Journal what you think, not just what you feel
In a month of journaling, people who wrote about both thoughts and feelings saw more upside in a stressful event.
When people journaled for a month about a stressful event, those who wrote about both their thoughts and their feelings came to see more upside in it.
The study
Students were randomly assigned to write about a stressful or traumatic event, focusing either on their emotions alone or on both their thoughts and emotions, or to write factually about media events. Those who wrote about thoughts and feelings together developed greater awareness of positive benefits from the event, which seemed to come from working through it more as they wrote. Those who focused on emotions alone reported more severe illness symptoms during the study.
Starting small
When writing about something hard, it can help to include not only how it felt but also what you make of it. Adding one line on what you are learning or how you see it now keeps the writing moving.