Journal writing is one of the many healthy ways we can use to express our thoughts, feelings, and emotions. One of the objectives of the girl power program is to have girls become more aware of their feelings and emotions, and to find healthy ways to cope with any negative emotions they may have. One healthy way to sort out feelings and emotions is to write a journal. The following are techniques that can be used to enhance your journal writing experience.

Topic Method

Select a topic that you have in mind and write for five to fifteen minutes or until you have everything you wish to reflect on.

Flow Chart Method

Choose a shape for your main subject. Proceed by branching out to other shapes containing your sub-topics relating to your main idea. This technique is a great way to organize your thoughts on an important issue allowing you to focus on related ideas and answers.

Idea Box Method

This is an excellent technique when you are stuck and having trouble coming up with a topic. Take a small box and fill it up with ideas or questions from articles you read in magazines, newspapers, books, or movies you saw. Sample questions include: What have I learned today? What do I need in order to accomplish my life's goals? How do I feel about my life in general? If I could travel anywhere, where would I go and why? What contributions have I made to my family and community? What personal beliefs have held me back from living a successful life?

List Method

Write a list of events that have occured for that past week or month of your life.

Reflective Description Method

This technique allows you to step back and describe vivid details about your personal feelings, reactions, and viewpoints to events in your life and the world. This is an esay type method that is similar to the idea box method with the use of magazine or newspaper articles.

The Unsent Letter

This method allows for a poweful release of emotion. Pretend you are writing a letter to someone you wish to express your feelings to, but for some reason you cannot, or to someone you can no longer speak to. Write the letter as if you were talking to this person face to face. The opportunity to express your feelings in this letter will allow for a release of emotions and feelings that sometimes we are not capable of doing when talking to someone in person.

Storyboard method

Journaling by pictures or sketches is a great way to exercise your creativity. Just make sure it reflects either an emotional state of mind or an event in your life.

Imagination Method

Exercise your creativity by trying this technique. Create yourself an imaginary world. Be very descriptive about this world, how does it look, sound, feel, smell, taste. This method could serce as a platform to short stories, songs and inventions.

Self-reflecting dialogues

Self-dialogues allow you to find solutions or ways to cope with your problems or gives you a way to document a happy and exciting time in your life. You can dialogue mentally your anger, joy, frustration, happiness by using your imagination constructively. Using this technique will allow you to see patterns, new perspectives, and possible answers to your situation.