Oh, goodness, I'm definitely not saying there are any rules for journaling. Overall, if you feel that journaling is helping you and that you are unearthing or processing things that are important, then it is a good thing. If you aren't making any progress or are getting worse, then it is a bad thing. A certain amount of journaling seems to generally be a good thing, but if it is pursued obsessively or with a mindset that "if I just journal hard enough, my pain will go away," then I think that there are some times when it can be counterproductive.
Only you can get a sense after you journal of whether it was productive. Did you learn something new about yourself? Will the things you journaled about bother you less? Maybe it will take a couple of journaling sessions to figure out if your work on a given topic is helping you with that topic, but eventually the journaling should make you feel better.
If an activity doesn't make you feel better over time (or makes you feel worse), then that's not a good sign. Maybe it's not helping.
I remember a very smart and thoughtful guy I met in TMS circles. He did journaling and even worked with a therapist. He became extremely introspective and talked about how he had started to cry more easily, sometimes for no reason. He interpreted this as him being more in touch with his emotions, but that didn't seem right to me. On the contrary, it looked to me like he was just winding himself up more and more and getting all wrapped up in what was bothering him. Of course, I don't know him that well, so I can't say anything with confidence. But my gut said that he was "
feeding the wrong wolf" (or, using different language, he was
strengthening the wrong neural pathways). Despite a great deal of very hard and earnest work, I don't think he's had much symptom reduction, and that makes me feel bad to think about it. That's why I emphasize that if an activity doesn't make you feel better over time, then that's not a good sign.
I guess I feel that a certain amount of introspection and visiting the past is very helpful. However, at a certain point, it may be best to put the past behind us and live in the present, focusing on living authentic, joyous and meaningful lives rather than worrying about hidden psychological forces. There's only so much we can know, but at least for some TMSers, the TMS psychology just loves becoming preoccupied with one thing or another. Don't let it!
As for myself, I probably sit down to write every week or so, usually if I have an emotion or thought that I want to work through. Several years ago my girlfriend said that she wished that I was more in touch with my emotions. At roughly the same time, I started reading about the emotional brain. Somehow, as a result of those two factors, my eyes have been opened up in ways that I never would have anticipated, and writing has been a big part of that. I often use
body centered techniques to help me identify emotions and try to use a mixture of thinking and feeling.
Overall, I feel like it is helping me to understand myself and live a better life. It's an example of an activity that is making me feel better over time, so I keep doing it. I almost never find a negative feeling to submerge myself in in hopes of
discharging it. I find that attempting to do that generally makes me feel worse rather than better, and despite my decision to avoid that type of activity, I'm feeling quite fine, without any pain to bother me.
Bottom line: journal if you want to journal. Only you can figure out what works best for you, but that's part of the process of learning how to find equanimity and happiness throughout our entire brains (and mind-body healing always starts with the mind, so finding authentic peace is what we're all after here).
