The Benefits of Journaling and Doing Guided Visualizations

Some people swear by the benefits of journaling and guided visualizations. While these two techniques for learning more about ourselves may seem quite different, studies back the effectiveness of both. Combining them can be especially useful if you’re feeling stuck, confused, frustrated by a lack of forward movement, plagued by anxiety—or experiencing any number of challenging emotions.

The Payoffs of Expressive Writing and Journaling 

 Researchers Karen A. Baikie and Kay Wilhelm at Cambridge University evaluated studies of the payoffs of expressive writing, that is, personal writing about feelings and emotional events, the kind of writing people do when journaling or filling out workbooks. They say that “Writing about traumatic, stressful or emotional events has been found to result in improvements in both physical and psychological health.” Plus, expressive writing or journaling for three to five sessions of fifteen to twenty minutes each is enough to achieve benefits. 

While remembering and writing about these experiences can be uncomfortable at times, Baikie and Wilhelm note that those who do expressive writing often find it “valuable and meaningful.” What’s more, the practice has long-term benefits for many people, benefits that include greater psychological well-being, improved mood, reduced blood pressure, fewer stress-related visits to doctors, and more. 

The Gifts of Guided Visualizations

Guided visualizations, also known as guided imagery, offer gifts to people seeking self-awareness and transformation, and they’re a terrific tool for anyone feeling stuck. Visualizations are known to help people psychologically and physically: They benefit those who have anxiety and depression while also reducing pain, inflammation, and blood pressure.

As a Jungian analyst and licensed clinical psychologist, I often saw big shifts occur in clients when they did shamanic journeys. Journeys are like guided visualizations, but some believe they’re actual journeys to transpersonal realms that a person’s consciousness takes. Such journeys can lead to insights and new internal motivation to make changes. I’ve personally experienced breakthroughs as a result of shamanic journeying, too.

Some people fear connecting with their unconscious, having been told it’s dangerous to do so. Individuals who have suffered trauma may even be terrified to fall asleep because they have disturbing dreams. I find it interesting that many shamanic journeys involve a guardian figure, which can be understood as a protective element of the psyche. The individual must ask the guardian for permission to take the journey. If permission isn’t granted, the individual can negotiate with the guardian. In essence, the journeyer discovers what they must do to protect themselves as they uncover memories and truths that can be unsettling or even frightening.

Those who know or suspect they have trauma in their past might want to be cautious and make sure they listen to their instincts, or guardian, in being self-protective and have someone like a psychologist assist them in their exploration. However, in my experience, most people are safe engaging the unconscious and working with its symbols and figures.

Combining Conscious and Unconscious Approaches

Many who journal or fill in workbooks for self-awareness and transformation don’t also do guided visualizations or shamanic journeys, and vice versa. Yet, combining the two types of tools could be especially beneficial. That’s because expressive writing helps us connect with our emotions and beliefs, while visualizations or journeys allow us to tap into hidden wisdom that’s typically inaccessible to the conscious mind. Journaling prompts that inspire us to write answers to questions about our lives engage the conscious mind, which can help us better understand our experiences and even reframe them. Using our intuition, we can explore what our unconscious is telling us and our conscious mind to try to reconcile what our conscious minds tell us and what we’re learning from our hidden wisdom.

Why do some people have one particular recurring dream? What, if anything, is it telling them? Why does a particular symbol or figure appear when they do a guided visualization? Simply journaling about the dream and trying to identify connections to life events can yield valuable insights. However, the conscious mind doesn’t always understand what we’ve gone through and what we’re experiencing. Expressive writing, where we explore emotions and any messages from our unconscious, can assist us in getting past the limitations of our everyday awareness.

Carl Jung strongly believed in the value of connecting with the unconscious and learning from it. To deepen the work of self-examination, we can follow his advice to tap into the contents of the unconscious. These often reveal themselves in dreams, visualizations, journeys, and synchronicities (meaningful coincidences). 

Breakthrough Insights and Fresh Momentum

I saw for myself how working with both the unconscious and the conscious benefitted my clients who were stuck and came to me for help. I observed that a dream could lead to a breakthrough, a sudden shift that perhaps this individual wouldn’t have experienced had we not worked together to discover what her unconscious mind thought, felt, and believed. Explorations of the conflicts between the conscious and unconscious often led to insights and new choices as my clients began looking at their experiences with new eyes. Would these patients have dreamed the same dreams before starting therapy, answering difficult questions, and expressing their emotions? Would they have felt a deep internal shift as they did? 

I believe the work my clients did in sessions, which sometimes made them sad, angry, or anxious, prepared them for the breakthrough that came after their unconscious spoke. Journaling or doing expressive writing can also be key ingredients in attaining life-changing insights and experiencing major internal shifts. It seems they can even open doors to hidden wisdom.

From Goosebumps to Goals

In talking through and writing about their dreams and their experiences doing guided visualizations or journeying, many people I know or worked with found that after a profound experience of engaging their unconscious, it was far easier to make changes they had longed to make for some time. That said, they and I found that setting tangible, specific goals and knowing some of the tricks for establishing and maintaining new habits was enormously helpful for them. It seemed to ensure that they didn’t let any goosebump-inducing shifts they felt as a result of doing work with the unconscious fade away to being merely a curious memory.

The Key to Getting Unstuck

Surveys show that up to 80 percent of people in the U.S. report feeling stuck.  Some may be aware of their obstacles to a more fulfilling life and frustrated that they can’t seem to overcome them. Others feel they’re doing their best to make desired changes and frustrated by their seeming inability to stay the course. Procrastination and self-sabotage, which can happen on the brink of success, keep them stuck in the same old rut. However, by working with the unconscious and the conscious, people can gain insights they might never have discovered otherwise. They can also experience the kind of internal shift that opens the door to significant personal transformation. These can be key for getting unstuck.

Writing expressively can help you discover your emotions and frame your experiences differently. Working with the unconscious through tools such as dreamwork, guided visualizations, and shamanic journeys can also be extremely effective for gaining insights and energy for change. For anyone who wants to leave behind the old rut and move forward onto a more preferable path, combining techniques for developing greater self-awareness and fresh momentum may be very helpful.

Written by: Carl Greer, PhD, PsyD

Carl Greer, PhD, PsyD, is a retired clinical psychologist and Jungian analyst, a businessman, and a shamanic practitioner, author, and philanthropist, funding over 60 charities and more than 2,000 past and current Greer scholars. He has taught at the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago and been on staff at the Replogle Center for Counseling and Well-Being. His new book is Go Within to Change Your Life: A Hidden Wisdom Workbook for Personal Transformation. Learn more at CarlGreer.com.

Image by Pexels from Pixabay