JOURNAL therapy
Ever since human beings could write, we’ve noted down our innermost ideas in the hope of understanding ourselves better. “The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts,” wrote Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius in one of the world’s earliest and most earnest journals, now known as Meditations.
Yet you don’t have to be a thought leader to seek solace on the page. The most famous journal began with an entry on a young woman’s 13th birthday in 1940s Amsterdam. Anne Frank had been given a red-checked diary from her parents and, in hiding, wrote: “I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confifide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support.”
Not all diaries have such a profound effect on world history, but they can have an impact on our individual medical columnist) Jacqui Maguire.
