Mad Mischief is the tale of a woman who goes through incredible trauma, and finds deep solace in a lifelong practice of journaling. She is able to process her life story with her journal in a way that ultimately leads to her healing. I am also an avid journal keeper, it has helped me through many difficult experiences. Journaling can be one of the best ways to maintain mental and emotional wellness. Here are a few guidelines that I have found helpful in my process:
- Find a quiet time and place; no need to have perfect silence of course.. some find that writing at a coffee shop or bus station can be very helpful. And even if you just do 5 minutes a day, it can lead to surprising relults.
- If you are journaling about painful experiences, take a moment and bring up how those events impacted you.
- Let your deepest thoughts and feelings flow. If you can commit to writing for say 20 minutes straight without stopping you might be amazed at what you discover.
- Read back what you wrote and notice if there is a shift in feeling or perception.
- It’s always good to have a support system to address more intense levels of trauma, like a therapist, support group, or trusted friend.
- Write about the same event or trauma at least 2 more times. It has been found that doing so can help you organize and improve the clarity of all that you experienced.
You could be amazed at the healing and learning that this process can bring to your whole life and to being able to better handle difficult situations in the future.