People say that you should start writing down your thoughts and feelings whenever you catch yourself overthinking. You might be surprised to realize that you have a fantastic mental health tool in your hand – journaling. Besides the obvious benefits of journaling, it also implies mindfulness, and it is an ideal way to process your thoughts and emotions.
Daily journaling has multiple purposes for each person on an individual level: it may help you keep track of everyday aspects of your life, or it can be an exercise of spontaneity and become a part of your self-development plan. Moreover, it is an easy step to include in your morning routine and evening recap (include a link to the “Morning routine” article once posted) that can easily improve the quality of your life!
Journaling 101: What Should You Know?
Keeping a diary has been an ongoing practice for hundreds of years: we notice it in movies, TV series, or read about it in books. Daily journaling involves keeping records of your thoughts and the insights related to them. However, there is the main difference between following some journaling prompts and keeping a diary! What is it, you may ask?
Well, it’s all about conclusions. Normally, keeping a diary implies that you keep track of significant stuff and note down important stuff that happened to you. Journaling, on the other hand, means that you write down your ideas, observations, and experiences that lead to self-introspection. In essence, writing is primarily an organized system, so daily journaling can help you organize certain experiences in your mind and relieve stress.
Journaling or simply logging a weekly review can either be a complex or simple habit, whatever suits you best. Keep in mind that the format in which you express your thoughts and feelings is what matters the most. You should be open to externalizing your thoughts without feeling judged or pressured by what’s surrounding you. Privacy is also very important when it comes to journaling, due to the intimacy of the process.
Can Journaling Keep You Healthy?
Many people are suffering from hidden grief or negative emotions that they are unable to share and that constantly cloud their minds. Writing, however, removes mental obstacles and allows you to use your entire brainpower to better comprehend yourself, others, and the world around you. Let’s take a look at the benefits of journaling!
Daily Journaling Helps You Relieve Stress
A study conducted among 100 adults who were asked to practice journaling for mental health for at least 15 minutes a day has shown that, after doing so, the participants experienced a great reduction in symptoms such as despair, anxiety, and aggression, especially if they were already upset. Negative ideas and feelings can sometimes run in our heads indefinitely. Pausing whatever you are doing and writing down your emotions can help you release those bad thoughts and reduce your anxiety levels.
Keeping a Daily or Weekly Review Gives You Clarity
Besides the fact that daily journaling relieves anxiety, it can also help you prioritize your concerns, worries, and difficulties. That alone is one of the most important benefits of journaling, as you can identify triggers and learn how to control them. Moreover, keeping a log of your everyday activities can help you notice certain patterns or habits that can slow your self-development plan, and once you are aware of those patterns, it’s easier to change them. Practicing journaling for mental health can assist you in expressing gratitude, as well as solving problems more easily.
Try It Out: Several Journaling Prompts for Your Happiness Journey
We are all aware that trying out a new habit to improve your daily life and achieve happiness might be overwhelming. Starting daily journaling is scary, especially combined with other self-help habits, so it may take some time for it to become an established part of your routine. And yet, we have some journaling prompts ready for you, that you can easily follow for your self-development plan!
The Morning Jump Dump
Starting simply, you can opt for a short journaling session in the morning. When choosing this option, you shouldn’t bother with keeping a nice journal or stressing too much about your writing. Just take a pen in your hand, lay your thoughts on paper, and let your mind float. Don’t worry about spelling or the quality of your writing. Instead, try to fill out a blank page and write down everything that comes to your mind.
“I don’t know what to write”, “I’m tired” or “Today’s an exciting day” might be a few of your opening sentences. Then, keep going from there until you feel relieved. Don’t worry, you will never read those pages again, so you can even toss them or throw them away.
Using journaling for mental health, especially such exercises, can help you cleanse your mind and body of the junk that has accumulated in your ideas, subconscious, and habits.
Your Weekly Review
Our Happiness Journey Program includes certain exercises that aim for self-introspection and discovery. As people, we find it difficult to make adjustments, especially if we do not assess and analyze what we think, feel, or do. This is when a weekly review journaling prompt is beneficial to you!
Take time each week to reflect on your life, rank yourself and how you feel about the previous week, then plot out the next stage. We recommend two journaling prompts for your weekly review:
● Try to assess any disharmonious emotions. Select a few circumstances in which you felt discordant emotions during the previous week and try to explain the situation, define the emotion, provide details, and think about your feelings.
● Reflect on your actions and consequences. A review of your activities provides you with the necessary insights for self-growth and life intention. Set aside some time to reflect on the previous week, what went well and what didn’t, and what lessons you learned.
Problem-Solving Technique Through Journaling
Problem-solving journaling entails investigating the root causes of your problems and requires close attention to detail. Write about all of the aspects and forces that surround the problem you are attempting to address. You will choose a specific action step to overcome your difficulty using this knowledge. It is best to ask oneself questions like these to obtain some resolution:
● What other way could I tackle this problem?
● What exactly bothers me about this?
● What does this make me feel on the inside?
● What would my reaction be if I were in someone else’s position in this situation?
Your Future, Dreams, and Relief Letter
Often, people also use daily journaling to write down their long-term goals and their action plan and they focus on the possible emotions they might feel when achieving their dreams. Another technique involves dream journaling – the practice of writing down fragments of your dreams first thing in the morning, while they are still fresh in your mind. Most of the time, good dreams can be just as illuminating as terrible ones, as both can be useful tools for releasing creativity that goes unrecognized during the day.
Writing a relief letter is also a great tool to solve arguments with others. You can send a letter to anyone with whom you disagree, such as your boss, teacher, parents, coworker, or life partner. However, because it is not meant to be delivered, you can be completely honest when writing it. Look at it as a letter of liberation that will set you free from your difficult negative feelings!
Find Your Path to Happiness!
Whether you want to start by changing your habits, establishing a routine, or learning how to express gratitude, our Happiness Journey Program is here to help you become the best version of yourself!
Always remember that all the possibilities lie within you, so it’s never too late to make a change. Join us today and we’ll teach the best techniques to help you get one step closer to happiness.
