JOURNALING

If you’ve ever struggled to remember a great idea you had in the past or wished you had a more concrete recollection of important life events, you might want to consider keeping a journal. Journals are a great way to catalog the everyday events of your life as well as formulate and record new creative ideas as they occur to you. Journals are an invaluable place for you to practice your craft as a writer and develop your writing skills.

What Is Journaling?

Journaling is simply the act of informal writing as a regular practice. Journals take many forms and serve different purposes, some creative some personal. Writers keep journals as a place to record thoughts, practice their craft, and catalog ideas as they occur to them. Journals are often a place for unstructured?free writing, but sometimes people use writing prompts (also known as journaling prompts).

Why we should Journal?

Many non-writers keep journals to record the day-to-day events in their own lives, process stressful events, problem-solve, or keep to-do lists. Another popular form of the journal is a gratitude journal. Gratitude journaling is a journaling experience meant to take stock of the positive things in your life in order to boost your self-esteem and improve your overall well-being. No matter what type of journal you keep, it’s a great way to force yourself to start writing and engage in a process of self-improvement.?

When is the best time to Journal?

Some people prefer to write in the morning; others at night. There’s conflicting research over which time of day is better for creativity, productivity, or emotional well-being, which ultimately means that the best time of day to write is the time that suits your own peak hours and the purpose of your journaling. (Also, there’s no reason you can’t write in the middle of the day — on your lunch break, for instance!)

It's better to journal your thoughts?at night?rather than in the morning because it helps you to clear your mental palate and sleep better. Studies show it's better to journal at night because it gives you an outlet for emotions and thoughts that might otherwise keep you awake.

What should Journaling be all about?

What do you write about? Is your journal supposed to be a simple recap of your day or an essay about your emotions? These seem like painfully obvious questions, but the answers can vary, and figuring out what works for you will make your journaling more effective.

Step 1: Decide What to Write About

In order to figure this out, you’ll have to answer why you want to keep a journal in the first place. Write down the events of your day. And yet in order to reap the full benefits of journaling, you’ll have to dig deeper than that. Here is an exercise template you can follow:

For the next 4 days, I would like you to write your very deepest thoughts and feelings about the most traumatic experience of your entire life or an extremely important emotional issue that has affected you and your life. In your writing, I’d like you to really let go and explore your deepest emotions and thoughts. You might tie your topic to your relationships with others, including parents, lovers, friends, or relatives; to your past, your present, or your future; or to who you have been, whom you would like to be, or who you are now. You may write about the same general issues or experiences on all days of writing or about different topics each day.

Do not worry about spelling, grammar, or sentence structure. The only rule they had to follow was to continue writing until the time was up. Thus, if you want to extract the mental and physical health benefits of writing, you’ll want to write expressively.

Ultimately, to get the full emotional benefit of journaling, it’s best to tell a narrative, not just recap your day, and write through your emotions.?Write about a few things that happened during the day and, more importantly, how those events, epiphanies, or interactions made you feel. If you’re trying to journal your way through distress, it may help to focus your writing on positive outcomes as well.

If the idea of recapping the emotions of your day seems like too much, you could even just start a gratitude journal, which is a simple, daily list of things you’re grateful for: a cup of peppermint tea, sunny mornings, comfortable slippers.

Step 2: Know Your Purpose

If the purpose of your journal is to release your nagging thoughts, you might want to write before bed instead, so you can transfer those thoughts out of your head and onto paper. On the other hand, you might find this keeps you up, in which case, you could choose to write in your journal throughout the day when those thoughts begin to itch. Trial and error work, too. Try writing in the morning for a week. If it’s not working for you, switch to another time of day and see if you fare better.

Whatever time of day you choose, keep your journal in an easy-to-reach spot, which should serve as a visual reminder to keep up with your writing. Plus, it’s one less excuse when it’s time to write.

?Step 3: Choose a Medium

The next step is to pick a medium that works for you best, whether it’s your computer, an app on your phone, or old-fashioned pen and paper. Apps and computers are more convenient (and probably what you’re already used to writing with), but there’s some evidence to suggest writing by hand may be a better option.

But what really matters here is that you’ll keep up the habit. Typing or even using a journaling app on your phone might feel more convenient or comfortable for you, so if that medium fits your lifestyle best and helps you journal regularly, by all means, do what works for you.

Finally, don’t let perfect become the enemy of good. Your journal doesn’t have to be brimming with profound thoughts and experiences, so try to separate your urge to edit from your desire to write. “Your brain does not work in flow mode and edit mode at the same time, so if you’re trying to make the writing good or to edit it as you put it on the page, you will be pinching off the flow at the same time,” said author Tara-Nicholle Nelson, who also hosts her own 30-day writing challenge. “Give yourself permission to write poorly.”

“Write bullet point lists, meander, write nonsense and the like, only then will your nervous system realize it is being allowed to truly down-regulate and relax,” said Nelson. “And then you’ll find yourself having all sorts of insights and fun and flow in your daily writing.”

What is Strategy Journaling?

Strategy journaling is a journaling practice that helps you meet your goals or improves your?quality of life. This can look different for each and every person, and the outcomes can vary widely, but they are almost always very positive.

Journaling can be effective for many different reasons and help you?reach a wide range of goals. It can help you clear your head, make important connections between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and even buffer or reduce the effects of mental illness!

Ask the following questions?

1. What is not working for you in your Goals?
2. What barriers are coming up?
3. 10 ideas per barrier on how to overcome it?

?First, here are seven ideas you can use when you simply have no idea what you want to write about:

1.????Describing Experiences?– Sometimes, all you need to get going with writing is to describe what you did today, what you thought about, or what happened in the world today; you might find that you have a lot more to say on the topic than you thought!

2.????Affirmations?– When you’re out of ideas and feeling down about your abilities or your self-worth, try writing?affirmations?(e.g., “I am a good writer” or “I have a lot of talent”); you’ll find something to write about, and as a bonus, you’ll get a boost to your well-being!

3.????Gratitude?– As mentioned earlier, writing with?gratitude?is a great practice. It can also help you kickstart your journal entry if you’re feeling stuck. Simply write about the people and aspects of your life that you are grateful for.

4.????Critical Self-Analysis?– If you’re feeling particularly blue, this one can be risky, but it could also be really helpful in figuring out your next steps. Ask yourself questions like “Who am I?” and “What did I do right/wrong?” Consider what you could do better or what is holding you back, and write about it.

5. Mining for Anxiety?– This might sound unpleasant, but it can actually be a cathartic experience. We often feel anxiety with ambiguous or unknown roots, which is no help when we’re trying to soothe our irrational fears. Write about your anxiety, and keep digging until you get to the root (this might take a few?sessions).

6.????Performance Analysis?– Whatever your work, hobby, or activity of choice, write about your performance. Write about how you did, how you felt, what you could have done better, or where you avoided pitfalls that brought you down before. This can help you keep track of your progress and lead to valuable insights.

7.????Go “Live on the Scene”?– This is a great in-the-moment technique to help you manage anxiety or strong emotions. As an event is transpiring that has you wringing your hands or struggling with powerful feelings, record things as they happen. You might notice some interesting things about your response.

Although there are tons of guides and tips out there on what to do when journaling to maximize effectiveness, there are also a few things to make sure you don’t do:

• Don’t let it allow you to live in your head too much;
• Don’t let journaling turn you into a passive observer of your life (make sure you experience your life instead of thinking about how you’ll write it up);
• Don’t get self-obsessed by writing about yourself all the time;
• Don’t let journaling become an exercise in self-blame instead of finding solutions;
• Don’t allow yourself to wallow in the negative aspects of your life.

“A grateful heart is a magnet for miracles.”― Sathish Kumar