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Is it healthy to write down your thoughts?
Journaling helps control your symptoms and improve your mood by: Helping you prioritize problems, fears, and concerns. Tracking any symptoms day-to-day so that you can recognize triggers and learn ways to better control them. Journaling also helps people hone their focus so that they think about only one thing at a time. When you write your thoughts by hand, you can only write one word at a time. Your thoughts slow down to match your writing speed and you’ll find that it’s easier to slip out of your overthinking mindset. Journaling can make you feel worse when you brood on the page, when writing is just a method of venting in which you constantly reinforce the story at the core of your reactions and emotions. In this case, indulging your anger only prolongs it — and your suffering. The answer is yes. A 2018 research study found that people who journaled had a reduction in symptoms of depression and anxiety. That’s because the process of writing can release pent-up feelings and negative thoughts, which helps to quiet the mind.
Is writing down your thoughts healthy?
Journaling helps control your symptoms and improve your mood by: Helping you prioritize problems, fears, and concerns. Tracking any symptoms day-to-day so that you can recognize triggers and learn ways to better control them. Many mental health experts recommend journaling because it can improve your mood and manage symptoms of depression. Studies support this and suggest journaling is good for your mental health. It may also make therapy work better. So can journaling be harmful? The answer is yes, there are scenarios in which journaling can be harmful, but these scenarios are easily avoidable. Just like anything, you have to moderate the amount of time you spend doing it. You simply have to know when to stop. Journaling can be an effective way to manage overthinking. Writing down your thoughts can help you to clarify them and see them from a different perspective. It can also help track your progress as you work through your issues. Stosny believes that journaling can take a negative turn when it wallows in the unpleasant things that have happened to you, makes you a passive observer in your life, makes you self-obsessed, becomes a vehicle of blame instead of solutions, and makes you live too much in your head. You have a hard time concentrating on writing Another reason journaling doesn’t work for you could be that you have a hard time focusing or concentrating on the writing. Feeling spacey, having jumbled thoughts, or being in a rush could prohibit you from having a solid journaling experience.
Is it good to write down intrusive thoughts?
Write down your intrusive thoughts. This has two benefits: first, it forces you to slow down your thinking and tendency to worry because you can’t write nearly as fast as you can think. The bottom line is, thoughts come and go. Trying to control what thoughts occur when, or trying to stop certain thoughts from happening altogether, is a poor use of your time and energy. Side note: trying NOT to think of something actually makes it more likely that you will. Writing helps your brain grow Given that many areas of the brain are engaged, the more you write, the more neural connections are formed within your brain. What’s more is that when you pen words on paper, the neurons in your brain fire signals at rapid speed, thus enabling you to make more connections. The two most common diagnoses associated with intrusive thoughts are anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). They can also be a symptom of depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Bipolar Disorder, or Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Writing is mentally exhausting, and if you work for long stretches of time, it can be physically exhausting too. This is where writer burnout comes into play. Thoughts and feelings pass through awareness without pushing them away or following them, as you rest in the sense of your whole body. If you like, open to any nagging concerns or pushed away emotions in the back of your mind and let them come forward . . . letting them flow as they will through awareness . . .
Is it OK to write down negative thoughts?
THE WRITING TECHNIQUE: To release negative emotions, you should just write whatever you are thinking. Do not stop to think and continue expressing your thoughts and emotions. Let the thoughts roll out of your brain and keep on writing them. It’s for your own good, so don’t stop to edit. Writing is the best way to question your notions and opinions in order to make them stronger. Writing is thinking on paper. Putting your thoughts on paper forces you to look at them from a different perspective. Journaling evokes mindfulness and helps writers remain present while keeping perspective. It presents an opportunity for emotional catharsis and helps the brain regulate emotions. It provides a greater sense of confidence and self-identity. Getting your thoughts out of your head and down on paper by jotting them in a journal can also help you conquer overthinking. Start with a stream-of-consciousness practice. Allow each idea to emerge naturally and, as it forms, write it down without judging. This is one of the lessons that every writer comes to appreciate: writing is thinking. Writing is not the artifact of thinking, it’s the actual thinking process.
Is it better to write or type your thoughts?
Many studies suggest that there are brain-friendly benefits of writing out letters, notes, essays, or journal entries by hand that you can’t get from typing. Writing by hand connects you with the words and allows your brain to focus on them, understand them and learn from them. Sharpened Critical Thinking Comparing handwriting vs. typing, you’re more exposed to critical thinking when you write by hand than when you type. Handwriting allows you to think more thoroughly about the information you’re recording. It encourages you to expand upon your thoughts and form connections between them. Journaling Can Increase Intelligence Improving your vocabulary and your communication may increase your intelligence. Studies show a link between creativity, such as writing and art, and mental intelligence. Journaling is a practice in language and literacy, and it also deals with creativity. Journaling helps keep your brain in tip-top shape. Not only does it boost memory and comprehension, it also increases working memory capacity, which may reflect improved cognitive processing. Writing things down doesn’t just help you remember, it makes your mind more efficient by helping you focus on the truly important stuff. And your goals absolutely should qualify as truly important stuff.