Hello, hello! Happy Monday (or whatever day it is for you)! I hope you’re feeling energized, happy, and at peace. I am so ready for a week of being calm and feeling in tune with myself. At least that’s the goal. Hopefully, reflecting on these journaling techniques will help ME in the process.
Journaling is an amazing way to keep a clear mind and to achieve your goals! This post is about different techniques to achieve this.
So before we get into these techniques, I want to answer a few questions as a little background.
What is my background with journaling like?
I started seriously journaling almost 2 years ago, but I’ve been journaling on and off for almost all of my life. As a kid, I always loved recalling the events of my day through a diary while also writing down little stories.
As I went into my senior year of high school, I found that it was a really good outlet for me to get out all of my feelings and emotions that would build up since I’m not very good at communicating my feelings to others. It quickly became a form of therapy for me and now I journal religiously every morning.
What are the benefits of journaling?
I could go on and on about the benefits of journaling that I’ve seen in my own life. I found that it is truly therapy, as I said before.
As I journal in the mornings, I feel like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulder and feel more prepared for the day ahead of me. I am the kind of person that deals with a lot of stress-induced anxiety. Journaling helps me deal with this anxiety tremendously and I’ve seen nothing but benefits upon benefits.
Another upside to journaling is being able to get past certain events: breakups, loss of loved ones, or hard life changes. Different techniques, that I will talk about later, really focus on this and help me to discern my emotions towards a certain event. Doing this helps me to realize how I can move forward maturely while growing because of the event.
So, to answer this question quickly, there are just so many endless benefits. I will never stop recommending journaling to everyone!
1. Morning Pages
I’m starting off with my favorite form of journaling, which is morning pages. It’s basically just journaling right as you wake up. For me, I wake up at 6 a.m. and journal for about half an hour before I hit the gym. I LOVE it. It allows me to feel more awake before getting right into my day.
Usually, my routine for morning ages starts with talking about the previous day and all the events that occurred. Then, I will just go on to write about any thoughts that have been weighing on my mind. I think this is also a great opportunity to write down any intentions or goals that you have for the day ahead of you! I love writing intentions and affirmations each day.
The beautiful thing about morning pages is that it really is up to you. You can write just about anything you want that will help ease your mind before having a productive and busy day.
As I said previously, I love how journaling first thing in the morning really wakes me up before I start the rest of my routine such as working out, getting ready for the day, and heading to my morning classes. It is probably the most crucial part of my current morning routine.
Another thing that I love to do during my morning pages is my manifestation, which is, of course, personal to everyone. I love to do scripting in the morning after I set my intentions and talk about previous events. After scripting in the mornings, I feel a lot more inspired to work on the goals that I have set for myself. It is truly so motivating!
2. Gratitude Journaling
Gratitude journaling is exactly what you would expect it to be and it is an AMAZING journaling technique! It really is just writing down everything that comes to mind as you ponder about what you’re thankful for. Thinking about what you’re grateful for each day can be a huge mindset changer and will always put you in a better mood!
In my opinion, I think it is great to write things down certain things that you might not ACTUALLY be grateful for, but in the spirit of manifesting, can still write them down in order to create the gratitude that you wish to feel.
You can do gratitude journaling at any time of the day, however, I do mine with my morning pages after I finish everything else up. Just like I like doing my morning pages first thing in the morning, I like to be grateful first thing in the morning. I feel like it really helps my days to go more smoothly and with a better attitude.
3. Brain Dump
I feel like a brain dump goes along with what we talked about with morning pages: just writing down everything and anything. A brain dump consists of emptying your brain of all the thoughts that have been frequenting your head lately.
Brain dumping is a great method for anxiety and stress relief. It allows your thoughts and feelings to materialize. I am the type of person who has a hard time vocalizing my feelings, and a brain dump is a perfect way for me to get all of my feelings out in a healthy way. I’ll simply just sit myself down and write away, not putting limits on what I can say. Afterward, it is as if a weight has been lifted off of your shoulders.
I also believe that a brain dump is a perfect way to get more creative. In periods of personal slumps, it’s hard to get ideas rolling. Being able to see all of your ideas on one page can be a perfect cure for that issue!
4. Reflection Journaling
The first time I ever thought to use the reflection journal technique was when I read the book Atomic Habits by James Clear (https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits). He teaches that when you’re trying to set new habits, it’s important to reflect on what is working and what is not working within your routine periodically.
I thought this was the most brilliant idea!
Reflection journaling can be done daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and so on. It all depends on the time frame of your goals. I would recommend having goals within each category so you can take small strides towards big achievements.
As I said before, reflection journaling requires you to sit back and ask yourself which of your current habits or actions are bringing you closer to your goals. On the other hand, you must ask which habits and actions are pushing you further away from your goals.
Doing this may seem like such a small thing, but in my own experience, I feel myself getting so much closer to my goals through reflection! I am achieving so much more than I ever have before. Reflecting on yourself is really such an important factor in creating a dream life for yourself.
5. The Unsent Letter
Just like a brain dump, the unsent letter is a perfect journaling technique for materializing your feelings. It is essentially just writing down all the things you wish you could say or the things you wish you had said.
You start off by addressing your letter to whomever it may concern. For me, if use this technique most often for past relationships when I feel like I need more closure. I simply address the letter to the ex of choice and start scripting down all the things that I wish he knew or things that I’m feeling. However, I’ve also used this technique to write letters to MYSELF. It’s very versatile
Since no one’s going to see this letter, you can genuinely write whatever you need to help ease your mind. The unsent letter can be super therapeutic for anyone going through a hard time. However, I would highly recommend it to everyone.
If you’ve been on my blog for a while and been keeping up with me, you could probably tell that journaling is a very big passion of mine. It is the one thing that helps me get through a really bad mental state and through dark times in my own life!
I’ve seen so many benefits through journaling, and I hope that you consider implementing it as a regular ritual within your own life. It really does work wonders. With that being said, let’s get to some weekly motivation before we part ways.
This week, the quote comes from Steven Bartlett during his interview with Mel Robbins (my queen).
“If you want to feed a problem, keep thinking about it. If you want to starve a problem, take action.
Most of the harm starts in your mind, with you and your thoughts. Most of the solutions start with a decision, courage, and action.”
You really are capable of turning your life around WHENEVER. All it takes is a single moment where you decide to start, and then a few hundred thousand or more moments where you again decide to show up for yourself.
Never stop showing up for yourself…EVER! There are so many good things heading your way.
Sending so much love to each and every one of you. Check out my last blog post…here’s the link: https://xojacilynn.com/lazy-vegan-snacks/ ! I hope you have a fantastic rest of your day!
Xo,
Jaci Lynn
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