5 Ways Journaling Can Help You Be More Calm, Mindful and Resilient
Journaling has been part of my morning routine for most of my life. Journaling has helped me process and understand thoughts and feelings, affirm better thoughts, and stay connected to my goals. I hope this helps you feel inspired to start your own journaling practice. It’s truly life-changing!
Journaling has evolved for me over the years, from documenting things in my neighborhood growing up (and pretending to be Harriet the Spy) to writing a play-by-play of school days, to an outlet to help process and regulate my emotions.
Growing up, when I wrote stream of consciousness, I would piece together new learnings or unpack why I reacted the way that I did, then I would offer myself words of optimism or encouragement.
Journaling helped create a safe space to grow and evolve – and writing makes me feel alive. I’m grateful for that, and passionate about sharing the power of journaling with others to help them feel the same!
The Benefits of Journaling
Increases your creative output.
Journaling gives you the permission and space to follow threads of thought. To expand on and noodle over things. One entry can inspire a new article. Or a product idea. Most of us spend our days moving from one thing to the next, as fast as possible. Journaling can be a mental vacation that gets you in the habit of thinking creatively.Grows your level of awareness.
Grows your level of awareness.
Journaling gives you a safe space to reflect on your emotions and what you can learn from it. When journaling you’re facing yourself every day in an honest and real way. The result is greater self-awareness and transformation. When you’re growing, you’re more likely to feel joy and other positive emotions. Most people don’t take the time to be self-aware. As a result, they can feel stuck in a passive, consumption mode. This can cause a disconnection from self and create anxiety, depression, and more.
Lets you feel your feelings.
People often don’t allow themselves to feel their full range of emotions. When they’re angry or scared they want to suppress it. Or bypass it. So the emotion gets stuck in the body. This can manifest as physical pain or emotional outbursts. Journaling gives you the space to let it all out. To express fully and loudly what you’re feeling. This can result in a greater sense of peace and relief.
Helps you remember wins.
Our brains are primed to forget the progress we’ve made because of a mechanism called automaticity. We’re wired to adapt to our environment quickly so the brain can continue to function with efficiency. Changes like: Getting assigned a huge project at work. Or moving across the country. The brain works hard to make those changes your new norm.
But you may forget a few months from now how amazing you felt finishing that important work project. Or how proud you were letting yourself take a vacation. Journaling helps you remember. When you document events or feelings in real time you can look back and celebrate the wins you’ve made.
Gives you a reason to keep going.
By journaling every day you make a statement that you matter. That your purpose is bigger than you. You’re putting intangible thoughts, ideas, and emotions down on paper and giving them a tangible existence. That’s literal creation.
Maybe one day someone else will read your words and have their life changed. Anne Frank first journaled for her own sanity and hope. Locked in a small apartment for two years. But she continued journaling in the hopes it would help others. She didn’t know then her words would change lives forever. But she knew she was meant for something great. You’re meant for something great too.
Different Ways to Journal
I’ve met many people who wish they journaled but aren’t sure how to start. If that’s you, or you want to get back into it, hopefully this helps. Journaling serves many purposes beyond writing down feelings or what happened in your day. There are six purposes I thought of that journaling can serve. I’ve divided them into masculine and feminine energy so you can choose based on where your energy is at:
If You Need More Masculine Energy…
Progress. Journaling can be a useful way to track progress on your goals. Dr. Benjamin Hardy has a great method that helps you revisit the gains you’ve made. By revisiting your progress you feel more confident and integrate your winnings and learnings better. In the cover of your journal, tape a piece of paper that lists your wins from the last 90 days and what you want to do in the next 90 days, year, and 3 years. Read that paper every morning before you start writing.
High Performance. If you want to kick your progress to an even higher level you can journal using Brendon Burchard’s The High Performance Planner. It’s a daily scoring system where you visit every area of your life and measure how you did. The journal has you answer questions too and own how you show up in life. This is a uber-masculine approach.
Legacy. Some people journal with the intention of leaving behind a record of their life for posterity. For this, you can make it simpler and write 3-5 things that happened today and what you felt about it.
If You Need More Feminine Energy…
Emotional release. A therapeutic method of journaling that helps you process, heal, and release. My favorite method for this is the daily page’s practice from The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron*. It’s where every morning you write a stream of consciousness letting whatever anxieties or worries come out on the page without editing or thinking.
Celebrate wins every week. A simple way to journal is to write down wins as they happen throughout your week. I discovered this method when I started using my Ponderlily Planner*. There’s a section at the bottom of each week for recording things to celebrate. This is a great and quick way to remember the good that’s happened.
Audio notes. If you do better with audio you can journal using the voice memo feature on your phone. It doesn’t have to be you talking either. As I’ve moved between Los Angeles, Switzerland, and New York City over the years I’ve recorded voice memos of the sounds around me. The quiet of a Swiss mountain or the bustle of Park Ave. It’s special listening back after some time because you feel like you’re visiting that time and place all over again.
You can also blend different methods. Every morning, I do emotional release and free-write three pages stream of consciousness (feminine energy) with a dash of progress (masculine energy) from Dr. Hardy’s method. This combination helped me release what I needed to and also influence my life in a proactive way, rather than a looking-backward way.
Of the five ways to journal which appeals to you most? Anything inspiring you? If you picked any of the five aside from audio notes I feel it relevant to speak briefly about digital versus analog. If the only way you’ll journal is if you type. Do that. If you don’t mind either way here’s something to think about.
Digital vs. Analog Journaling
Studies have shown the act of writing with pen and hand processes information better. In Psychology Today they said studies show writing by hand may help your brain. Laura Deutsch says, “Writing by hand connects you with the words and allows your brain to focus on them, understand them and learn from them.” Some physicians claim it engages your motor skills and memory. Deutsch continues to say, “Writing by hand can be rhythmic, therapeutic, and calming.”
Plus, it causes you to slow down. Yes, I can type much faster than I can handwrite but my brain is going faster, too.
What do you pick? If typing will get you started faster and keep you in the habit of journaling over handwriting then type. If handwriting feels good to you allow yourself the time and space to do that. Either way, journaling won’t take as much time as you think. Enjoy the process either way.
I hope this inspires you to start your own journaling practice… it’s truly life-changing.
Affirmation
I fuel my soul daily with activities that support my growth and expansion.
Writing Prompt
If I were to start journaling right now what would I want to say? What am I hoping to feel when I journal?
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