When you think of self help you might picture groups of
people who require urgent stress self help, self-help for depression, or
anxiety self help. A self-help group may be incredibly helpful to you, and
there is no need to feel embarrassed or wrong if you feel down or stressed and
in need of assistance. After all, asking for help is an important sign of
strength.
Self-help and recovery are important aspects of everyday
life. You can actually apply small self-help techniques to help you to cope
more effectively with whatever life throws at you at any given time.
An important avenue for self-help is journaling. Whether you
journal on a scrap of paper or into a notebook or beautiful journal is
irrelevant. What really matters is your total absorption in the moment. Writing
in a journal can be your time to heal. Give yourself permission to just let go
and absorb the moment. Allow yourself to feel, dream, think, create, and feel
lost in the moment. Since you’re journaling only for yourself, you can ignore
spelling, grammar, or propriety. For example, you can “say” things to a person
in a journal that you could not say face to face.
Wake up your inner child. Can you still remember how you
absorbed the world when you were little? As it happens, many busy people lose
their ability to relax because of all the demands placed on them. Be it because
of ever-growing pressures of responsibility or a total feeling of being
overwhelmed, you can take charge of your life by journaling as self help
therapy. Kathleen Adams, author of Journal to the Self calls journaling “The 79
cent therapist.” And if you do decide to work with a therapist or life coach,
your journal will be an important tool to enhance the new life you’re learning.
