Why Journal?
"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.” ~ William Wordsworth
Journaling can help you with so many aspects of your everyday life. Writing about your thoughts and feelings can help to clear your mind. You are allowing your brain to process more efficiently and easily, by organizing your thoughts and emotions into lucid chunks of information. And, likewise, this helps you to free up some mental space in your mind, allowing you to think more clearly. When you are able to still your mind, your focus improves, while your creative thinking is enhanced.
Writing is a constructive way to cope with daily stress and anxiety. Journaling is a safety zone for personal growth, healing and reflection. A tool for self-improvement, writing can assist you in expressing yourself more openly than you can to a person. Writing your words and thoughts down on paper is the process of creating who you are. Journaling helps you to track your personal growth.
When you repeatedly write down your emotions and experiences, you can always look back to evaluate areas of your life. In turn, this will help you to see any behavioral patterns that you need to take note of, negative influences that you might like to avoid, and things that you can do differently. Journaling can help you to figure things out and to recognize what you are doing correctly, while working on areas that you feel need improvement. Moreover, writing down your thoughts and feelings will help you to accomplish your personal goals and to become a better version of yourself. Writing about positive reflections, achievements and hobbies, can boost your mind and self-esteem.
Writing can do wonders for your health, too. Regular writing can give you a safe, cathartic release valve for the stresses of your daily life. Writing down your thoughts, experiences, and feelings will help you to relive the events you have experienced in a completely safe environment, allowing you to process them without fear or stress.
Journaling can aid you in sparking your creativity, while eliminating mental clutter. By removing mental blocks you can brainstorm more successfully, and come up with solutions to complex problems causing you those sleepless nights. Writing can reduce intrusive thoughts about negative events in your life, while improving your memory.
Keeping a journal can be effective for people with severe illnesses, like cancer, as it is both therapeutic and personal. Additionally, it can also help people with eating disorders as it helps to keep track of diet and emotions, as well as patterns and triggers that need to be avoided. Expressive writing can help wounds heal faster.
So let’s get started, yes? First, choose your journal. Second, develop a writing ritual. Third, dedicate at least 10 to 15 minutes every day to write about whatever is churning in your mind. Jot down one recollection every day or fill up your pages with your thoughts. I love to write in my journal every morning as soon as I wake, and just before going to sleep.