Journaling - probably the best way to heal

I've never knew how to keep a journal. I'd sometimes pour thoughts on paper for a day or two, just what pissed me off, then forget about it for weeks!

I'd sometimes write extremely disturbing and negative thoughts, that made me feel ashamed of even thinking them. I burnt all my past journal pages from fear that they will be read by someone. I was never taught how to keep a journal, what to journal about and... how to actually journal.

By far, journaling is one of the safest and most powerful forms of therapy, if done correctly. And yet, no one teaches us how to do it. Google it, they all tell you what type of paper to use! And they're mostly gals telling you to add rainbows and colours...

But journaling as therapy is different. Men are not generally, in today's society, taught to share emotional states, to experience emotions. It's unmanly to be vulnerable, but that's exactly what brought many of us to PMO: the lack of emotional self-care, the lack of emotional expression, the suppression of emotions. Emotions are hard, they give us pain, and we escape through addictions and compulsions.

But entertain the idea just for a moment that you can tell someone, a friend, everything you feel without being worried that they'll judge you, that they'll tell you that you are stupid, unworthy, rather they just nod and say "i see" and "go on" every now and then. And if you cry, they'll be understanding and allow you the time to get your act together, will not rush you and will not call you "a puss", will not say "come on, I have anther client" or "mate, I have to go work tomorrow". At the end, they'll say "hey, let's meet again tomorrow!"

I have to say that I'd love such a friend and recently I've found this friend in a small notebook, my journal. We meet up every evening for about one hour currently, and I share everything that bothers me and that leaves an impression on me.

I'm curious to know, if you journal, what your approach is. And if you don't journal, why do you believe it's not helpful.