Keeping A Positive Vs Negative Journal

[Pussinboots]

Hi all, I have always journalled in the past about whatever has been on my mind, whether good or bad and I have vented when necessary as that to me is the point of journalling.

 

However, a friend once told me its not wise to keep negative journal entries so I threw mine away and regretted it afterwards.

 

I am now trying to keep just a positive journal where I only write about the good things, places I've been etc but I am finding its not working. It seems to be too false and not true to life and I miss jotting down all my thoughts.

 

Do you think its wise to write negative aswell as positive entries and keep the journals? Do you ever worry about writing anything too personal or venting about someone close to you and them reading it, do you worry who will see your journals after you die?

 

I long to write free form again but I do worry.

[LizEF]

I think if writing out your problems helps you to put them in perspective and resolve them, then it's a good thing. (And apparently this is a technique successfully used by some patients per the advice of their therapists.)

 

If you just wallow in misery, that's not good - of course, I suspect anyone who does this would do it whether they're writing it or not.

 

Another random thought: there is sometimes power in vocalizing (or otherwise expressing in something more concrete than thought) what you're thinking and feeling - whether it's to help you identify and work through those things, or just "get them out" so you can move on, it can be helpful.

 

So, I'd say make sure your journaling is serving a purpose - helping you to overcome negative, helping you to accomplish positive; or documenting things that your children will benefit from (even the common things can be very meaningful to children, as I discovered when reading my mom's journal after her passing). Whatever your purpose is, try to make it a good one and beyond that, I don't think it matters if you're including both negative and positive.

[LizEF]

It can also be really beneficial to go back and read your own writing, whether remembering the good / successful, or recognize how much you've changed (hopefully improved), how you overcame a problem, whatever - the review can be more beneficial than the original recording.

[PaganArcher]

I've been writing a positive and negative journal separately for years. The negative ones go in a fire when I'm done. I dwell on negativity in my life and keeping it in a separate journal to destroy prevents that for me.

[CraigR]

I think it is a matter of what works for you. There is some sense in being able to forgive (maybe yourself) and moving on. If journaling negative thoughts means that you can't release them, then I think I would stop. On the other hand, I think there is a good benefit to free-journaling and just writing as it flows. Some times, I have gone back to a negative entry and added a footnote about having moved past it or a clarification of a resolution to a problem. Having said that, I know from personal experience how powerful it is to keep a daily list of all the people and events that I have been blessed by. On a down day, it can be what lifts me up. You decide what works best for you.

[TSherbs]

CraigR makes good sense to me. I actually never write anything negative in a journal. My journal writing is more like prayer work and meditation: I write for strength and attention and gratitude. If I am feeling bad, I write about something else that I can focus on for strength and connection. And I never look back in my journals: I throw them out over time to make room on my shelf. They are not a record of my life or relationships or whatever. They are a transient repository for my transient reflections as part of building my spirit self.

[Studio97]

If I write something negative in my journal I try to be objective and rational about it as opposed to an emotional rant. I really want my journals to survive me for a lot of reasons. If anyone reads my journals later they will know more about me and maybe learn something about themselves whether my entry had anything to do with them or not because I write about anything and everything: personal, local, national, international, the weather on Alphacentauri: clear And sunny 3000 degrees, temps should return to normal tomorrow to 3500 degrees as this cold front moves out.

And anyway everyone has negative issues to deal with.

Lastly, the only rules one has in what is written in their notebook is made up by the writer. If it feels right then just write it. Sometimes that's the best writing with power behind it.

Edited July 21, 2018 by Studio97

[Tweel]

Your feelings are valid, and self-censorship is, as they say, the worst form of censorship.

[Amory]

Only positive words in my journal. If needs be I write those things which vex me on loose paper or post it notes which I keep in the appropriate place within my journal. When I read through and those negative words feel unimportant they become trash.

[countrydirt]

I rarely go back and read what I previously wrote, positive or negative. I use it more as a mind dump and it helps clear the decks so to speak. However, with that said, I had a 6-9 month period of life where I was dealing with a relationship challenge. I wrote very negative stuff in several journals. I found myself going back to read those entries and was sort of pain shopping. I finally took those books to the fire and literally and metaphorically put the past up in smoke. Now I just write whatever I need to write on any one day.

[Freddy]

Hi all, I have always journalled in the past about whatever has been on my mind, whether good or bad and I have vented when necessary as that to me is the point of journalling.

 

However, a friend once told me its not wise to keep negative journal entries so I threw mine away and regretted it afterwards.

 

I am now trying to keep just a positive journal where I only write about the good things, places I've been etc but I am finding its not working. It seems to be too false and not true to life and I miss jotting down all my thoughts.

 

Do you think its wise to write negative aswell as positive entries and keep the journals? Do you ever worry about writing anything too personal or venting about someone close to you and them reading it, do you worry who will see your journals after you die?

 

I long to write free form again but I do worry.

Been a long time Pussinboots.....

 

 

You wrote...."but I like to journal as and when I feel the need"

"past journals I didn't give a monkeys what anyone would think if they read them

but then somehow being paranoid got in the way"

 

Deal with it and do whatever you want to do.

 

Me: I have no regrets and when I die... I leave....Don't hurt anyone with your words or actions and worm food.

 

Life is circular...Events can reoccur years later like a theme in a jazz variation...... ......... ........... ...........

.............. .................

Fred,

you haven't lived till you've almost died. For those who have fought for it,

life has a flavor the protected will never know.

Edited July 21, 2018 by Freddy

[Pussinboots]

Only positive words in my journal. If needs be I write those things which vex me on loose paper or post it notes which I keep in the appropriate place within my journal. When I read through and those negative words feel unimportant they become trash.

 

Can I just ask, what type of stuff do you record in your journal and do you find it difficult just sticking to the positive? The stuff I've written in my current journal isn't incriminating but does involve struggles and emotions. I find I am struggling to write in the more positive journal because there isn't that urge to write as much.

Edited July 21, 2018 by Pussinboots

[gmax]

I write whatever is on my mind. It has come as a surprise that I seldom/never read back over older entries. The writing process itself has value as a way to clear my mind and clarify my thinking, and I think some of that value would be lost if I were to allow self-censorship creep in.

[Pussinboots]

I write whatever is on my mind. It has come as a surprise that I seldom/never read back over older entries. The writing process itself has value as a way to clear my mind and clarify my thinking, and I think some of that value would be lost if I were to allow self-censorship creep in.

 

 

I write whatever is on my mind. It has come as a surprise that I seldom/never read back over older entries. The writing process itself has value as a way to clear my mind and clarify my thinking, and I think some of that value would be lost if I were to allow self-censorship creep in.

 

Do you keep all your journals even if you don't read them back?

[Studio97]

 

 

 

Do you keep all your journals even if you don't read them back?

Question is not directed at me but I have to say something on that anyway. I have kept all but one journal; but I have looked back into them and reading some entries I realise my notebooks are even more important to me. I illustrate them with my art, photos, clippings, anything that interested me at the time. Entries remind me of things forgotten but we're important In my life and thoughts. And maybe my journals are different from other journaling writers.

I have read a hundred suggestions about what to put in a journal: lists of things, 10th grade summer vacation, first fish I ever caught, 1st month in college, and so on. That's fine if that's what you want to put in your journal. In these lists of suggestions I hardly ever see a suggestion to write about other subjects at large. I write about the crime in my city and any thoughts concerns etc, the rescue of the Thai soccer team, what are exactly the qualifications required to be a captain on a duck tour boat? It can get deep. I have always written this way and looking back into them I find a storehouse of memories and stories of my (our) lives.

I recently pasted in an old 5x7 photo I made at about age 13 when airport staff were so used to seeing me, I was never stopped or questioned about my stomping around the edge of the tarmac inside the "secured" area. The photo I made was of an F86 Sabrejet fighter and mechanics preparing to work on its 4 machine guns in the nose. Those were the days and that why I journal, keep them and look back on those entries. Its what i do.

 

So positive and negative stuff is all in there and sometimes when I was served a lemon, I made lemonade.

Edited July 22, 2018 by Studio97

[Amory]

Can I just ask, what type of stuff do you record in your journal and do you find it difficult just sticking to the positive? The stuff I've written in my current journal isn't incriminating but does involve struggles and emotions. I find I am struggling to write in the more positive journal because there isn't that urge to write as much.

My recent journals are mostly travel journals in which I detail things that have given me pleasure or back stories to photographs. When I am at a time in life when traveling becomes too difficult I will enjoy reading about my adventures I hope.

Positivity for me is a habit and in all truthfulness I rarely even have negative thoughts let alone feel any need to write about them.

I would gladly share topics that I journal on but may I suggest some books that are far better guides than I could ever be.

Morning Pages by Julia Cameron

Creative Journal Writing by Stephanie Dowrick

The Private Life of the Diary by Sally Bayley

But on a lighter note this is a recent journal entry:

....the new pedal bin arrived today for kitchen waste. It has a metal lid that makes the noise of a symbol as it crashes shut which adds a sense of occasion....

Amory

[gmax]

Do you keep all your journals even if you don't read them back?

 

Yes, I do keep them all, for now. Occasionally I will dip into them, but I don't read them systematically - it's not as if there's a consistent theme anyway.

 

In terms of resources, Susannah Conway offers plenty of good advice and prompts for journalling

[inkstainedruth]

I keep a morning pages journal. I think of it as my daily core dump. It's whatever comes into my mind -- good, bad, indifferent. If I say "negative" things it's because that's what's on my mind this morning. I also write down dreams (if I remember them), what I did the day before, to do lists, considerations of movies/TV shows I've seen or books I've read, analyze the changes in my handwriting from one page to the next (I'm probably a handwriting analysis's worst nightmare, because sometimes it looks as if I have multiple personality disorder ), or whatever. And then I close it and go on with my day.

There's a chapter in The Artists' Way (where I first learned about this type of journaling) where you do go back and pay attention to "breakthroughs" you have. But for the most part it's write the 3 pages, close the journal, and go about the rest of my day. I suppose at some point in the future I might get rid of old volumes, but haven't gotten to that point yet.

Positive/negative journals may do for some people -- but for me that just sounds like too much work.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[vjones]

"Negative" is a broad term encompassing many things. I tend to experience anxiety and worry (things I perceive as negative) and I find that writing about it is helpful--particularly when I read what I wrote later and see how everything worked out. That helps me get some perspective on worrying.

 

If I were writing lots of things that I thought might be hurtful to loved-ones, then I'd be more concerned. As it is, I'm pretty sure what I've written would be extremely boring, and I've told anyone who might have to deal with them to feel free to burn my journals unread.

 

It's really interesting to see the ways different people use their journals. Ultimately, it's a personal and unique thing.

[sharonspens]

I was speaking with someone about journaling earlier this month. She explained that she and one of her daughters have made a pact: if mother dies first, daughter will take all of her journals and burn them, unread, and vice versa.

 

Sharon in Indiana