The Stories We Tell

Of the few activities that have been shown to improve long term happiness, one of the most effective is journaling. Not only does it help with general well-being, but it seems to have benefits in all kinds of specific situations, including grief, anxiety, PTSD and more. Journaling about fears decreases their impact on our behavior. Journaling about anger makes us less likely to commit violence.

None of this is intuitively obvious. After all, we can have the same thoughts we put in our journal without actually writing them down. What is it about translating those thoughts into ink on paper that has such far-reaching, beneficial effects?

Most of the time, as we make our way through life, the stories we tell ourselves linger at the edge of our consciousness, where their true nature is hidden. We experience them, not as stories, but as truth. Someone says something unexpected, or gives us a certain look, and we construct a narrative about their intent, and their character, and their feelings about us. Seldom do we recognize all that for what it is: a story. The facts are sparse and ambiguous, but our interpretation of those facts is immediate and vivid--the dominant feature of our experience.

When we write down our thoughts, we transform them. We bring them out into the light where their true nature is more readily seen. Once we recreate them as physical letters on the pages of a book, they start to separate from the emotions, sensations and unconscious symbols in our minds. They’re just stories--and we can judge their truthfulness and usefulness with clearer eyes.