Whether you're new to journaling, never thought about journaling, or a routine journal-er, journaling is a simple way to add many benefits to your life and well-being. Yes, journaling is right up there with drinking water and moving your body. It is good for your mental and emotional well-being and while the benefits are countless, here are five (and a bonus...so six) reasons why I recommend adding journaling as a part of your wellness routine.
1. Journaling slows you down.
Handwriting is becoming a lost art. There's something about it that slows you down--which is good! We live in a fast paced world with people rushing from one thing to the next. Our minds move even faster thinking about one to-do on to another. Journaling is an invitation to slow down. If you are looking to find stillness and space in your weeks or days, journaling can help you to create a practice that slows you down.
2. Journaling provides a way to release and pour out.
Journaling gives you a space to get it all out, imperfectly and however you need. There is no judgment on the receiving end of the pen. Journaling gives you a place to drop everything and be. Journaling provides you with a way to acknowledge and release feelings, emotions, thoughts, truths, anything that you may be holding onto.
3. Journaling unearths the subconscious.
There is something about the relationship between the hand and the mind. The mind releases information to your hand when you are writing in ways unlike when you are typing or even talking. I will never forget the day I was journaling and I wrote something about how I was feeling that I had never said out loud before.
Journaling can help you to unearth the subconscious of what's going on underneath the surface. In writing, your body and mind work together to get out what’s going on inside if you make the space and time and allow it to come to the surface. That is the power of journaling.
There are some truths, feelings, or thoughts our mouths just won't allow us to say or admit on our own. But writing somehow frees that and helps you to uncover what is going on in your head and heart.
If you're trying to process something, journal about it. Write about it. You may find the clarity you've been looking for; which leads me to number four.
4. Journaling can provide clarity.
If you are an over thinker, please give journaling a try. There is so much clarity in writing as I shared in number 3 above. If you've been looking for clarity about something, try writing about it--how you're feeling, what you know, what's confusing, and you may be surprised at some of the clarity this brings about for you.
5. Journaling requires you to make space and time for yourself.
Best of all, regardless of what you're writing, journaling is a practice that makes you prioritize yourself. It's a time where you stop and choose to write and be. In a world that is so obsessed with productivity and doing more and more and more, journaling is an act against it to stop and be. Journaling allows you space to be with yourself (even if you're not physically in a room by yourself), and write to benefit your well-being. We need more time and space for being in our lives (we are human beings after all) and journaling is an excellent way to incorporate that into your life.
BONUS. Journaling is simple and does not require overthinking.
You don't have to write a best selling novel to be a journal-er. Journaling is simple and does not require overthinking. Just write. Not sure what to write? Choose a prompt. The Anytime Today® Journal gives you four to choose from that give you free rein to explore the containers of your heart and mind--Today I Am, Today I Feel, Today I Need, Today I Want.
Journaling has yielded so many rewards in my life. Through journaling, I've uncovered things about myself and what I was feeling that I wasn't aware of. Journaling has helped me to release frustrations, anger, sadness, elation, joy, excitement and so many other emotions. It is a safe space that allows me to arrive imperfectly and as I am. Journaling can do the same (and more) for you!
The good news is that journaling does not have one look, there are so many ways to journal, you get to make it your own. Whether you write 5 words, 50 words or 500 words, if it's what you needed in that moment, it's right.
If you'd like a simple and effective way to add journaling into your wellness routine the Anytime Today® Journal is a great place to start. There is no pressure to write daily, though you can if you choose. The four prompts, Today I Am, Today I Feel, Today I Need, Today I Want, invite you into the practice so that you don't overthink it.
One customer said it best,
"The Anytime Today™ Journal, gave me the space to talk about me. I don't get that often in my day, no one is asking me what I want, need, or feel, I'm usually taking care of everyone else."
However you start, I want to encourage you to give journaling a try. You are worth making space and time for as often as you need!
