The life changing habit of journaling
We are all a bundle of stories. Our mental state is heavily influenced by how we talk to ourselves, and the stories we tell ourselves based on life’s events. Keeping these stories bouncing around in our head isn’t a big deal in the beginning, but overtime, we accumulate more and more stories and without writing them down it becomes an unorganized library that can cause stress.
Journaling helps us better understand our thoughts, our feelings, and the events in our lives. It helps us to create meaning. Below is some structure to help you start this life changing habit. If the word “journaling” has a negative connotation for you, think of it instead as brain dumping and mindset organizing.
Tips for how to get started
Open up a journal, spiral bound notebook, or word document on your computer and start with these questions…
1. ask yourself, What am I grateful for today?
This is one of the easiest things to start writing about. Think about what you have, where you are, the people you love, and what you’re capable of doing. This can help shift your mind into a positive mindset and will give you excitement for the day.
2. ask yourself, What is the most important task today?
We all have so much going on all the time. In a world with so much stimulus, it’s easy to develop paralysis by analysis and end up in a state of freeze and procrastination. This question gives clarity on your priorities for the day and helps steer you down a path to start. I highly suggest choosing the most important task of the day that is going to move your needle forward closer to your goal. If nothing else were to get done today, this one task should be accomplished and enhance the quality of your life.
3. ask yourself, how am I feeling right now?
This is a lost art. Starting from your toes and gradually working your way up your body, check in with yourself and how you are feeling physically. Then, check in on your emotions. Write down all the feelings and emotions that come up. Remember, emotions manifest as physical feelings (e.g. anxiety causes breath holding, insomnia, and indigestion).
Documenting these two things can help keep tabs on your health and wellbeing and enhance your ability to communicate with your doctor, body workers, coaches, and loved ones. Do your best to not judge yourself, this is meant to be a personal exploration to gain insight into where you are in that moment and then can be a great comparison tool for you later. Personal pattern recognition can be a wonderful tool for forward progress.
Journaling doesn’t have to be complicated
I have had a morning journaling habit since 2015. I wake up, I grab my cup of coffee, sit down on my couch, and start journaling. Somedays it’s just a 2 minute entry, others a few pages worth. Most days it’s just a short and sweet entry on 3 things I’m grateful for. Really, it doesn’t matter what I write, what matters is that it’s consistent because consistency is where you will see the long term benefits, just like exercise!
Journaling is one way for us to better know ourselves and have a tool to better connect with and understand each other. Have some fun with this and remember to give yourself grace.
