Stress less, try journaling

Are you irritable? Can’t focus? Easily confused? Restless? Generally upset? Do you eat too much? Do you lack sense of humor? You could be stressed! But who isn’t? Even kids experience stress. The stress is on stress as Sr. Dolores Mitch, MM flies in from New York to give a talk  — take note now — on journal writing for stress release and creativity at the SMX Book Fair set on Sept. 14. The inspirational Lumine — Finding the Light book by Tetch Canon-Garcia will also be launched at the fair.

Sr. Dolores, a licensed consultant for dialogue house associates who has led IJ (Intensive Journal) workshops for 15 years in the Philippines and in the US, will talk on how the continued practice of journaling can reduce stress, release creativity, and increase self-knowledge.

Sr. Dolores relates that one couple having trouble in their marriage did not really take the workshop to iron out the kinks in their relationship, but in the course of writing, it came up in different ways. Reading back these entries led them to this important phase of their lives, which they took note of and put in the proper perspective.

Together, loving couple Joji and Tetch Garcia took an IJW (Intensive Journal Workshop) with Sr. Dolores.  For Joji, it was “a process of self-discovery, understanding, and healing.” For Tetch, it was “a way to connect to God in the depths of my being and it helped empower me as I coped with the loss of my parents.”

The workshop has helped hundreds of thousands of people find meaning in their lives. Consider it a break from mundane routine, to tie loose ends, heal past hurts, and look inwardly.

Here’s everything you may have wanted to know about journaling but were too stressed to ask. Excerpts from the one-on-one interview with Sr. Dolores Mitch:

PHILIPPINE STAR: Is journaling the same as keeping a diary (most everybody must have done some dairying at some point in their lives)? Or are they entirely different?

SR. DOLORES MITCH: Some of the differences between keeping a journal for your life and writing in a diary are:

• Journaling is not just about events and relationships in your life but how you feel about them and their impact on you. It can give feedback and help you with insights, realizations. It can cover all parts of your life. Brings in your inner self. It’s dynamic.

• Diary is mostly external events. More on the surface of your life. It may be more repetitious and not find solutions to problems, just goes around in circles. It’s static.

How does journaling relieve stress?

Journaling can help you express what’s going on in your life. By writing about it, you get it outside yourself and can look at it more objectively. Journaling and reading back give you feedback about what is going on in your life. It can be like talking over your problems with a friend, but in this case, you are your own friend, and writing it gives you the opportunity to read it back and see what you said and how you feel about it.

In all journaling, the writing is important and, if done regularly, can be a big help. In the Intensive Journal (IJ), the writing is just the beginning, but it’s very important.

How does one go about journaling? Are there hard and fast rules on it? 

As I said, the first important thing about journaling is doing the writing. The IJ covers the whole of a person’s life.

The Intensive Journal method is a systematic approach to journaling about your life. It has a structure which shows in the workbook and divisions that correspond to important areas of your life: The main division is called dimensions and they cover four main areas:

• The Life/Time Dimension — for the Stepping Stones in your life, your life history and memories, and the decisions or intersections in your life.

• The Dialogue Dimension — for significant relationships: persons, works, your body, aspects of society, and the events, situations, and circumstances in your life.

•  The Depth Dimension — for your dreams, twilight imagery, ways of working with these, and the inner wisdom within you.

• The Meaning Dimension — for what gives meaning to your life like beliefs, ultimate concerns, your philosophy or religious tradition; the spiritual side of your life.

Within this structure and different areas of your life, there are patterns and ways of writing which you learn in the IJ workshops.

The IJ Method was developed by Dr. Ira Progoff, PhD in the 1960s and ’70s. It is based on the concepts he developed of Holistic Depth Psychology. Some of its main concepts that are used in this kind of journaling are:

• One’s life unfolds in patterns of units of life/time, cycles or periods. Each unit/period/cycle in your life contains many events, happenings, incidents, and relationships.

• We view our lives neutrally as it unfolds. We write in a non-judgmental way, objectively. Honesty is important. We read back what we write and record the feelings we had when we wrote and when we read back; we also record anything else that stirs in us as we read back.

Just as there are systematic ways of writing in the different sections of the journal, are there also ground rules for the workshops?

Yes. And some of these are:

• The workshop is done in an atmosphere of silence. The leader (journal consultant) explains the exercises, gives the guidelines for each section. and leads the group through the exercises. Any questions that arise are asked, and each person does his/her own writing.

• We work in our lives in a private way; there is no sharing or group dynamics. We can use any language and don’t have to show our journals to anyone.

• Privacy is important in the workshops. There are no introductions, no tape recorders, etc.

• There are times when reading aloud from what you wrote can be done, but the purpose of this is not sharing but to hear oneself read aloud, and notice the feelings that stir as you read, and the feedback from reading aloud. 

• When reading aloud is done, no comments are made by anyone in the group. The leader may clarify the process, give examples or suggest feedback leads and how and where to follow these up.

What is Intensive Journal? How many workshops will it take for one to learn IJ?

There are three workshops to take in learning the complete IJ method. Each workshop is two days, 12 hours, or six hours each day. The workshops are consecutive and must be taken in sequence, as workshop 2 builds on workshop1, and 3 builds on 2.

Even after taking one workshop, one can do quite a lot of journaling for one’s life. For example:  I took the first workshop and used it for 10 years because I found it very helpful. Ten years later, I had the chance to take all three workshops. Because I found it very helpful for myself and saw how effective it was, I decided later to study the method and become a leader of the workshops.

Could you give concrete examples of how IJ has helped people?

This method and these workshops are extremely helpful in many ways:

• When one is at a transition point in one’s life.

• When one experiences a crisis in life, or a block of some kind.

• At a mid-point in life, like mid-life, mid-career.

• When one experiences difficulties in work, in relationships, lack of meaning in life,

• Can help one find the meaning of one’s dreams.

• The workshops give one an overview of one’s life, can surface trends or patterns in one’s life, can lead to changes in lifestyle, career, relationships.