Getting started with Journaling
Do you ever write down your thoughts rather than listening to them in your head? Positive or negative thoughts can be better understood when you transfer it to a piece of paper and physically see what you are feeling.
I did not come up with this concept though. I fell upon journaling when I had hit “rock bottom” in my life about 4/5 years ago (I used quotation marks for rock bottom because what I felt was the end of the world was actually just a minuscule bump in the road).
After reading article after article about the benefits of journaling, I decided to give it a try. I encourage you to first read those articles if you are still not motivated to write.
Journaling has dramatically improve my everyday living and has been a huge reason for my growth, clarity, and happiness over the years.
The most difficult part of journaling that I experienced is the idea of writing with a purpose. It took me so long to actually start journaling because I did not know what to write about. It honestly just felt weird to me. Nerdy almost.
Over the years, I have adapted my approach to journaling so that it best fits my goals and needs.
I journal because I love to unfold the contents that are plaguing my mind and come up with efficient solutions to my problems. Each negative thought I experience I attempt to counter with humor to make light of my issues. And I love to plan and hold myself accountable to what I write so that I can achieve my goals.
Understanding the journaling techniques and different ways that you could write about make
1. Gratitude
The most common and simplest form of journaling is writing about what you are grateful for. This practice is great for beginners to get into the habit of writing everyday. It can be done at any time during the day and takes less than 15 minutes of your time.
Journaling about what you are grateful for each day will bring more positivity to your world. It will force you to think positively and slowly change your view on the world.
The moment I started thinking about what I was grateful for, it helped me see the good in people, how lucky I am to be where I am, and thankful for all that my family, friends, and my circumstances have provided for me.
2. Journal Questions
There are many thought provoking journaling questions you can find online. Thousands of them. And you can search for the specific types of questions you want to answer about yourself.
If you are looking for some great journal prompts, check out my 30 day Journal Challenge.
Here are a few of my favorites:
- For the major areas of your life ( health, finances, career, relationships, spirituality, beliefs, and whatever else you consider important ) write down your goals on what you want to achieve 5 years from now and what you see yourself doing. Then, map out what you need to do to achieve your desired goals for the next several years?
- Explain and define what success means to you.
- Write down what you feel that you are the best at and what you love doing most. Then investigate how you could spend more time doing both!
You can find many similar questions online if you just search “Journal Questions about [areas where you lack clarity]”. Answer these questions with detailed explanations to get the best results. Also, remember to be true to yourself when writing — the beauty of journaling is no one else has to read it but you!
3. Describe your day
Another good way to get into journaling is to simply describe your day.
Try and recall the main details of your day (if you journal in the evening), or the day before (if you are journaling in the morning).
This simple task will force you to think about how you spent your day. You can rate how well you think the day went and write down what would make that rating increase.
This is probably the easiest method of journaling as you are simply writing about things you actually did, said, and felt.
I started journaling about my day in the evenings before I started answering thought provoking questions. It was easy. And if I had a bad day, I told myself what I was going to do to make it better and sure enough, I started listening to my self.
It prevented me from carrying anything upsetting or negative from the previous day and allowed me to start each day with fresh new thoughts and ideas.
Try it out. #NoBadDays2020
4. Goal setting
Because journaling is personal, you can write about the goals you want to achieve.
You can refer to these goals whenever you want and modify anything on the list of things you want to accomplish.
The only person who is holding you accountable then, is you.
If you do not believe in yourself, you cannot exactly become who you want to become. The self limiting beliefs that I had about myself really stopped me from growing all these years. Today, I feel I am making strides in my development and I owe it to journaling.
I write down what it is that I want for myself along with all the ways that can help me get there. I then learn and practice the skills I need to get over those things.
Fun fact: A lot of my 30 day challenges come from the goals I want to set for myself.
5. Affirmations
We love being negative. It is a default mechanism we turn to.
Try keeping count of the number of times you criticize, talk negatively, and wish sad/bad things about yourself. You will probably lose count.
Negativity really does consume us and our mind.
Writing positive affirmations down in your journal can help you build your confidence.
Writing about positive thoughts and all the things that you love about yourself will remind you how great you are. When you know you are great, you can take on challenges you never thought of, and anyone that tells you that you are not great will not hurt. You will smile more.
Final remarks
I have given 5 strategies for journal writing and you can mix it up or stick to one method. But you can literally start by writing about whatever you want to talk about: a bad day, a person you miss, a job you got denied for, a vacation you are planning to take.
Just write!
As long as you practice writing regularly, you will be able to slowly change the way you think.
You will be able to see your own growth before you as you write.
You will be able to overcome any self limiting beliefs you have as long as you write about what is going well in your life rather than what is wrong.
Above all, it can help tame your negative thoughts and prevent you from going crazy.
In todays climate, it is so easy to forget who we are, compare ourselves to others, and get angry at pressing issues in the world. Fight it by writing your own truths, where your opinion is the only one that counts.
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