30
Mar
2022

Journaling

categories: Passion

Welcome back to Sarah’s Self-Care Corner!  For this week’s blog, I will discuss journaling, the benefits of journaling regularly, and different ways to journal.  Throughout middle school, many of my peers kept a diary, where they would write down school gossip, secret crushes, or the highs and lows of each day with no real purpose.  As life got more stressful and the daily demands increased throughout high school, it got more difficult to maintain a journal.  After adding daily journaling and reflection to my life, I realized that the hardest part of journaling is getting started and turning it into a daily habit.  

The Benefits of Journaling

As I discussed in my last post on emotional self-care, it is important to express and deal with our overwhelming emotions in healthy ways, which could include journaling as part of your self-care practice.  You can use journaling as a tool to manage your emotions and mental health.  By tracking your daily emotions and thoughts, you are able to recognize patterns and possible triggers in order to prevent future outbursts or negative thoughts.  In addition to this, journaling gives you a chance to think about the positive and negative thoughts from your day.  Remember that journaling is only one important aspect of leading a healthier lifestyle by improving stress management and mental health.  

Journaling Techniques

There are several journaling techniques that can be helpful when implementing journaling into your daily life.  You can find a journaling technique for almost any situation in your life, so I would suggest picking what would work best for you and your current needs emotionally and mentally.  Below are some journaling techniques that I have found helpful:

  • Write down affirmations.  Daily affirmations are positive statements that can relate to you and your daily life.  By using affirmations, you can shift your mindset and attitude from negative to positive.  Some possible daily affirmations include “I wish to be happy”, “I am enough”, “I will ease my suffering”, or “I have the power to change my mindset.”
  • Practice reflective journaling.  Reflective journaling considers an experience in your life and asks you to reflect on that specific moment, how you felt, and what you thought at the moment.  After considering your personal feelings, you can think about the deeper meaning of the experience such as what you think the moment means or how did it affect you.  Lastly, think about if you learned anything from experience or during the reflection.  Reflective journaling helps us process difficult life events so that we are able to move forward with our lives.
  • Try the unsent letter technique.  Unsent letters can be used to gain closure, clarity, confidence, and achieve a state of calmness.  You can write an unsent letter to communicate something left unsaid to someone you cared about or voice your thoughts or feelings towards them.  After writing an unsent letter, it is easier to move on with your life and leave the person “receiving” the letter in the past.
  • Write what you are grateful for or a gratitude letter.  By practicing gratitude towards ourselves and others, we feel overall happier and have a more positive outlook on life.  You can simply write what you are grateful for at that specific moment.  In addition to this, you could write someone a gratitude letter thanking them for being a part of your life.
  • Try freewriting.  Freewriting is one of the most common journaling techniques.  When you use the freewriting technique, you write down whatever comes to mind similar to a brain dump.  Even if your mind wanders, then continue to write down whatever pops into your head.  Sometimes freewriting is a good place to start because it gets your mind and thoughts flowing more freely instead of staring at a blank page.

Journaling Tips

The hardest part of daily journaling is getting started, so I provided some tips that helped me get in the habit of incorporating journaling into my daily routine.  

  • Try to be consistent.  Life can easily get busy, but it is important to try to remain consistent with your journaling in order to implement the practice into your daily life.  Choosing a specific time to journal for a few minutes each day will help you write in your journal regularly and make it a part of your daily routine.
  • Journal whatever you would like.  Your journal can be whatever you want it to be.  A journal should be a private place to express yourself.  When you are journaling, write or draw whatever comes to mind without judgment. 
  • Use different journaling techniques.  Using different journaling techniques each day or week will keep you excited and interested in daily journaling.  There are several techniques that can be used for almost any purpose or situation as mentioned above.   

Thank you for reading this post, and I hope you have found the information helpful in incorporating journaling into your daily life with a technique that best suits you and your needs.  Be sure to check back next week at Sarah’s Self-Care Corner where I will be discussing various yoga and meditation techniques that you can incorporate into your daily life.

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