Until a couple of years ago, I never considered myself to be a “journaling type of gal”. Because I thrive in structure, the idea of free writing about my day or any topic in the world seemed like a stressful way to waste time. When someone mentioned the idea of journaling, all I could think about how was writing “dear diary…” and rolling my eyes. That was UNTIL I discovered that journaling could be more than “dear diary” / free-writing feat. I purchased a book of 365 daily thoughts, topics, and questions and began to put the pen to paper. Each day as I open the book, I’m forced to think, question myself, and grow through the different prompts. There are multiple ways to journal and no one way is superior to another. Different types of journaling work for different people.
Let’s take a look at 5 benefits of journaling:
Helps to clarify thinking and boost creativity: When you write your thoughts down, it makes them easier to sort through. Writing in a journal requires using multiple senses and different parts of the brain which can activate creativity.
Makes things more real: When you write down your beliefs, values, and/or goals, it keeps them at the forefront of your in mind and closer to consciousness. This allows you to view your emotions and thoughts on a page, causing you to respond on the outside in the same way it feels on the inside. By doing that, it makes things more real to you.
Enhances emotional fitness/intelligence: If you go back and read through your journal, you can look back and see how far you’ve come and it may bring up feelings of pride and relief. By exerting your emotions in a journal, you are able to feel them, and let them out as they come in. This keeps you from bottling things up only to explode later.
You'll learn about yourself: As you sort through your thoughts and put them on paper, you will most likely learn a thing or two about yourself in a way that you might not have the chance to if you keep everything inside.
Helps fight stress and promote healing: As you release in your journaling practice, you’ll find that translating thoughts and emotions into words, phrases, and sentences leaves room for self discovery and self awareness, leading to stress relief. The stress response in the body increases adrenaline and cortisol which have been shown to decrease the effectiveness of the immune system overtime. Chronic high levels of distress (opposite of eustress) can cause hormonal imbalances, inhibit your hippocampus and cause memory loss, increase risk of heart attack and heart disease, contribute to digestive issues, weight gain, and aging, and more. By easing stress, you may be able to decrease the risk of the aforementioned issues.
5 ways to journal:
Gratitude/Prayer journal: Write about what/who you are grateful for daily and write out your prayers and petitions. (This is my most favored way to journal)
Prompted journal: Find a journal with prompts or a separate book with prompts. OR, you can read our blogs and jot down your thoughts and the answers to the contemplative questions.
Goal journal: Write down your dreams and goals daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and/or yearly and beyond.
Ideas / stream of consciousness journal: Write ideas that come up in your head for whatever it is you like to do. Write whatever comes to mind, whether it’s about your day, emotions, or thoughts.
Education journal: Write down the things you’re curious about and learn the answers to your questions.
To make maximize your journaling, be sure to be consistent, forget grammar and spelling, or trying to make it sound good, just make it useful for you.