How Journaling Can Change Your Life (and How to Start)

Journaling is a habit that a lot of successful people have. In fact, some of the greatest minds in history kept a journal, including Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Einstein, and Di Vinci. From my own personal experience, I would say that journaling has helped me massively in my life and it’s one of the things I know I can depend on when I need answers or just makes me feel better when I’m in a dark place.

What is Journaling?

Journaling is an effective way to write down your thoughts and emotions to process them. It’s also a form of self-love because it’s a way to remind you of what you’re capable of and it makes you feel better. It’s a way to see what’s within you. Whatever you want to express can be written in a journal; it’s not just for ideas and emotions. This includes:

• Expressing gratitude
• Writing down future Goals
• Remembering a dream
• Making decisions
• Listing your favorite things in that period of time
• Setting down affirmations
• Practicing self-love

Journaling Methods

•  Digital journaling: If you’re someone that doesn’t like writing down on paper. There are multiple journaling apps that you can find online for free. Dayone is a highly recommended app.

• Physical journaling: I personally found that writing down my thoughts on paper is more effective, but maybe digital journaling works out better for you. The 5-minute journal is something I’ve been looking forward to buying, I’ve heard a lot of people talking about it.

Benefits of Journaling

You might be thinking, “why bother?”. I get you. However, many trusted sources (like Cambridge and Harvard) proved that journaling can have both physical and mental benefits. The benefits of keeping a journal include, but are not limited to, the ones stated below.

• Better Self-Awareness

Self-reflection is a big part of journaling, whether you’re writing about how your day went, what you’d change, why you felt a certain emotion, or even talking about your flaws that might be hard to admit to someone else. The more you process those feelings, the more knowledge you will have about yourself and discover who you truly are. With time and effort, you can begin to quickly figure out the reasons behind your actions and correct them right away.

• Clearer Mind

According to experts, the mind generates between 60,000–80,000 thoughts per day which is an average of 2500 – 3,300 thoughts per hour. This means that we all experience mental overload throughout the day. So, we all need time to relax and simply have a calmer mind. You can clear some room in your mind and let it cool off by writing these thoughts down.

• Decreases Stress

We all experience stress from time to time, whether it is from our jobs, our families, or just life in general. Most of the time, we can’t really pinpoint what’s bothering us which makes it even worse. One of the ways to relieve stress is to journal and that’s because you have your thoughts down in front of you in an organized manner, instead of a scattered mind. This way, you can start dealing with them more effectively and look for solutions.

• Be your own therapist

A therapist listens to you without judgment and gives you some solutions on what to do. You can achieve the same results via journaling and the great part is that it’s available to you 24/7. Instead of waiting for a therapist’s chosen time, you can rely on yourself to help you manage your problems. I want to point out that I’m not in any way suggesting that therapy is bad; in fact, I think it may be great for you, especially during difficult times and grieving, but journaling can be a good alternative.

• Helps you Get Through Difficult Times

Journaling has been found in numerous studies to lower depression levels overall. Writing in a journal can be as helpful as cognitive-behavioral therapy in lowering the risk of depression in young adults, according to a 2006 study by Stice, Burton, Bearman, & Rohde. That’s because you have created your own judgment-free space where you can just talk about your deepest emotions and get them out of your negativity-filled brain.

• Manifestation Tool

According to Harvard Business Research, just ten years after receiving their MBAs, the 3% of graduates who had their goals written down ended up making ten times as much as the other 97% combined. Writing down what you want your future to look like can help you start believing that it’s possible, just like vision boards. That’s because you now have a clearer vision of what you want and the clearer your goal is, the easier it is for you to know what to work on. Journaling through your goals can also help you discover something you didn’t know you wanted.

• Increased Gratitude

Yes, you can also keep a gratitude journal where you write down what you’re grateful for. It doesn’t have to be something massive, it can be so small like being grateful that you’re able to buy your favorite snack. It has been proven that gratitude leads to a better lifestyle and a more positive mindset.

• Measure Progress

When you get into the practice of journaling, you will have a detailed record of your actions. You can go back to it a year or even a month later and look back on the tiny successes you’ve achieved. This means that it can act as some sort of motivation to keep you going and allow you to figure out what worked or didn’t work out for you.

“Journal writing when it becomes a ritual for transformation is not only life-changing but life-expanding.”

~Jen Williamson

Misconceptions About Journaling

People tend to think that there’s one perfect way to journal and that’s it. That’s false. The good news is that there’s no right or wrong when it comes to journaling, there’s only what works for YOU. I’ve tried a method that didn’t work out for me when I first started and wanted to give up on it. However, I tried a different method that ended up changing my life.

Another misconception is thinking that journaling is magic and will solve all your problems. it might not always give you the answers you need right away, and that’s normal. You might have journaling sessions that weren’t as expected and I’ve had that happen to me multiple times but the key here is to keep pushing and trust that it will work out the next time.

Getting Over Doubts

I’ve always wanted to make journaling a habit, but something has always stopped me. Over time, I became aware of an inner voice that kept asking, “What if it doesn’t work out?” “What if it’s a waste of time?” Let me share with you how I got over it, in case you’re going through a similar situation. Firstly, I changed those negative narratives in my head to positive ones. So instead of ” What if it doesn’t work out?” I say, ” What if it did and ended up being something great?”

Another thing that I did which I recommend you use in everything is the ‘do something principle’. This means not giving space to these thoughts and just literally doing something about it. Even if you don’t know the ‘how’, you will find it when you take action. So just start journaling NOW! Don’t allow these thoughts to control you.

How to Journal

This is how I personally journal, and it worked out for most of the people I know. My method is all about asking yourself questions, pretty much like talking to yourself. Remember, there’s no right or wrong.

• Calm Down

If you’re experiencing negative emotions, like anger, jealousy, or sadness, a good idea would be to just take time to calm down before journaling. Being overly heated can cloud our judgment and cause bias. By paying attention to your breath you can start to relax.

Do this: Inhale for four counts, hold your breath for one, and then exhale for four. After doing this for 3 to 6 minutes, you are ready to go.

• Manifest a Good Journaling Session

This might sound weird, but it works with me every time. Before each session, I tell myself out loud that I’m about to have a good journaling session and that I will come out feeling good, no matter the result. The more you believe it, the more likely it will happen. Nevertheless, no matter the result always praise yourself for trying and giving yourself that kind of self-love you know you deserve.

• Identify Emotions

“How are you feeling” is the first thing I ask myself when journaling. The more specific you can be about how you’re feeling, the better. I recommend using Harvard’s emotional dictionary, which helps you pinpoint your exact emotions. Another thing to keep in mind is that journaling isn’t only about the negative emotions, if you’re feeling happy write that down.

Something I like to do when discovering my emotions is to put the words “I feel” so that I separate myself from that emotion and remember that I’m not it.

• Create a judgment-free zone

During my journaling sessions, I always reassure myself that it’s a judgment-free zone and I write that down so that I can see it. This makes it very easy for me to open up and be vulnerable. As a result, my journaling sessions are much more effective and honest.

• Keep Asking Questions

Asking yourself why you’re feeling that way is the second step, and you can do this for as long as you want. It normally lasts until you recognize the root cause or reason behind your feelings. ‘Why’ is a highly powerful question that can help you uncover previously undiscovered layers. It’s also good idea to start your questions with the 5W’s (why, who, what, where, when), this makes it easier for you to answer.

At this point, feel free to have a full-on conversation with yourself and maybe even comfort yourself. So, let’s say I’m feeling happy and discover that it’s because I spent some time with my family. This unlocked some new information about myself so I can start spending more time with my family because of it.

• Be the Objective Observer

Because you’re likely to make biased judgments, it’s a good idea to consider the scenario from a third-person perspective. Now, take a look at the scenario from above and picture your friend, who you want the best for, in that same situation. What would you suggest they do?

• What can I do?

I often end my journaling sessions with questions like, ” What can I do to make today better?” or “What actions can I take to make the situation better?” or ” What can I do to ensure better results next time?”. These kinds of questions give me good insights and solutions that allow me to take action in that moment.

• Look for Journal Prompts

One of the most common questions about journaling is ” What do I write about?”. It can literally be anything. Follow the steps above after asking yourself a question.

Recommended Read: 90 Journal Prompts in 90 Days

Final words

Like everything in life, we need consistency and practice to see results. It’s the same for journaling, so it’s important to build a habit out of it to see lasting results and have better self-awareness.

Conclusion

Let’s recap, multiple studies have shown how journaling can improve both your mental and physical health. We discussed those benefits and talked about how you can get over these doubts in your head that we all have. We also talked about how to practice journaling. When journaling doesn’t go as planned the first time, it might be challenging to continue, but trust the process and keep going.

So, what did you think of this week’s article? Are you going to fight those doubts and do something instead? I know you can do it. Let me know if my journaling technique worked out for you. Please share this with your friends if you liked it. I’ll always be here cheering you on!