Tips for keeping a journal

[Diesel_Punk]

I have been keeping a journal for a couple of months a while back. I gave up after realising that forcing myself to write an entry every day was just more trouble than it was worth it and in the end the whole thing ended up almost exclusively filled with suicidal ideation. Yesterday I bought a new one and am ready to give it one more try.

Does anyone have any tips for keeping a journal and making it a positive part of your routine?

 

[cactusflower]

I've not done serious journaling in a while, but when I was really into it I would start with a generalization of my mood during the day, key events, etc. And at the end, no matter how bad the day was, I would always write something that made me smile that day, something I'm grateful for, and what I was going to do positively tomorrow. I think it helped keep me sane throughout college

 

[SolomonKado]

one thing I learned in therapy was to write down 5 single things I was thankful for that day. To just learn how to focus on good instead of bad. After awhile of this and you feel you have a good hold on writing the thankful things, then keep writing the thankful things and then write how you felt that day. Keep it to a couple sentences.

If you find yourself going to a dark place again then stop, look over the thankful things, and then put it away for tomorrow. Then tomorrow start again doing the same thing. Do this until you feel you have a better hold on the dark. Maybe try and get more specific about the good things at this time. I hope it helps.

Things I wish I had learned when o was younger