I can't thank you enough guys for all the great responses. They are all extremely helpful. I did speak to me therapist about it and she was very much for it.

I found it best to use a spiral bound artist's skecth pad. The absence of lines was a challenge to my tightly controlled, logical oderly mind.

It also encouraged sketching and drawing which can be even more revealing of my inner state.

Journalling is good -

though sometimes - honestly as inappropriate -whatever - i find i needed to speak stuff out loud -

i had been so muted -

just today someone on this site said in a pm -

thanks for sharing your life -

part of me has a hard time thinking that

people think i should just be seen

not heard

journalling is good - also talk

to me -

mark

there are a few websites about journaling:

http://www.writingthejourney.com

I have been drawing lately; it helps!
Vernon

Bumping this to ask another question.

How do those of you that do journal organize how you write? Do you just touch the nib to paper and let the words flow out, or do you look for specific issues or things to work on and write about (other than T assignments)?

I think something like this could really help me quiet the voices that are constantly babbling in my head, but I want to make the most out of the experience.

Or am I doomed to flail about for a while, trying to find a method that works for me?

timsutt

Originally I wrote what was in my head usually brought about by a flashabck or trigger. Today I write about specifics once again usually brought about by a flashback, a forgotten memory or a trigger usually by a particular peice of music I am listening too but more so today I write about survivor issues which includes my opinions on how abuse is portaryed in the press which in turn leads on to politics of which I am just getting involved.

regards
Kirk
"Lets grab this bull by the horns and swing it about a bit"

Tim,

I would just start out and see how it goes. In your first entry, perhaps try writing down what you hope to get from journaling. You will soon find your own direction and style and decide what you do and don't want to include.

Much love,
Larry

I have an online diary. It helps, and I think I need other people to read my thoughts. It is very interesting to be honest with unknown people. However, I don't speak about my past in the diary.

Alexey

Writing letters to the ones who hurt me and the ones I hurt was very therapeutic, I also journaled my feelings, something that would not go away, a thought or event journaled out is a good way to deal with the issue in my opinion. My wifes affair, I wrote letters to her, some she read and some she will never see but in large I learned from them. Looking back through my journals I realized my life, parents, the abuse/molestation had shaped my personality and it helped me realize that my childhood was not all that I thought it was cracked up to be. I had stored the memories as a child and by journaling them out and reading them as an adult I was able to see the devastation, that led to further pain but in time healing.