Find out what Journaling Can Do for You

You are now at that place where you still need something else to support our mental status in between those regularly scheduled self care appointments. This is where you can find out what journaling can do for you. You may say that you are not much of a writer or that you don’t enjoy writing. But you can be both of these things and more and still get the benefits out of journaling for your mental state and wellbeing. You have to look towards what you can do to change you current situation and support yourself when some challenges occur. Journaling can provide you that outlet.

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How to start journaling

Schedule a time to journal.

You have to pick what works best for your schedule, but what ever time you pick. Stick with it. If you only capture your week and do it every Sunday, so that. If you decide to do it once a day after dinner, do that. Don’t get upset if the time you thought would work doesn’t. Most of the time you can not tell what is going to work with a daily habit until you start. Allow yourself some grace and move the time if needed.

The important part of this is giving yourself the time to do it.

Allow yourself to be creative in your journal.

Maybe you start out thinking you are going to write down 30 days of thankfulness. You start and get to day 10 and you want to write about new aspirations you have for your career. Go with it. Again just journal!

Just journal.

There is nothing to do but to do it! There are no rules or regulations that you have to follow. You just have to do it.

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Tools needed for journaling

It can be as simple as a notebook and a pen. You don’t need anything elaborate to begin to journal. Now depending on how you prefer to journal and how you want to access your thoughts, journaling tools could change. But you can add those as you continue along your journaling journey.

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Prompts to begin journaling

Here are some prompts to help you get started if you need them. You can use these or think of your own. 

• I am grateful for 
• In five years, I would like to be 
• My goals for this month are
• My goals for this week are
• The characteristic about my husband that makes me smile is
• The person I admire the most is
• I would like to inspire the following person
• My favorite Bible scripture is
• The hardest thing that happened to me this week was
• A challenge I overcame this month was
• Something I accomplished recently was
• I love being a mom because 

These are good to get you started and then you can just branch off and go where your heart leads you. 

Set your intention for journaling

Having an intention for what ever you do in life is so important. Journaling is not any different. You have to decide why you are journaling. What do you hope to get out of it? Without an intention, journaling becomes a chore and does not allow you to reap the rewards it can provide.

Journaling can provide you with many things to include self discovery, personal development, memory keeping, aid in decision making, increase your confidence. It creates that self care time that includes reflection. This reflection can be wonderful to allow for goal adjustment, personal improvement, and focusing on what matters.

I have been journaling since the 4th grade- well that is the oldest journal I have located and have in my possession. It is very interesting to look back on my thoughts, friends, ways of being from those times. Especially when I get older and head off to college, those are journals that sometimes are made up of lists. Sometimes made up of uncertainty. But now I can see those memories and understand how I am the person I am today. My writing can take me directly back to a different time whether good or bad and I am grateful I have it.

You can start journaling at anytime in your life and do it how you like! It is yours to create. I know some people who prefer to create an art journal so they may sketch or draw. Some people prefer to write. Some use pictures. Or you can blend all types. What ever the method you use, just journal!

Journaling can be that place of release so you can move forward with you day or leave thought from the day behind before bed. As you continue on your flourishing journey, you have to give yourself the tools to continue to develop as a person and strengthen your mindset. Journaling can aid you with that.

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Resources

Here are some resources about journaling. Some are actual research studies as well as mental health websites that support the effects that journaling creates. I enjoy journaling, but there is actual documentation of the positivity it can create in your life!

Journaling can serve as an outlet for you. You should start to journal if you don’t already.

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American Psychological Association (APA) has many articles that focus on the positive effects of journaling and how it can be a support for your mental state. Here is one article entitled Writing to Heal.

The Arts in Psychotherapy Emotional expression and psychological symptoms: A comparison of writing and drawing

University of Rochester Medical Center Journaling for Mental Health

Check out this book!

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This blog exists as a support to women who want to create an optimal life for themselves and their family by finding a balance between professional development and home life- allowing them to excel in both areas without compromising one over the other.

Click here for a video I posted on easy ways to begin your journaling journey!

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Remember to be you, be focused, be well!

Find Your Flourish!

|Shanna|