In order to solve what happens to us, it is first necessary to find out what is happening. Often, in consultation, many people do not know how to explain what is happening to them or what they feel and this can become a difficulty in therapy. A job that you can carry out before getting duped into therapy, and even that you can do simply by self-knowledge, is what is known as an emotional journal. Many psychologists request a kind of small diary after the first consultation, so if you already come with that work done, the recovery process will be faster.
Do you know how to keep an emotion diary? Keep reading Psychology-Online to know what a self-knowledge journal consists of, how do it, with examples of how to keep a personal journal and what benefits you can get from fill it in.
Psychologists love self-records. These consist of write down thoughts, emotions, behaviors, situations, etc. that are happening on a day-to-day basis. That way, you can understand how you act, why, and what needs to be changed first.
The emotional diary would be a type of self-registration which would offer us information about how we feel, the cause of these feelings, and the behavior we do when we feel determined way. In some cases, the different thoughts that are had can also be written down since they can suppose the reason for the discomfort of a person.
These types of self-registrations are useful for anyone, since help us get to know ourselves, but above all, the emotional diary has many benefits for people with self esteem issues, lack of emotional control, negativity, among others. Writing an emotional journal is a great exercise for boys and girls, so they can learn to identify their emotions. In this article we talk about emotional education in young children. It is also a very good exercise for adults, which can be done from time to time to see what has been changing in our thoughts, feelings, emotions and behaviors. Now that we've seen what an emotional journal is, let's see how to keep an emotion journal.
How to create an emotions diary? It would be about taking a paper and in it elaborate a table with three or four columns.
- In the first column we will put "situation".
- In the second column (it is optional) we could "thought".
- In the third we could "emotion".
- And in the fourth "conduct".
How to start an emotions diary? You should find a moment in the day when you can be calm / a to be able to fill it out. This can be before sleeping, for example. At that time, you must review the different events of the day and proceed to fill in the table. Another option is to write it down as it happens. For this, you can take a notebook with you or write it down on your mobile phone. As is more practical for you. You can use templates like the one we leave below or you can use an application on your mobile phone.
- In the situation column, you would try to write down the context. Examples of this can be: "I argued with my partner", "I was in a traffic jam" ...
- In the second column, you would write down what you think at that moment: "we are here again", "they are going to kick me out for being late", "I am useless" ...
- In the third column you should try to name what you feel. Are you feeling angry? Frustrated? Sad? You can help yourself list of emotions with their respective definitions.
- In the last column we would put what we do as a reaction to what has happened and what we feel. Maybe you start to honk the car or slam the door. Maybe you try make a relaxation or you're going to take a ride.
After this, with your therapist or by yourself if you do not go to therapy, you should reflect and analyze what is written and find possible solutions. For these solutions, an action plan must be drawn up. For example, instead of accumulating what I feel and avoiding talking about it with my partner, I will tell them calmly so as not to end up exploding.
What is the emotional diary for? The emotional journal technique helps you understand how situations affect you, why and what you do to manage your emotions.
- Identify and record emotions what do you feel. It also brings self-knowledge about your emotions.
- Be aware of your strategies emotional management. It would be about observing if this emotional management is being effective or if you have to look for alternative behaviors to relax. Maybe beep is not the most appropriate way to calm down and, in exchange, you should perhaps put some specific music in the car to help you escape.
- Relate emotions to situations. With the emotional diary you can perhaps realize that on many occasions you are angry, even when the situation may not be worth the anger.
- Become aware of your internal language. If you decide to write down the thoughts column, it can also help you understand the language you use with yourself. Surely, if you have low self-esteem, you are feeding it by calling yourself useless, for example.
- Identify people who influence your emotions. Another aspect that you can discover when making an emotional diary is the fact that you may realize that with some people you react differently and more calmly than with others.
In short, the emotion diary technique is about a very useful tool to get to know us ourselves, to understand, respect and improve our attitude with ourselves and with others.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
