Journaling is a written account of your thoughts and feelings and is a great way to improve your well-being, communication skills and even your immune system. The best thing about journaling is that there’s no right or wrong way to do it – one day you could write something similar to a diary entry and on the next you could write a single affirmation. It’s completely up to you! It can be an easy habit to start and will result in you having a collection of inspiring material to look back on.
Journaling can be looked at as a form of therapy as it can organise an event or situation in our mind and help us make sense of the outcome. We can label and work through emotions, identify behavioural patterns and acknowledge trauma. It provides us an outlet for all the negative thoughts looping in our head, and helps us let go of them. This leads to an improvement to our mental capacity, as our brains no longer have to process our experiences and emotions. This helps us sleep, which in turn improves our immune system and mood. We are more energised, our work ethic is boosted and our outlook is more positive.
It also gives us an outlet to express ourselves freely, with no judgement or consequence. We all have those moments where we want to say something to someone, but we can’t! Using a journal to write down these thoughts can get things ‘off your chest’ and help you see situations more clearly without anything clouding your judgement. This results in better communication skills as it teaches us how to express ourselves considerately and clearly.
You don’t have to journal the negative moments; by focusing on the good things in life you naturally become more positive. Writing down all that you are thankful for can make you more optimistic, as you can see all the things you are grateful for in your life. You are choosing to focus on the positive in life, giving less power to negative emotions. You are making the positive aspects more real and concrete rather than allowing them to float around in your subconscious.
Starting a journal can be daunting – where do you begin? What do you write about? The thing is, you probably won’t know what you should write about until you start writing. Our minds are an amazing thing, and you might not know what’s hiding in there until you start journaling. Give it a go and see what flows out! Remember keeping a journal is a very personal activity. You can design it however you wish; you can add drawings or photos. Use it daily or weekly, write it physically or on your phone – whatever feels best for you! It is your safe space for you to write down very personal thoughts and emotions.
Ready to start journaling? Take a look at the journals we have in stock below.
