Journaling has many, well documented benefits. It can help to process thoughts, explore emotions and make sense of life’s chaos. But what if there was a way to add a layer of imagination, emotional distance, and insight to your journaling practice? What if this new approach helped you to see things from a different perspective and was more powerful in helping you to identify possible solutions?
A while ago I was struggling in my daily life. One person in particular was having an extremely negative impact on my life and the emotional fallout of this was being to have an impact on my wellbeing and my ability to enjoy the better aspects of my life. I knew that I needed to take action to regain control of my emotions.
I have always enjoyed writing and found a sense of relief from writing down my emotions. The problem is that, in this instance, writing down the experiences and feeling that I was having regarding this individual was reinforcing my negative feelings towards them. It was causing me to dwell on the issues and, if I am honest, get into a bit of a personal pity party. I knew I needed to try something new.
I started trying to get some distance from the situation by turning what was happening in my daily life into a story which I was not the central character in. Instead of documenting what had really happened I created a symbolic narrative where I explored my challenged through metaphor and allegory.
To my surprise it worked. The very first time I used it I was able to articulate my feelings in a neutral way. Without giving too much away, the story was about a spider in a web, feeling very defensive over its territory, but in the process driving away anyone who could offer any companionship. Once I had finished the story, I was overwhelmed by a feeling of empathy for the person I was writing about. The experience was transformative and enabled me to gain enough detachment from the situation to gain a deeper understanding of what was really happening.
Over the following weeks I continued to use it as a tool to help me gain insight and perspective. I would use it for many things – to process a disagreement at work, to manage my emotions about a negative encounter with a stranger. By giving myself a safe distance from my emotions I found it easy to explore patterns, motives and hidden truths behind my experiences. Most remarkably it began to transform my perception and relationship with others in a positive way.
What are the benefits of allegorical journaling?
From my own experience the benefits are as follows:
Perspective: By stepping into a symbolic world, you are not simply reliving an experience, you are reinterpreting it. This can help you uncover insights that might be hard to access when your emotions are raw.
Emotional Safety: Writing allegorically can make it easier to face challenging topics. It can enable you to analyse difficult emotions from a safe distance and it can allow you to explore possible responses and solutions before putting these into practice in the real world. In short it provides a cushion between yourself and reality.
Creativity: Using this technique allows you to analyse situations creatively. This has value in itself but also helps you to develop creative skills that could be useful in other aspects of your life. It can also add a element of fun to your journaling, reinvigorating your interest and focus.
Clarity: Reimagining your story into a fable or allegory can help you analyse the underlying themes in your life. You can explore who the recurring characters are and what their motives may be. You can identify the problems and issues that you repeatedly struggle with. You can uncover patterns and clues about the reasons for these patterns.
Anonymity: Hopefully you will be able to keep your personal journal private. However, if anyone should stumble across is accidentally, it is more likely that no-one would be able to work out what your journal entry is really about, especially if you just keep it as a book or short stories.
How to start allegorical journaling
The process is really simple. You do not need any special materials, skills or writing ability to get started.
1. Choose something to explore
Choose one issue that you would like to explore in depth. It could be a conflict with someone, an emotion that you are experiencing regularly or a decision you are struggling to make.
2. Identify the underlying theme or emotion
Try to identity what the central, underlying issue is. Are you looking for ways to understand someone’s behaviour? Are you looking for strategies to handle difficult emotions? Are you wanting to explore the possible outcomes from different solutions?
3. Translate It into a metaphor, allegory or fable
This is your opportunity to get imaginative. You can turn your workplace into a castle, your family into different animals on a safari or your self-doubt into a ghost whispering into your ear. You can be a light-hearted or deep as you choose. Ensure that your story covers the crucial elements needed to explore the issue in depth.
4. Use the story for deep reflection
When you have finished your story, take a step back and read it through with an open mind.
Ask yourself:
- What does this story reveal about how I am feeling?
- What role did I play?
- How might this give me an insight into what the other characters are feeling and what their motives may be?
- What can I learn from all of this?
- Does it give me any insights into how I should respond to this event, individual or situation?
5. Practice
The more you practice allegorical journaling, the easier it will become. Over time, you might even develop your own cast of symbolic characters that crop up time and time again – although equally you might benefit from using different characters and contexts each time. The important thing is to do whatever works for you
Allegorical journaling allows you to become an explorer of your inner world. It is not about documenting a situation accurately or being a gifted storyteller. Instead, it is about uncovering hidden meaning, bringing imagination and creativity into your self-reflection and seeing your life from a slightly different vantage point.
Next time you open your journal, rather than writing “What happened today?”, ask instead: “What story could I write to help me make more sense of this?”.
Want to find out more?
There is enough of an overview in this article alone for you to have a go yourself and see if allegorical journaling is a helpful tool for you.
For those who want some more detailed instruction, you will be able to find further guidance and some practical exercises in the Perspectives Toolkit. Please get in touch for more information.
