In case you didn’t know, journaling is legit an amazing tool for self improvement and discovery. I’m sure you’ve heard about the benefits of journaling by now but did you know that journaling can help you connect with your alters? If your system is like most DID systems, there is at least one alter that doesn’t front. How can you communicate with someone that rarely (if ever) fronts? Journaling is your answer and I’m here to show you how. Let’s get to it!
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WARNING AND DISCLAIMER
Because of the nature of D.I.D., it’s possible that something in this article could be triggering to your system. Please use caution and your best judgement when reading this article. Safety first!
Disclaimer: We are not doctors, therapists, or mental health professionals. We’re just a bunch of alters that are speaking from personal experience to help other systems live their best lives.
Why Multiples Should Journal
Journaling has benefits for everyone but it especially helps DID systems. For one thing, journaling can be an incredibly effective way to connect with shy or uncooperative alters. Often, these alters are hesitant to communicate (internally or externally) because they feel that they won’t be heard or understood. Journaling can provide them with a safe and non-threatening space to express themselves.
By writing down their thoughts and feelings, they’ll be able to communicate more freely and honestly. Over time, they’ll learn to be more open in other places with their needs and feelings. This will lead them to being open, honest, and secure inside and outside of the headspace.
Journaling can also help you to intimately understand the thoughts and feelings of your alters. This can be especially helpful if you’re struggling to understand why they’re acting the way they are. By journaling, you’ll be able to experience a temporary sense of “oneness” with your alter that will give you a better understanding of their perspective and why they’re making the choices that they are.
How Journaling Helps
When anyone journals, it’s possible for them to enter into a meditative-like state. Some people call this “the zone” or being “in the flow”. No matter what you call it, it’s a powerful mindset to be in because it detaches you from what is currently happening externally and lets you explore internally.
For a system with DID, this means that you have the ability to shift your awareness fairly easily. When the fronting alter is able to enter into a calm mental state, an internal alter is able to send their thoughts towards the front. This allows the fronting alter to grab onto those thoughts and write them down so they can read them later. In this way, an alter than rarely fronts is able to share information externally.
**Pro tip: This article is about how to connect with an internal alter but this process can easily be used to speak directly with the subconscious mind. If that is something your system is interested in, add in the tips from this article to speak effectively to your subconscious mind.
How To Journal In Order To Connect
Now that we’ve talked about how journaling helps a system and why it’s important, let’s talk about how to actually connect with your internal alters. You’re obviously going to need a pen and paper. For your pen, try and find a “wet pen” that will blot if you hesitate to write. This will help encourage your system to keep the pen moving. Keeping your pen on the move will help you to connect more deeply with your internal alters.
**Pro tip: While you can absolutely journal digitally, we’ve found that it’s not effective for either of our systems. We were unable to reliably let our alters communicate that way but your mileage may vary. Try both methods and see what works for your system!
Once you have your materials, state who you would like to speak with about three times out loud. For example, if I wanted to speak with my alter Harry Potter, I’d say “I’d like to journal with Harry Potter. I’d like to journal with Harry Potter. I’d like to journal with Harry Potter.”
**Pro tip: You’ll know that your alter is listening when you feel an “awareness”. For some, it feels like there is another person in the room. You may feel like your eyes are “crowded” or that your brain feels like it’s processing more information. With a little bit of practice and awareness, you’ll find what it feels like for you when your alters are listening.
At the top of the page, write the topic or question you want to know about and read it out loud three times. Eventually, you may not need to have the topic preselected but when you’re starting out, it helps to know where the conversation is going. Repeating the topic or question three times helps your alter to know what is going on.
From there, take a few deep breaths to put yourself in a calm mental state. When you feel steady, just put the pen near the paper and write a few lines that come to mind. Your alter may take over your hand, tell you what to write, or show you what they want you to write. Try your best to remain open to whatever form of communication your alter uses with you.
Questions To Ask
While your system can journal about anything you want, here are some questions that are good go-to’s:
- How are you feeling right now?
Journaling Tips
If your system doesn’t journal yet, here are a few tips to help you get started:
No matter what you do, the most important part is that you’re offering your internal alters a safe and loving environment to express themselves. Do your best to be kind, loving, and open, and you’ll do just fine!
What Next?
Now that you know how to journal to communicate with your alters, what can you do to deepen your connection? You can learn why meeting your headmates is important here or you can learn the easy way to come to terms with your DID (and speak with your subconscious mind!) here. Both articles will help your system to move in the right direction! And if you’re ready to start working together with your alters, check our our course Meet The Alters!