Every day millions of articles on journaling, are written and published on different platforms such as Magazines, Ebooks, Blogs etc.

If you prompt Google right now you are more likely to find one of these questions what is a journal? and how to journal? So, what is exactly is a journal? In my own words, and understanding a journal is simply a therapeutic process of writing down what is going on for you.

In other words, it can be defined as a way of reflecting, unpacking your feelings, and analyzing your behavior as well as daily experience by a form of writing that can bring about healing. Look, you can write your journal in whichever language that you want.

NB: There’s no agreed format of journaling, this means you have the liberty to write it as you want.

This is how it works…

Writing about your inner experience is a therapeutic and useful practice that allows you to get rid of troublesome thoughts, feelings, ideas from your mind, onto a blank page.

Some people will only write down something only when it is an absolute necessity, for instance, when creating to-do lists and writing reminders and notes.

Are you among this group of people? Journaling is a way to express and release pent up emotions, thoughts, and feelings; and it can be a life-changing experience. Updating your journal daily can be a real challenge, especially to people trying it for the first time.

Just like meditation, journaling requires commitment and patience. Nonetheless, if you manage to stick to this practice, it enhances and changes your life in numerous, significant ways.

Maybe you have been planning to start journaling but, you kept wondering how to get started.. The best time to start is NOW!

What You Need To Get Started

A writing Pad/ Diary, Book what works for you

A pen

Time. create a schedule on when, where, and what time of the day is preferable, and convenient for you to journal.

Always remember this unwritten rule that; Privacy is very important here, this simply means that your journal should not be accessible to other people.

Below Are 6 Major Areas That You Can Consider Including In Your Journal As You Get Started.

Thoughts – Write anything that comes to your mind, freely without censoring them.

Feelings – reflective on how your day was, for example how were you feeling today?

Day Experiences, this is what triggered certain thoughts, feelings and actions.

Behaviors, what you did, Act / react to what happened to you.

State of Wellbeing, how did you cope and overcome the situation?

Gratitude List, what are grateful for today, achievements etc. What have you discovered about yourself, learnt in terms of skills? Once, you get started and you are aware of the benefits that come with writing things down on a piece of paper.

This will spark your interest and help you to stay motivated to continue journaling as well as improve your general well being.

Here are the 10 Surprising Benefits of Journaling.

1.Enhances Your Problem-Solving Skills

Journaling sharpens your skills of solving issues and problems in life. If you would try writing down about a challenging issue that you encounter, it will come to your realization that you will start seeing it in different perceptions.

As result, you brainstorm different solutions and better still, in a more organized manner. According to a classic study that took place in the School of Science and Mathematics Association, students who wrote down about their mathematics problems in a journal ended up witnessing significant improvements in their test scores over a while.

2. Aids in Feelings and Thoughts Clarification

Journaling helps you to track improvements, patterns and trends over a while. In the case where what you are handling appears irresolvable, you only need to look back on your past dilemmas, which you successfully resolved and learn from them.

During moments when you feel uncertain and confused, take your journal and write that down. This taps into your inner person and things start making sense.

3.Hastens Your Recovery from Traumatic Experiences

Journaling has no limits on what you can write or what you must write about. Creative writing like poetry and fiction can also translate as journaling and this can help anyone get past traumatic incidences.

According to Jessica Lourey, a seasoned author, tenured writing professional and sociologist, creative writing as a form of journaling helps you generate a shifting perspective and a coherent narrative.

4. Stretches Your IQ

According to a report by the University of Victoria, writing while perceived as a form of language learning, positively correlates to intelligence. Journaling boosts your ability to explore a language because it fuels the desire to look up for new phrases and words to enrich your lexicon.

The report further says that among the best sole parameters of overall intelligence is vocabulary as proven by the tests of intelligence.

5.Triggers Mindfulness

There is usually a strong link between mindfulness and happiness. Journaling is one of those things that evoke mindfulness. Future anxieties and past frustrations lose their edge when you are mindful.

Writing down your feelings and thoughts calls a strolling or straying mind to consciousness and attention from being passive to being active as this is a process that engages your thoughts.

6.Enhances Communication Skills

According to a Stanford report, writing has critical links to oral communication. Journaling is definitely a form of communication to oneself. However, the sub-vocalization that occurs when tracing your written thoughts naturally translates to real vocalization.

When journaling, one gets the deliberate urge to tidy up their work, in order to enjoy the benefits of verbal communication, however, making this decision as you write will definitely benefit your oral communication.

7.Healing

Did you know that expressive writing is an express route to healing psychologically, emotionally, and physically? According to the author of Writing to Heal, Dr. James Pennebaker, immune function significantly improves in patients who engage in writing exercises.

Stress is a result of over-thinking hypothesis and emotional blockages. Dr. James explains that when humans translate experiences into a language, the experience becomes graspable. This way, your mind gains the freedom from being entangled in traumas.

Some studies have proven that journaling gives you an emotional release that lowers stress, anxiety and improves your sleep quality.

In 2013, a study was conducted and the results were surprising because they revealed that 76% of adults who use 20 to 50 minutes of their time writing about their feelings and thoughts for 3 consecutive days, 2 weeks before a medical biopsy healed 11 days after the medical procedure.

Besides, in an interview with Scientific American, Elizabeth Broadbent, a professor of medicine at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, thinks that taking your time to write about distressing events helps you make sense of incidents and minimize distress and as a result, your body heals a little faster.

8.Boosts Self-Confidence

Writing about a positive event that happened in your life allows your brain to relive that experience. It also reaffirms your abilities at the moment when self-doubt appears.

Journaling allows you to reflect on positive experiences and it creates a catalogue of personal achievements, which you keep going back to. When your brain releases dopamine and endorphins, your mood and self-esteem receive a boost.

9.Strengthens your Self-Discipline

Setting time aside to journal and sticking to it, whether in the morning or the evening is definitely an act of discipline. Just like a muscle keeps becoming stronger as you keep exercising it, discipline begets discipline.

Additionally, when you form a habit in a particular area of your life, the habit gets a tendency to spread. For instance, just like the way keeping your office clean and tidy leads to ensuring your bedroom is tidy as well; journaling daily also leads to other healthy habits.

10.Boosts Comprehension and Memory

There exists a unique relationship between the brain and the hand. This relationship is generated by the composition of ideas and thoughts. Words represent ideas. Through the formation of letters, as you write, your mind is taken through a process of composing and recomposing ideas.

As a result, previously covered information is strengthened and you are forced to engage in a cognitive recall. As you plan and act into embracing journaling and making it a part of your daily life, remember that consistency and patience are critical during the formation of new habits.

You can start by writing 3 days per week and make it the first thing you do in the morning or the last thing you do at night before sleeping.

Article Written by

Breakthrough Team