JOURNALING FOR HEALTH PURPOSES
Sooner or later we may come to a point when the challenges of life seem to be a bit too much for us; during these moments it is we may become overwhelmed –life may look somewhat off focus. I heard somewhere that life is never too much for us, but it may seem to be. My favorite word of all is seemingly because it reflects appearance, not what actually is really going on.
Experience with my patients who have digestive problems have shown me that journaling helps them by doing some entertaining rather than worrying, overeating, overdrinking, and overreacting. Research has shown that journaling can be beneficial for patients, especially those with chronic problems such as rheumatoid arthritis and cancer. If we see life as a chronic challenge, well, it might be a good idea to try it when we feel nervous, anxious, overwhelmed, etcetera –we do not need to wait until we feel more miserable!
Journaling can be directed to our worries, our problems, and/or our assets. For example, we can list:
- Our health –if we are sick, we may want to list the parts of our body that work OK today. For example, if we still possess our feet, we may simply list “I have feet”. A Persian proverb says: “I cry because I did not have shoes, until I saw somebody without feet”. This may sound ridiculous; however, if we have the courage to do the exercise, we may get a better perspective about what is really happening in our life at that very second.
- All our material possessions. We all have some material possessions; our problem is not their absence but our failure to acknowledge their presence because we want more than what we have. If we wish to have a large piece of land, we may list the beach or a big public park –they are all ours!
- Our family members, the ones we like and those ones we do not like as much. Sometimes those who we despise have shown us a higher level of tolerance that has helped us cope with difficult times during our lives.
- Our pets.
- Our neighbors.
- Our mentors.
- Other...
The reason to list what we have instead of what we do not have is because WHEN WE ARE WORRIED or UPSET, WE ARE AUTOMATICALLY MAKING A LIST OF WHAT WE DO NOT HAVE, this is the very reason of our despair, or unhappiness!
Therefore, try journaling, if you do not know how to start, just write “I think Dr. Cuellar doesn’t make any sense, this is not going to work!” –I invite you to prove me wrong!
