What is Stream of Consciousness Journaling
Stream of consciousness journaling is a style of writing where you just flow, all of your thoughts come straight out of your head and onto your paper. It is important not to think to much about what you are writing and to just write whatever comes into your head. You aren’t supposed to think about a certain topic before you write. Anything that comes into your head gets written down.
I know a lot of people including myself that write with a purpose or intention and want their writing to be pretty. Well, stream of consciousness writing is the complete opposite of that. It is messy, doesn’t always make sense and doesn’t read well.
You shouldn’t be evaluating as you write checking on spelling and punctuation, you just need to write. Nobody is going to see this, it is just for you. There are absolutely no expectations for this writing, so there is no need to check it.
Why do I like to do Stream of Consciousness Journaling?
I love writing in my stream of consciousness journal and I do it almost every single day. I set a goal to do it everyday but some days I’m busy, I forget or I just don’t want to do it. I’m not overly bothered by this as I know if I push myself to do something I don’t want to do I will keep putting it off and no longer want to do this.
I like being able to see my thoughts written down on the paper knowing they weren’t analysed and I didn’t change any of them in order to appeal to the person I want to be or in order to fit in with others and things they have said. I often find if I think too much about things I alter and change them to become something I think I should be thinking rather than what I am actually thinking.
I like this type of journaling as it is easy for me, I don’t have to put too much time or effort into doing it. It also is very freeing and I feel relieved after completing it most days.
How do I Stream of Consciousness Journal?
I struggled when I first started as I was thinking too much and I didn’t really understand what I was doing. I currently have a separate notebook for my stream of consciousness journaling which I found to be one of the most helpful things as I’m not worried about it messing up anything else. I love all of my notebooks, but am very afraid to mess them up and as stream of consciousness journaling can be quite messy I decided that having a separate notebook dedicated to it would make much more sense for me.
I usually sit down to do my stream of consciousness journaling right after I get out of bed. This allows me to empty my thoughts out and see if there’s anything that I need to change or focus on for that day. I write two pages in my notebook most days, you can do as many as you like. I know there are people who write less and people who write much more than this, it is really up to you and how you feel.
