Money Worries and Journaling

While many may think of journaling as a harmless, completely reflective process, the truth is that keeping a journal can actually be a revolutionary act.

Journal writing helps us reclaim ourselves and use our power to create a better life than we have previously known. Journaling shows us how to be responsible for ourselves and our behavior. Keeping a personal journal helps us change the way we've always lived and begin to create the future we want.

The act of writing a journal brings the psyche face to face with itself, where it's not possible to lie or pretend. Through writing down observations and thoughts, we begin to understand the origins of fear and stress. When those origins come to light, the individual gains the ability to creatively grow and change.

Take, for instance, a common phobia: fear of not having enough money. So many of us are jobless or otherwise compromised in our capacity to earn a living. The Great Recession started three years ago, but millions are still struggling with the depressed economy. Fears and woes over money are pervasive, and we all know such stress can lead to poor physical health and a host of other issues.

If you want to control your relationship with money, instead of letting it control you, a revolutionary approach that's sure to offer solutions is to take up journaling.

Take the example of Anne, an elderly woman who was worried sick about her finances. Setting the routine of journaling one page each day, Anne was quickly surprised to see how freeing the journaling was for her, and how costly all the worrying had been. She re-discovered her sense of humor, and as her journaling continued her self-confidence returned. Simply by drastically reducing the amount of worry she expended over her finances, Anne returned to a calm and creative outlook that opened her to ways she could budget more satisfactorily.

If you possess a notebook and a pen, you can journal. Journaling is the cheapest therapy on earth. You may have lost everything, but if you can still sit down and have a heart-to-heart with your journal, riches are at your fingertips.

We may not be able to change interest rates or inflation, but we can learn to be responsible for our own financial situation and take control of the fears that plague us.
Money worries originate in real situations:
• If you suddenly lost a job or other financial support, and the shock still has you reeling, the first thing you have to do is get all your emotions out. Your journal is the ideal place to do that.
• Many of our problems with money go back to the way we were raised and the baggage we have carried around with us since childhood. In your journal, take a look at your past for clues.
• Money fears may center on a vague idea of your future, full of fear and dreaded circumstances. Use your journal to examine these imaginings and to describe in detail more pleasing possibilities.

Use your journal to sort out the realities, so your path going forward can become clear.