Note: This article is by Jennifer Margulis, who shares her experience with journaling.
However, the paper was lined, and I prefer to draw and illustrate, so an unlined journal is preferable. But aside from that, it was flawless, as it contained enough pages for several months and a bookmark-sized ribbon.
I try to be the kind of person who settles for the least, but opening a fresh journal is a ritual I engage in three or four times annually because it makes me feel upbeat and enthusiastic. It's always felt to me like making a new friend when I start a new journal.
Improve Your Health by Writing Every Day
What do you do with all your thoughts? How are they categorized? And how can you be sure you are headed in the right direction for mindfulness and healthy living? I believe that journaling has benefits for everyone, regardless of writing ability or vocabulary knowledge.
If you have a busy mind or are trying to find ways to improve your life, keeping a journal will be beneficial. According to experts, journaling can enhance emotional well-being, reduce daily stress, help in problem-solving, and promote mental and emotional clarity.
According to author Marjorie Ingall, “There is a large body of research on the many benefits of journaling, and studies show that the practice can boost your immune system, lower your heart rate, and reduce some symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as improve your body image.”
Dr. James Pennebaker, a psychology professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and his colleagues discovered additional health advantages of journaling in a series of various studies carried out in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Pennebaker found that writing about traumatic or stressful experiences resulted in fewer doctor visits, improved immune responses, and even lower blood pressure, as the American Psychological Association notes in a review article.
Shevawn Armstrong, who is pursuing a master's degree in Leadership for Sustainability Education at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, was very impressed by this research.
Armstrong has been keeping a journal since she was a teenager and has been writing in it almost daily since then. She has always used a standard black notebook to write down her thoughts. Her journal pages frequently include to-do lists, appointments, and meaningful phrases she wants to remember, and she keeps all of her journals, chronologically organized, on shelves in the living room of her tiny home.
Journaling, according to Armstrong, “has always felt like a way to process my emotions and get things out of my head so they don't take up space. The more I learned about adult education, the more I realized how important it is to learn to reflect on the past.”
Journaling Can Be Done in a Variety of Ways
According to Ingall, there is a journaling technique that can be helpful, whether you are searching for calm, fresh insight, or creativity.
That's correct; you can keep a journal for your creativity, dreams, exercise, food, gratitude, poetry, travel, or anything else you like. You can write in it every day, once a week, or only when you feel like it or remember to. One of my favorites is that there is no right or wrong way to write in a diary.
In her widely acclaimed book The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, author Julia Cameron advised doing what was referred to as the “Morning Pages” if you wanted to get the most out of journaling.
The Morning Pages are three pages you write every morning when you wake up using the “stream of consciousness” technique, so before your ego awakens, you should write down everything that comes to mind without filter or criticism. The Morning Pages are Cameron's version of morning meditation.
In her book, Cameron explains that you often reach success when you feel as though you have run out of ideas for writing, and as you persevere, you might be surprised by how much creativity will flow. Cameron claimed that writing the morning pages was where she got some of her best creative ideas.
However, Cameron insisted that even if those three pages didn't make a great scenario or novel, they would still help you clear your mind and make your day better.
A clinical psychiatrist from Chicago, Dr. Beth Jacobs, also advised writing for three pages, or roughly 30 minutes, to express your thoughts and feelings. She thinks that writing in a “stream of consciousness” technique for a few minutes or asking yourself thoughtful questions will help you get the most out of your attempt to keep a diary.
Writing a Diary Quickly and Easily
Erin Stone, a health and life coach from the city of Ashland in the U.S. state of Oregon, defended writing diaries, particularly those that were written in the form of “five-minute diaries.”
The writing of these guided diaries focuses on the unusual aspects of one day and includes narrating both the things for which you are already grateful and the things that make your day wonderful. According to Stone, it consistently achieves positive results and benefits from this process just as much as its customers do by providing them with this straightforward and useful journaling tool.
In addition, she added, “Writing diaries is a great practice, and it caused a big difference in my mind that occupies anxiety. It is a great tool to clarify the most important things that took place during the day, bypassing any problems that have appeared, in addition to providing the space and place to express gratitude.”
What About Writing Dreams Daily?
Dr. Timothy March, a spine orthopedic specialist in Ashland, Oregon, who focuses on the overall health of the body, said he wanted to get to know himself as thoroughly as possible, so in the last 10 years, he made sure to keep a notebook in which he writes his dreams in an attempt to discover and learn more about himself.
In order to keep track of his dreams, March keeps a small notebook and a pen by his bed, and whenever he has a dream, he writes about it in his diary when he wakes up in as many details as possible. This dream journal is used as a tool for self-evaluation, to investigate the “hidden meaning or deeper truth” of the symbols that his subconscious mind reveals, and to pay attention to them.
March discovered that keeping a dream journal was helpful, especially when he experienced challenging or recurrent dreams. He claimed that when his dreams recurred frequently, he knew this was a warning sign that needed to be taken seriously.
However, deeper self-exploration does not necessarily have to be the focus of diary writing. My friend Paula Lynam, a teacher who values nature and lives in Ashland, makes it a point to go camping every Thursday during the summer and to travel to remote locations in Washington, Oregon, and northern California.
Lynam likes to be calm, alone, and in the arms of nature. As a result, she keeps a journal specifically for talking about nature, in which she records and sketches the plants, birds, and animals that she sees. According to Lynam, writing about nature not only serves as a record of their adventures but also helps her pay attention and feel connected to the beauty of the west coast's natural beauty.
I put the notebook back on the shelf and picked out a blank notebook that was less expensive and had some roses on the cover. Since the pages of this notebook are not lined, I will have space for drawing, and I can't wait to start writing in it after having a cup of green tea, which I did as soon as I got home. I feel clear-headed, calm, and as though I have a purpose just from thinking about writing the diaries. The moment I placed the brand-new notebook under my arms, I was overcome with joy and sensed that the empty pages were telling me that everything was possible.
How Do You Start Writing Diaries?
You may be convinced that you must try writing a diary as well, so where do you start?
1. Choose Your Notebook
You have the option of using an online tool or application or sticking to the classic method by purchasing a blank or lined notebook. If you prefer to use separate papers—as diary expert Julia Cameron recommends—buy what you put on the paper or a package of blank paper to get started. If you don’t like writing but still want to keep a diary, consider recording daily audio instead of writing it down.
2. Collect Your Writing Tools
All you really need is a favorite pen, but it also helps to have a pencil, a few colored selection pens, and perhaps even some fresh souvenirs, like movie tickets or tiny notes found inside candy boxes, to stick to your diary.
3. Decide How Many Times You Want to Write
Create a schedule for writing the diaries and do it every morning, before going to sleep, or during your lunch break. Share your goal with a friend or relative, and ask them to check in with you about it to help you stay on track.
4. Collect Questions That You Can Answer
Maryisa Fabrega, the owner of “DaringtoLivefully.com,” has posted 119 questions about journaling on its website, including “What scares you?”, “Where have you enjoyed traveling to most?” and other questions, and she advised that you keep these questions on scraps of paper in a jar and pick one each day to be motivated and prodded into writing journals.
5. Enjoy the Writing Process
Remember that there is no right or wrong way to write a diary, as you can write whatever you want. One sentence per day can be equivalent to five pages in quality. And however you choose to write your diary, you should know that it is a great practice to support your general health and safety. So, have fun with it and feel like writing your diary is a source of inspiration rather than something you must do on a regular basis.
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