New Year! New Journal! Benefits of Keeping a Journal or a Diary!

It’s the buzz word for good reason. There’s a strong connection between happiness and mindfulness. Journaling brings you into that state of mindfulness; past frustrations and future anxieties lose their edge in the present moment. It calls a wandering mind to attention, from passivity to actively engaging with your thoughts.

One of the most basic journal entry prompts is to write down some things that you are grateful for. After a couple days it gets tough. You need to dig deep. I’ll give it a try. Some things I am grateful for that aren’t friends, family, health, etc.

-I am grateful for the app Evernote (seriously) because it makes it easier to journal.
-I am grateful for clean water.
-I am grateful for the ability to reach out to people that I miss, instantly.

Writing about anger, sadness and other painful emotions helps to release the intensity of these feelings. By doing so you will feel calmer and better able to stay in the present.

It’s not only true that scientists have found that writing expressively (the way we often do in a journal) improves working memory, it’s also a fact that recording the ins and outs of your life in a journal gives more permanence to an often fleeting past. It’s often thought that journaling is only for posterity, but you can just as easily argue that it’s a brilliant way to keep sight of what happened behind you as your forge ahead.

Setting time aside to write, whether morning or evening, is an act of discipline. And discipline begets discipline. Like a muscle, the more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes. And habits formed in one area of life have a tendency to spread; as keeping your office clean leads to keeping the bedroom tidy, your daily practice of writing will domino onto other healthy habits.

I started a journal to help with my anxiety. At first I was afraid to write about my fears. I only wrote about happy shit. As you get stronger and more confident you will find that you are able to open up. Which is strong. I fear death. And I fear that my writing will suck. I want you to like this. There you go. Suck it, fears!

Writing about misunderstandings rather than stewing over them will help you to understand another’s point of view. And you just may come up with a sensible resolution to the conflict.