humiliating and disappointing those couple weeks. I got much better at seeing, naming, and describing my feelings.

[JonB]

Thanks for the great ideas everyone. I'm filling up lots of pages - just wanted to get a little more out of it than the feeling that I'm just rambling on and on, which I tend to do. Lacking direction seems to be a pattern for me (see the post I'm getting ready to type in minute)....thanks again wise folks

This is MY expriences with what journaling is for therapy including my having DID -

http://myself.psychcentral.net/2006/...iting-for-did/

[biiv]

Thanks for this topic JonB. Ive just been writing down some of the great ideas that have come up. i think i need to spend a lot more time outside therapy journaling and working on stuff or i ll never get anywhere. these ideas can help me find some direction in that as you say.
usually up to now i write when the mood takes me which is very sporadically and it could be because a thought popped into my head that i havent had before - a thought about anything. maybe a realisation about life in general, how i act, why someone else acts as they do, something about a book im reading that got my brain racing. sometimes i write because im sitting somewhere and looking at something beautiful like the tree outside my window or the ducks in the park or the clouds at sunset or a street lamp in the rain. sometimes i write because whatever emotion im feeling is so powerful its coming up as a creative piece of writing (that doesnt happen too often as i tend to avoid emotions.lol). or i might just write because i remember something and need to get it on paper or to vent or whatever.
hope some of these are of use to you!
biiv