Journal Writing General Exercise Instructions

Word Associations

To perform a word association exercise, write the trigger word at the top of a fresh page of your journal. Then, under it, write the next word that pops into your mind. Immediately write the next word that pops into your mind. Don’t censor and don’t think too much about it. Associations may be bizarre and may run off with themselves. Everything is fine. Just keep writing until no more words pop into your head.

When you’re done writing, review the words and see if you notice any patterns or trends. Pay particular attention to emotional associations (how the words feel to you).

Deepening the Exploration

Deepen your understanding of feelings, thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs by repeating what you’ve written using key phrases. Decide which phrase to use, then repeat its use until you feel that you’ve gotten to the core of an issue.

• What I mean by __________ is …
• Why _________ ?
• Of what does _________ remind me of?
• If ________ happens, then ________.

Example: I might write, “Whenever I think of A, I feel guilty.” I select the first key phrase and continue with, “What I mean by guilty is self-recrimination, as though I have not acted the way I want or am expected to. … What I mean by expected is that I feel pressure to be more like B than who I really am …” and so on.