Journal Your Way To Success …. How To Keep A Journal And How It Can Help You Grow, Heal And Flourish

Like meditation, there is no right or wrong way to journal. Simply getting all your negative and positive thoughts onto the pages in front of you could release any emotional blockages you may have.

Before I start journaling I feel like I have so many thoughts. However when I start putting pen to paper, I realise that I have very few thoughts just the same ones rehashed. That’s helpful in itself.

No one will read your journal, so you can write things you wouldn’t say to anyone else, completely uncensored. Remember its for your eyes only. 

You can use the journal as a means of catharsis.

Don’t force yourself to write  Write when you feel inspired, otherwise it will become a chore and that defeats the object of journaling.  

Why I Journal

There are so many benefits to journaling, it not only facilitates personal growth but assists in developing a deeper connection with yourself resulting in you having improved mental clarity which allows you to gain insights on yourself and your experiences.  Journaling is very healing for the mind, body and spirit. 

I journal:

1. As a means of catharsis, consciously bringing how I feel into to awareness.
2. To see how far I have progressed. I review and analyse the past 30 days of journaling and see what lessons can be learned.
3. To record daily events for you to review at a later date. This is similar to the above reason however this is just day to day stuff. So much happens in our lives everyday, big and small things and it’s easy to forget these things. To record achievements
4. To set intentions/goals for the week, month year etc.
5. To empty my mind. Sometimes I feel I have that many thoughts, that my head could explode. So simply writing EVERYTHING down until I can no longer write is HUGELY BENEFICIAL.
6. To help improves mental clarity.

For me, blogging is like journaling. Once I have written and published a blog I feel like a sense of peace and relief. 

How To Journal

Choose a notebook and pen that looks beautiful and that you would enjoy writing in. Sit down in a quiet room and write. I like to play classical music, as there has been research that has proven classical music puts you in a heightened emotional state. The same applies when studying for exams (click here for more details on that benefits of listening to classical music)

There are five ways you can journal, they are:

Free Writing.

Write down whatever you want until you no longer have anything to say. Get every thought feeling dream or fear onto those pages and u run out of steam

Timed Journaling. 

Set a timer for 1, 15 or 30 minutes and go for it. Keep writing down whatever you want until the timer goes off

Subjected Journaling.

Each session you can purely focus on feelings, thoughts, emotions, experiences from the day, fears, dreams, goals or intentions for the week

Question Time. 

Ask yourself/the universe a question. Is there something that you would like to know? Write it at the top of your page, and write down the answers given to you from the universe. You may think it’s ridiculous, then write that. Write down everything that comes to mind because once you had recorded all your negative self talk, the truth will come through, if you allow it. A question I like to ask during journaling AND meditating is “What you I need to know?”

Sketchbook Journaling. 

This is drawing how you feel or what you experienced instead of writing words. Words are powerful but so are images, especially the ones you create. It doesn't have to be a masterpiece, quite the opposite.

You can keep more than one journal; for health, goals and intentions, purely negative rants, positive rants etc. You get the idea. It’s literally up to you.

Personally, I have 1 journal for everything. It’s all me so I keep it “under one roof” 

10 Questions To Ask Yourself When Feeling Unsure or Stuck On What To Journal About:

1. How are you feeling right now?
2. Where are you?
3. What time/date is it?
4. What good things happened today? How do you feel about that?
5. What bad things happened today? How do you feel about that? What is the lesson to be had?
6. What are you grateful for today?
7. What do you wish you could improve about your day?
8. What did you do today to get you closer to your goals?
9. What DO you want to write about?
10. What DON’T you want to write about?

Comment below and share your journaling practices. I'd love to hear from you. 

I hope you have found this post helpful 

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