What to do if journaling alone is not enough.

You’ve done everything right. You’ve made your lists of past stressors, current stressors and tms personality traits. You’ve done expressive writing exercises for 20-30 minutes most days. You self soothe after these sessions through meditation or walking in nature.

And you still have symptoms.

Now what?


First, deep breath. Now another.

While journaling or expressive writing of our emotions sends a powerful message to our nervous systems that our emotions are safe, many people will find that there is more to do for complete healing. I know I did. Read on and think about how to implement these suggestions in your particular situations.


Some folks will get vast symptom relief over most of their body through the journaling/meditation combo but might still be left with a “trouble spot.” I was this person. My vast body aches and “fibromyalgia” symptoms were completely diminished with journaling/meditation but I continued to have low back symptoms. Since low back was my area of greatest fear, this made sense. So I added in somatic tracking of this one area. I don’t think that I could have done just somatic tracking with the all over pain, or my vertigo, but it was perfect for my one “hanger on” spot. To this day, I still journal, meditate, and somatic track. Consider a multi pronged approach if one method alone is only relieving you part way.


While you are journaling, you may discover themes. Or emotions that arise over and over. One of mine was diminishing the hurt in situations in my life. Over and over again, I minimized my own experiences, even trauma. I know why I do this and where I learned it. But when I realized how often I was basically gaslighting myself, I was able TO CHANGE these thought patterns that were adding so much unknown stress. Now when I catch myself putting on that Pollyanna spin, I stop, with much compassion, and remind myself that I matter. My hurts matter. So look for your themes or repeated emotions. Is resentment arising often? You’ve got boundaries that are being trampled. And that means you’ve got boundary work to do. That may include hard conversations, learning new ways of communication, or just being brave. You’re worth it. After all, we want to identify our emotional stressors through journaling, but then work to reduce them in life.


My best to each of you.
pathsbeyondpain.com