Journaling
One tool that I often recommend to clients is journaling. There is no right or wrong way to journal, it is just finding what works for you. You don’t need a fancy journal or beautiful pen. You can write on scraps of paper or computer paper. If you want, you can type (though I prefer handwriting to avoid the distraction of the Web…).
Here are few ideas on types of journaling
Morning pages: Julia Cameron, author of the The Artist's Way, suggests that creatives should write 3 pages long-hand every morning before getting started with their work. Sarah K Peck has called this practice an equivalent of clearing snot. This is not good writing or for consumption, but it primes the pump for good writing to come. You have already overcome a blank page and you are off and running.
Free writing: Set a timer or don’t. Similar to morning pages, but done any time, you just write. I find free writing useful when I’m working something out and need to get it out of my head. I don’t normally reread this type of journaling, but it is a useful vent. It could be directed to a person or not, but it is never sent.
Spiral Journaling: I love this facilitation technique from Liberating Structures. You take two minutes to draw a tight spiral in the middle of your page and then divide the paper into four quadrants with four questions. Some questions provided in this post are: "what I'm feeling?", "whats happening to me emotionally?", "what I'm thinking about", "what I need from today". As someone who writes to process, I love using this tool and then going into small, reflective groups to share what came up.
Letter from your future self: In Co-Active Coaching, we use a skill called reframing. Reframing, gives the client another perspective or you take the original data and present it in a different way. I found this idea from Michelle Ward and Jess Lively. Writing a letter from your future self gives you an opportunity to reframe, take what you know now and envision what might happen.
Gratitude list: AKA Gratitude Lite, coined by Robert Emmons. His research found that keeping a journal of five things you are grateful for with one sentence for each one time a week had a profound effect on happiness compared to a control group.