More often than not, we have to deal with emotional stresses or negative moods due to work, family, kids, health, competition, society etc. Stress does not knock on our doors before coming however tackling it the right way, lies only in our hands.

How do we release our stresses? That is no big guess work!

The easy way out is venting on our partner / spouse, kids, helpers (which most of us actually end up doing), irksome attitude at home, at workplace, losing focus of actions and sometimes completely withdrawing ourselves into our private shells.

It is completely fine to rest under our shells before getting back on track but how about sharing these stresses with our inner self? Making a physical or mental journal of these stresses?

In a research, injured athletes-- people who tend to experience high levels of anxiety and negative mood-- were asked to write about their experiences in a journal for 20 minutes per day, 3 days in a row. They wrote about their negative emotions surrounding their injuries and rehabilitation experiences. 4 weeks later, researchers measured their levels of psychological stress and mood disturbance, as well as measures of immune functioning, and found significantly improved outcomes in those who had participated in the journaling intervention. This research, in other words, shows that writing about our negative feelings can actually have an effect not only on our mood and our feelings of stress, but on our health too.

I candidly confess that I too resort to my dairy during stress moments and it works wonders for me. I start by writing down what happened (like an unpleasant event in life, clash of opinion etc.) and while I am still penning down the gush of emotions on the paper, half way through, I start feeling light. The heaviness of the event seems to fade away as I come towards the end of the note. I feel much more in control of the situation. Mind becomes clearer and begins to work on how to tackle the situation in the best possible way.

Journaling is a process of uninterrupted self - listening lasting for 10-20 mins or more and if done regularly can make us as calmer and more responsive than reactive to stressful turn of life events.

Have you tried Journaling for coping up during emotionally demanding times? Has it benefited you too? Please feel free to share here your Journaling experiences for overcoming stress...

Not done yet -- think about journaling your stress!!