I've mainly relied on journaling to get my darker emotions out. All you need is a notebook and a pen. I use simple composition books, like the ones found in classrooms around the globe, and a goopy gel pen because it glides more easily and aggravates my right index joint less. Also, you'll need a plan for how you keep it private because it won't work if you're afraid someone else will read it but I’ll get to that in a moment.

If your first twenty pages are all about “not-knowing-what-to-do-while-journaling”, you are on the right track. In order to use journaling to get your feelings sorted out, all you have to do is dump the words from your brain onto the paper. So when you are new to journaling, it is natural to think things like “Am I doing this right? This can’t possibly work. This is stupid.” You won’t end up with something you want to publish but you’ll notice that after you fill up three pages with the thoughts swirling around your head, you’ll be more relaxed and clear about what truly matters to you.

There are many techniques for journaling. Most of what I’m suggesting here comes from Julia Cameron’s The Artist Way. She calls it Morning Pages and suggests that you sit down first thing every morning and fill up three pages. If you want to read more about it, the book is great.

After several pages of worrying about whether you’re doing it right, you might move on to several pages on “what if someone reads this?” Here’s where your privacy plan comes into play.  Carrying your journal in your backpack or purse, keeping it in a locked drawer, or simply labeling it “Private” are easy ways to insure that your thoughts don’t end up in the wrong hands.  I have several journals that start with diatribes against my imagined reader. “If you are reading this then you deserve to know how irritating you are WHEN YOU CHEW YOUR FOOD.” This is natural because, face it, most of those thoughts swirling around our heads involve other people. And often what you need to get out most is the very thing you can’t say because it would hurt someone you love. Congratulate yourself when you get to this dilemma because it means that you are facing up to your more difficult emotions.

Although I focus a lot on staying inspired when your journaling, I don't want to suggest that you push away your darker emotions. It's hard work unfortunately, but you have to honor those feelings and ask what they are trying to tell you before you can begin to turn it around.

There's lots of evidence about how keeping negative emotions bottled up can affect your health. A good book on this topic is Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine, by Candace Pert.

Basically, doctors can tell you how to take your meds but nobody can tell you how to sort out the emotions swirling inside your head. Journaling has let me release all of my fears, dreams, and silly thoughts onto paper leaving me time to focus on my health, work, and family.