When you have strong emotions, writing them down on paper allows you to get them out of your system without blowing up. A key to using journaling to resolve emotions is to write while your emotions are strong, Amanda recommends.

“When you are in a highly charged emotional state, you have to express it,” she says. “Otherwise those strong feelings will soak into your energy system, causing more problems later and making it tougher to get them out. It’s kind of like spilling red wine on the couch. You better get it up right away or it is most likely never coming out!”

Amanda’s steps for using journaling to express and resolve emotions include:

1. Write out everything that has you upset. You may not have a clear idea of what that even is when you start writing, but once you start, you will be amazed at what you put down on paper. It doesn’t have to make a ton of sense, be spelled correctly, or have the right grammar; you are venting here. Do this part of the technique until you feel like you are done. This may take a while, especially if it has been a while since you let things out.

2. Put the shoe on the other foot. After you get your frustrations down on paper, it’s time to shift your perspective. If you are upset with a person, think about their point of view. Whether you know the person or you don’t know the person, you can ask yourself a few questions to help you look at the situation a different way. If a trauma or tragedy happened to you or someone you love, it may be hard to understand why. Sometimes, there is no seemingly good answer — but if you can manage to shift your perspective, even a little, it can help you to reframe it in your mind so you can let go and heal.

3. Identify the silver lining. Now it’s time to take a step further and ask yourself:

• What did I learn from this situation?
• If it happened again, what would I change about my reaction to it?
• Did the situation highlight or trigger any of my traumatic or verbal inhibitory imprints (unresolved feelings) that I can work on healing?
• Would I take any additional or different actions?

“This helps your mind to not only reframe the situation, but also to explore other outcomes mentally. Remember, our problem-solving brain is activated when we write things down. This is where you put that to good use.”

“This simple technique obviously takes some time and you may not do it all in one sitting. That’s okay. You might want to just vent and come back to it. But doing all of the steps here to some extent will help you to process emotions and situations better in the long run if you make a practice of journaling them from time to time.”

About the Author: Amanda Hainline is an emotional freedom mentor, intuitive healer, and author of the best-selling new book “Feel Better in Five Minutes — An Empowering Guide to Gain Control Over Your Emotions.” She helps people find freedom from anxiety, depression, and stress through energy healing.