If you haven’t heard me say it before, I love to journal. It is cathartic. My journal holds my truths, desires, dreams, and fears. It helps me to find clarity, check myself, and to identify when ego is present. A short time ago, I sat down at my computer and wrote:
Welcome to a place where anything is possible.
A place to capture your dreams and desires, to release your fears, to find clarity, and create new beginnings.
A place to open your heart and mind.
A place to allow your inner self to speak and to remember what you know to be true but have chosen to forget.
A place to write your truth.
Helps Identify Needs - - like that seems amazing, freeing, and somewhere I would love to spend my time. It sounded so good to me I put these words on the cover of a journal to sell on my website. Interestingly, I have received mixed reviews. It is not the design or the look of the journal; it is that people don’t want to, or they have an underlying fear about writing. I have been asked what should I write? Wonder if someone reads what I have written? I have nothing to say. Hearing these concerns and questions, I had to take a step back and remember when I first journaled. Back in the day (late 70s) I was like any other girl entering puberty and living through a divorce. I had my diary that was under lock and key. Writing seemed easy or should I say, ranting was easy. “Why do I have to do this? Why can’t I do that? Why is my brother such a jerk?” You get the idea. Then I grew up and didn’t think about journaling again until almost four decades later. This time around, things were different. My entries were high level and devoid of feelings. I didn’t rant, I just recounted my day. Why the change? Fear. I was fearful to write what was going on inside of my head. I didn’t want those fears and desires to see the light of day. I believed if they were kept deep inside, I wouldn’t have to do anything about them and could continue to live my life uninterrupted, no matter how unhappy I was. But how are we to grow if we do not challenge ourselves?
Just because I love to journal may not be enough to persuade anyone else to try it. So, I came up with a list of eight impactful benefits to journaling regularly.
Self-Care Ritual - Journaling allows you to slow down, go inside yourself, and to share your feelings. A journal doesn't argue back, pass judgment, or scoff. It receives everything you have to give it and holds it sacred.
Set Goals/Intentions - For as daunting as a blank piece of paper may be, it is a wonderful place to share your goals, ideas, and intentions for the life you choose to create.
Track Progress - No matter how big or small your progress may be, capturing it is a magnificent way to measure how you have grown.
Promote Self Confidence - Regularly reviewing your journal entries will illustrate the changes you are making in your life, reinforcing that you are capable of achieving what you desire.
Release Anxiety/Stress - Why is it that when we smell or eat something bad, we want to share our pain with someone else? Think of the journal as that someone else. It serves as a bottomless pit that allows you to throw all your fears, judgements, anxiety, and stress into it, releasing you from those feelings and setting you free.
Capture Your Dreams and Desires - Day dreaming serves as a break to your day. When you put them in your journal it allows you to capture an idea or desire that may not be ready for prime time yet, but it serves as a seed that if allowed will grow.
Promotes Creativity - A journal if given the chance will hold your most bodacious ideas that seem so crazy that you don't want to share them with anyone else. Allowing yourself the opportunity to capture those ideas in a safe place like a journal encourages you to think even bigger and bigger.
Helps Identify Needs - A journal allows you to say what you want. Rant when you need and share your deepest wants and desires. It helps you think through what will make you happy, even if it's as small as a good cup of coffee or as big as a life change.
Journaling allows me to share what is in my head with my heart and my heart helps me determine what I should do. If you are someone who doesn’t want to or believe in journaling, ask yourself why? I am sure you will come up with many reasons, too busy, don’t know what to write, not interested. Then when you have that answer, ask yourself the question again. Why, are you so busy etc.… If you continue to ask that question, eventually you will get to the real answer, which in most cases is fear. How do you get over fear, by doing what scares you the most? If you give it a go, and be truly honest with yourself, you may realize that you enjoy it and discover a whole new side of yourself. Just like Mikey, if you try it, you just may like it.