Journalling is a well-known mindfulness technique tool, as it offers a wide range of benefits, especially if used in combination with other practices and tools. In my previous article 11 stress management techniques and their benefits I elaborated a lot more on how to deal with stressful situations, so feel free to check it out!
As Lisann Valentin, a Shamanic life coach and actress points out, "journalling is mindfulness in motion". It shines light on both conscious and unconscious thought patterns and gives you invaluable moments of insight and clarity.
Without further ado, let's dive right in,shall we?
1.Journalling reduces stress. Whenever you feel overwhelmed or you feel life's burdens are just getting too much for you, choose to put pen to paper. Writing down what troubles you may give you the necessary release from the stress but also allows you to look upon the situation from a place of clarity.
2. It boosts health and general well-being. Several studies and research conducted on adults suggest that journalling about you innermost thoughts and feelings contributes to
- lower blood pressure
- significantly improved mood
- a feeling of increased well-being
- a sense of decreased symptoms of anxiety and depression
- develops greater resilience to stressful situations
3. Allows for release of negative thoughts. In my own long experience with journaling, I have found that any overwhelming bouts of negativity, self-loathing and pessimism significantly decreased the more consistently I journalled. You know as well as I do that it is so easy to just allow yourself to be flooded with all manner of impending doom and catastrophe. To paraphrase the wise words of Sabrina Romanoff ,making the choice to release those thoughts on paper, creates space and distance to consider them more objectively and thus making them more manageable, objectively speaking.
4.Smoothes out the way to process your emotions. How often do you consciously repress your emotions or pretend they do not exist? I know I have done so, leading to various health issues and autoimmune syndromes. Ignoring your feelings, not honouring them and not dealing with them appropriately is not the solution. You can rest assured that your feelings will find a way to pop up to the surface one way or the other and the consequences may vary in severity. You can't escape them. It is useful to journal about them, however. That way you can process and reflect on them, without the adverse repercussions on your health or relationship with the people in your life.
5. Journalling is useful to helping you understand what your next steps are. You probably know the feeling of having a jumble of thoughts whirling around in your head, making it difficult for you to decide on a sensible course of action. Writing down those thoughts and emotions, seeing them written out before you, calms you down instantly and provides the clarity to understand how you must proceed.
6. It allows you to keep track of and achieve your goals. Writing down your goals allows you to keep track of any progress you're making. Moreover, it keeps you accountable to yourself, reminding you of what needs to be done still to achieve your goals. Finally, you will be able to monitor the growth you've made by revisiting your previous entries, reflect on them, make any necessary changes or stick to your current course of action.
7. It deepens self-discovery. By journalling consistently you allow for a reconnection to yourself, your deepest, even unconscious thoughts and feelings. In that way, you open the path to a rediscovery of who you really are at your core.
8. Increased self-confidence. By tracking your growth and progress as well as by connecting more to your true self, you get a tremendous confidence boost. By remembering the obstacles and challenges you've managed to overcome and see how far you've come as a person gives an unparalleled feeling of pride and satisfaction.
9. Improved writing and communications skills. Effective writing and communications skills improve with consistent practice. By journalling on a daily basis, if possible, allows you to refine your skills in the art of writing. Moreover, as you express your thoughts and feelings, simultaneously you improve in the art of effective communication.
10. Journalling strenghtens the memory.As is pointed out in The Journal of Experimental Psychology Expressive writing can increase working memory capacity, the research that was carried out it depicted how writing down your thoughts can actually reduce nagging thoughts about negative past or present events and improves working memory. By writing something down a signal is sent to your brain that you want to remember it. Isn't your life's story important enough to remember?
11. Journalling can be source of inspiration. As you can see in the image above, Leonardo Da Vinci drew some of his incredible invention ideas in his journals. You can follow his example and make use of your journalling time to brainstorm, doodle or just let your imagination run wild. The epiphanies you may experience while writing or drawing just might surprise you.
If you've always wanted to start journalling but had absolutely no idea how to begin,I'd like to take away the guesswork.Below I have listed some effective journalling prompts to help you out.
1. What do I know to be true that I didn't know a year ago?
2. What distractions get in the way of my productivity?
3. When do I feel most aligned with my true sef?
4. If someone were to describe me, what would they say?
5. How does every part of my body feel right now?
6. What negative emotions am I holding on to? How can I detach from them?
7. Why am I feeling this way?
8. How can I detach my emotions from the feelings of others?
9. How effectively do I use healthy boundaries?
10. When I look in the mirror, what do I see?
11. What hurts right now and how can I find relief for it?
12. What happened before I felt this shift in my mood?
If you are still not convinced of the many benefits of journalling, here's some more evidence to support it. You can read it here.
What are you waiting for? Get out your journal, make yourself a nice cup of tea (or a glass of wine is fine,too) and let the words fly!
As always, sending you endless ripples of love and positivity,
Lia
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