We can connect and share our thoughts and experiences with so many of our friends through social media that gives us a place of belonging. But sometimes we all want to express ourselves privately without anyone sticking their nose in our business. When we can do so we can accept ourselves for who we are and not for who people want us to be. And when we accept ourselves, we become confident in who we are and the path we choose. Journaling is a great way to express ourselves privately. When we consistently write in our journal, we can better understand ourselves. It helps us gain control of what we are going through. Some of the benefits of journaling are:
Improve our overall health
By capturing our thoughts and feelings it can improve our mood and stress levels over the long-term. When negative thoughts take up our focus, writing it down helps us to distance ourselves from them that gives us an objective view. It helps to speed up emotional recovery by processing emotions effectively and builds a strong sense of self identity. Consistently documenting in our journal over a 4-month period can help lower blood pressure and improve our immune system.
Self-reflection
Allows us to look at our thoughts, emotions and actions that can help up us grow. It sparks us to be more curious and understanding about ourselves. We can be more objective on how we view ourselves and helps us not get so down about our struggles and not so overconfident in our accomplishment.
Record ideas and promote creativity
Writing uses the left hemisphere of the brain that analyze and rationalize what is going on. Using the left hemisphere of the brain frees up the right hemisphere to create and come up with ideas. Writing removes mentals barriers and allows us to use our brainpower to better understand ourselves and the world around us.
Problem-solving
When we write down what we are going through such as struggles or problems it acts as a mirror that can help see it from a different view. When we keep what we a going through in first person point of view we can overlook things that others may notice which is why we tend to share our struggles with others. Writing it down allows us to clear our minds so we can find several solutions for it. Things can look different in our head than they do documented. It’s a little less personal when we can see it. We might find that many of our challenges aren’t as challenging as we first thought.
Organize our thoughts
Writing our thoughts out it forces us to formulate how and what we want to say. We’ll be able to declutter what we are thinking so it makes sense when we read it. The ability to organize our thoughts helps to communicate effectively and be efficient with our time as things won’t slip our mind as much. Having organized thoughts leads us to having organized priorities, organized space, and a great sense of empowerment.
Track our progress
With each entry made we can gauge our progress. Looking back on past entries helps sees our thoughts, how we express ourselves and how we process experiences are great to way to assess if we are happy the way we handle ourselves. And if we are not happy with it, we can work to improve ourselves. We can act as our own coach. The more we journal the more we increase our chances of improving our writing and communication skills.
Improves memory and comprehension
When we document things, it lets our brains know that we want to remember it. It transfers information from the right hemisphere (creative) to the left hemisphere (literal). Both sides of the brain communicate with each other that helps us to retain the information. It helps us to store information in our long-term memory.
Achieve our goals
When we document our dreams and goals it gives us clarity and intention. Those that write down their goals everyday are 42% more likely to achieve them than those who don’t. Reviewing our goals gives us an idea of our current ability and preparedness to achieve them. The bigger the goal, the more work it requires and breaking it up into small pieces makes it manageable. Setting standards and milestones helps us stay on track to increase our chances of achieving them.
Gain confidence
The more we write about our thoughts, emotions and experiences the more confident we become in ourselves as it makes us more comfortable in who we are. Journaling helps let go of the negativity and embarrassment we may feel about ourselves. It strengthens our mind and improves our discipline that helps us overcome the difficult things.
Use the journal to be yourself, don’t worry about it being so structured with proper grammar or correct spelling and be patient with yourself. Be authentic and capture the mistakes and failures as it helps overcome fears that hold us back. Let go of feeling not good enough to write or what to say as this is not a right or wrong exercise. Begin to jot down things even if it’s just one sentence and consistently keep at it. Write anytime of the day and find out what works best for you. Writing in the morning can help one focus properly as there is less distractions, have a fresh mind to do so, and allows creativity to flow well. Writing in the afternoon can help one build momentum of ideas and inspiration they may need as the morning is best needed to settle in. Writing in the evenings can be a great way to decompress before bed that can help one sleep better. Or use a combination of all 3 to keep things exciting. Do what works best for you. Below are some ideas of what to put down in the journal:
Thoughts and emotions
Sharing what we are thinking and experiencing is a great way to let things go so we can reset for the next thing that needs our attention. Writing down what thoughts and emotions we would like to have is a great way to improve ourselves as we’ll be aware of what we should strive for.
Dreams & goals
Explain the importance of the dreams or goals and how we will set out to accomplish it. Writing it down right before bed is a great way to put it in our subconscious.
Food eaten
Take notes of what we eat daily is a great way to help monitor our health. It helps to be mindful in what and when we eat. For those of us struggling with a healthy weight-loss or weight gain, documenting what we eat offers some clues into what we need to change. We can even schedule what foods/meals to eat to help us stay on the right track.
Fitness routine
Keeping track of our workouts is a great way to monitor or activity level. We can schedule what workouts we will do for the week or month which can help us stay committed to an active lifestyle.
Our growth
Being aware of our growth whether mentally, emotionally or spirituality can help us learn and grow more each day. When we are searching for ways to grow, we tend to find it. This is a great way to improve ourselves and gain confidence and humility.
Gratitude
Writing things down that we are grateful for puts us in a happy mood. When our focus is on this, we develop the habit of looking for the good all around us.
Sketching
When words are not enough to express ourselves sketching, doodling, and drawing are great way to allow our creativity to thrive.
Our day
Keeping track of our experiences throughout the day. The people we interact with, the funny moments or something we saw that inspired us helps us reflect and enjoy our day.
An alternative to writing is pictures, voice, and video entries which can be a great way to express ourselves freely. It allows our thoughts and emotions to flow naturally without having to think about it. Sometimes it can be difficult to find the right words to write down and this is a great way to capture it without losing the thoughts.
Let's begin and maintain our journal in our life's journey.
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