Journaling and Mindfulness

One of the most embarrassing moments of my life was when my ex-best friend stole my journal and read an entry aloud to my friend group. Some of the most personal details of my life and thoughts that I’ve never spoken were being shared with others against my will. Despite how intrusive this incident was, it didn’t stop me from continuing to journal.

Journaling is “the practice of taking time for yourself to write and reflect on your thoughts, feelings and life experiences.” It’s an activity that only takes pen and paper and some time out of my day.

I started journaling at a young age. At the time, I didn’t even realize what I was doing. I was just writing my underdeveloped thoughts about my simple school days and meaningless drama in random notebooks. Regardless, stumbling upon these old journals from elementary and middle school is heart-warming because I can see how much I have grown. Although these thoughts were rather underdeveloped, they were raw and genuine.

In a journal, I write without the fear of being judged. The things I write in my journal are for myself and myself only, unless I choose to share them. Sometimes I use my journal to rant about drama, minor inconveniences, challenges, etc. Other times, I use my journal to reflect on my growth, perseverance, and accomplishments.

I try to journal at least once a week. I start off with no prompt, writing whatever comes to mind. However, as I get further into writing, I give myself more direction. I use prompts such as the following: listing things I am grateful for, jotting down quotes or song lyrics that resonate with me and why, or remembering small acts of kindness that changed my day.

I have found that journaling has many benefits. It has helped me process my thoughts and given me a space to write down negative thoughts. Overall, it has helped me reduce my stress.

Through journaling, I have also been able to practice mindfulness, an exercise that was introduced to me in Junior year of high school.

Mindfulness is “the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.”

Mrs. Dominick was my junior-year English teacher. She introduced Mindfulness Mondays to me. On these days we would meditate, do “body scans,” do a five-sense exercise, think about what we are grateful for, and list our favorite things that we often overlook. Through these days, I learned mindfulness exercises and the benefits of mindfulness. After these exercises, I felt rejuvenated and more connected to myself and the things around me.

Therefore, I thought it would be beneficial to incorporate mindfulness into my journaling. Journaling helped me to focus during mindfulness exercises because I often found my mind wandering without it. One of the most frequent mindfulness exercises I use is gratitude journaling. The prompt of gratitude journaling is usually something along the lines of this: “There are many things in our lives, both large and small, that we might be grateful about. Think back over the past week and write down … up to five things in your life that you are grateful or thankful for.” It is a simple exercise that grounds me after realizing that there are many things in my life that I should be thankful for.

Overall, mindfulness and journaling has improved my headspace and given me perspective. It also gives me an excuse to buy cute stationery.