Healing Journal: A Pain Journal Template to Reduce Neuroplastic Pain

Many people living with chronic pain or stress have tried countless medical treatments without lasting relief. Medications, physical therapy, even surgery often don’t resolve the problem fully. That’s because the key to healing often lies not only in the body but also in the brain.

One of the simplest and most powerful tools for recovery is a healing journal. Journaling is more than just writing down your thoughts. It is a way of communicating with the subconscious brain, processing old stressors, and teaching the nervous system safety. With the right structure, a pain journal template can actually help rewire your brain and reduce or even eliminate neuroplastic pain.

How Pain Is Processed in the Subconscious Brain

Pain is not created only in the body. All pain is generated in the brain, and the subconscious brain (the part that regulates survival functions like heart rate, breathing, and hormone release) plays a major role in determining how much pain you feel.

The limbic system, which processes both pain and emotions, is especially important. When the subconscious brain detects danger, whether it's physical or emotional, it amplifies pain signals to protect you (Apkarian et al., 2005). This is why stress, trauma, and unprocessed emotions can make pain worse.

This is also why pain is sometimes referred to as neuroplastic pain: it’s real, but it’s driven by the brain’s neural pathways, which can change (or “rewire”) over time.

Journaling works because it gives the subconscious brain a safe outlet to process emotions. By putting thoughts and feelings into words, the brain can shift them from raw emotional experience into structured memory (Pennebaker & Smyth, 2016). This reduces the stress response and helps regulate the nervous system.

Why a Healing Journal Works

Research shows that expressive writing reduces stress, strengthens the immune system, and can even decrease physical symptoms (Baikie & Wilhelm, 2005). In people with chronic pain, journaling has been found to reduce intensity and improve function by calming the brain’s danger signals (Lumley & Schubiner, 2019).

The act of writing helps you:

• Process past and present stressors

• Recognize unhelpful personality patterns

• Identify and work with difficult emotions

• Practice self-compassion and safety

This process doesn’t require you to “heal all your trauma” before you feel better. Instead, it teaches the brain that it’s safe to turn pain signals down.

The Healing Journal Process

Here’s a step-by-step way to begin your own healing journal practice.

1. Write a List of Past Stressors

Ask yourself: Would I want a child I love to grow up the way I did?
The things you’d want to change are the things worth journaling about.

Common examples include:

• Being insulted, humiliated, or frightened by a parent or caregiver

• Experiencing physical or sexual abuse

• Feeling unloved or unsupported

• Living in poverty or neglect

• Losing a parent to divorce, abandonment, or death

• Witnessing violence in the household

• Living with someone struggling with addiction, mental illness, or incarceration

These are known as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and research shows they strongly predict adult health outcomes, including chronic pain (Felitti et al., 1998).

2. Write a List of Personality Traits

Many people with mind-body symptoms share certain personality traits. These patterns often create ongoing stress and thought loops that keep the nervous system on high alert.

Examples include:

• Perfectionism

• Low self-esteem

• People pleasing

• Harboring resentment but avoiding conflict

• Feeling guilty, overly responsible, or hard on yourself

• Chronic worry

• Difficulty making decisions

By identifying these traits, you can begin to notice the thought patterns that may be fueling your pain.

3. Write a List of Current Stressors

What are you worrying about right now?
What feels overwhelming, frustrating, or draining?

Make a list of your current stressors.

4. Explore Your Relationship With Emotions

Choose one emotion at a time and journal about it:

• Fear: When do you feel fear? How do you talk to yourself in those moments?

• Grief: What losses are you carrying, and how do they show up in your life?

• Anger: Do you allow yourself to feel anger, or do you push it down? What does anger mean to you? Anger is a protective emotion. Always write about what you are angry with, and then tie it back to fear. “I am angry…because I’m afraid…” It's important to uncover the fear beneath the frustration. Example: “I’m frustrated when my kids fight because I’m afraid they’ll hurt each other.”

5. The Daily Practice

• Set aside 10–20 minutes each day

• Choose whatever stressor is on your mind, or choose one topic from one of your lists. You only need to do one at a time.

• Write freely. It's essential you don’t edit or censor yourself. This writing is for you alone. It will be raw and messy. It will be something you won't want anyone to see. 

• Focus on your fears and frustrations. Let your subconscious brain bring them forward.

• End with self-compassion: Imagine someone you love dearly told you everything you just wrote. What would you say to them? Write those words back to yourself.

• If you are spiritual, you can also write a prayer and ask God to hold the burden for you.
• Burn it. Shred it. Destroy it. Throw it away. (if you choose)

The closing step of self-compassion is essential. Self-compassion tells your subconscious brain: I am safe, I am cared for, I am enough.

Research confirms that self-compassion is strongly linked to reduced stress and improved recovery from both physical and emotional pain (Neff & Germer, 2018).

Pain Journal Template

To help you get started, here’s a simple pain journal template you can use daily.

Date:
Current Stressor/Trigger:
What I Feel in My Body:
My Thoughts/Emotions About It:
What I Am Frustrated With:
Because I Am Afraid That…
Words of Compassion to Myself:

This simple structure combines emotional awareness, cognitive processing, and self-compassion: the three pillars of rewiring the brain for safety.

You can also download a printable pain journal template here [insert your freebie opt-in link].

Journal Prompts for Healing

If you’re not sure what to write about, here are some journal prompts for healing:

• What do I wish someone had told me when I was younger?

• Where in my life do I feel pressure to be perfect?

• When do I feel most cared for or safe?

• What am I afraid might happen if I slowed down?

• What is one thing I’m carrying that no longer serves me?

• If a loved one were feeling this way, what would I want to say to them?

Why Self-Compassion Matters in Healing

The nervous system learns safety not just through awareness, but through kindness. Ending each journaling session with compassion rewires the brain toward trust, connection, and healing.

Pain is not just a physical signal. It’s a danger signal from the brain and a request for care and safety.

A healing journal helps you answer that request by meeting your mind and body with curiosity and compassion. Over time, this practice can help reduce pain, release old stress, and open space for deeper healing.

Frequently Asked Questions About Healing Journals

1. Do I have to journal every day?
No, but consistency matters. Even 10 minutes three times a week can help rewire the brain.

2. Will journaling make me relive trauma?
Journaling may bring up strong emotions, but that’s part of the healing process. The key is to always close with self-compassion so your brain feels safe.

3. Can a healing journal replace therapy?
No. A healing journal is a supportive practice, not a substitute for therapy. It works best alongside other approaches like somatic work, pain reprocessing therapy, emotional awareness and expression therapy, or counseling.

4. What if journaling makes my pain worse at first?
This can happen. If you notice a temporary flare-up, it’s often because your brain is surfacing old stress. Pain can get worse before it gets better (this is known as an extinction burst). Be gentle, remind yourself you’re safe, and return to compassion. You may also notice symptoms begin to move and change. This is called a symptom imperative, and is a sign of healing and neuroplasticity.

Start Your Healing Journal Today

Pain is real, but it doesn’t always mean damage. With tools like a healing journal, you can calm the brain’s danger signals, reduce neuroplastic pain, and create space for your body to heal.

By writing down past stressors, noticing personality patterns, exploring emotions, and closing with self-compassion, you’re literally rewiring your brain.

If you’re ready to begin, grab my free printable pain journal template and start your own daily healing practice.

References

• Apkarian, A. V., Bushnell, M. C., Treede, R. D., & Zubieta, J. K. (2005). Human brain mechanisms of pain perception and regulation in health and disease. European Journal of Pain, 9(4), 463-484.

• Baikie, K. A., & Wilhelm, K. (2005). Emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 11(5), 338–346.

• Felitti, V. J., Anda, R. F., Nordenberg, D., et al. (1998). Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 14(4), 245–258.

• Lumley, M. A., & Schubiner, H. (2019). Emotional awareness and expression therapy for chronic pain: Rationale, principles, and techniques. Pain, 160(1), 1–4.

• Neff, K. D., & Germer, C. K. (2018). The Mindful Self‐Compassion Workbook. New York: Guilford Press.

• Pennebaker, J. W., & Smyth, J. M. (2016). Opening Up by Writing It Down: How Expressive Writing Improves Health and Eases Emotional Pain. New York: Guilford Press.