How to Use Journaling to Stabilize Your Emotions So You Don’t Turn to Lust

Journaling has taught me more about myself than any experience in life.

I’ve been journaling daily for over seven years about my struggles, joys, and experiences. This practice has transformed my life. It allows me to step back, see trends, patterns, and understand what I failed to grasp before.

Here are three ways to journal to strengthen your ability to overcome lust.

1. Release Negative Emotions Through Journaling

I used to think I couldn't control my emotions, whether they were up or down. My solution was a distraction—entertaining myself with YouTube or scrolling. But that’s just avoidance, not a solution. You can’t sweep your emotions under the rug forever.

Sit down with your journal and write how you feel without judgment or worrying about sounding coherent. Dump how you feel onto the page. Journaling helps release emotions, especially negative ones, and make sense of them.

When you write your emotions down, you will be released from them out of your heart. Once you’ve dealt with negative emotions, lust has fewer chances to lead you into actions you want to avoid.

2. Shift Your Focus to Gratitude

We often feel whatever the moment brings, and those feelings aren’t always positive. However, when we focus on gratitude, we shift our mindset. What we focus on grows, and what we neglect fades.

Take time daily to write down what you are grateful for. Journaling what you’re grateful for daily helps you see the good in your life.

You don’t even need to read what you’ve written; just flipping through your journal will remind you of the many things you’ve been grateful for. With more positive emotions, lust loses its grip, making it harder to fall into unwanted behaviors.

3. Write Your Dreams About Life Free From Lust

Daydreaming about a life free from pornography addiction will set you free faster than you think. The more details you imagine, the closer you get to experiencing it in reality.

“Both experimental and clinical psychology have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the human nervous system cannot tell the difference between an actual experience and an imagined vividly and in detail.” From Psycho-Cybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz

Journaling slows down your thoughts, allowing you to imagine in more detail. When things get tough, you can read what you’ve written to reinforce those images in your mind.

The more you dream about freedom, the more you’ll desire it, and the quicker you’ll achieve it.

Last Thoughts

Lust is a heart issue rooted in hurts and negative experiences.

Journaling helps uncover and understand those hurts. As you bring them to God or take steps toward healing, journaling becomes a powerful tool that can set you free faster than any other method.

Let your journal be your therapist.

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Thank you for taking the time to read this! It means a lot to me!

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