Journaling is the writing gateway drug. Start journaling, get in the habit of writing, and before you know it, an idea for a short story, essay, or yes, your book will start to emerge.
Welcome to the rest of your life, now narrated.
But what if journaling doesn’t lead to finally recording the Great American Novel burning inside your soul? What if you don’t even HAVE a Great American Novel burning to emerge? Doesn’t matter, because even without a great novel idea, journaling will make your life so much better, starting with improved health. Really.
The science on the health benefits of journaling is not conclusive because the reports of improved health and well-being are based on self-reported surveys and questionnaires. Also, something as nebulous as well-being is hard to pinpoint definitely enough to make a believable graph. Still, writing works.
Researchers are only beginning to get at the how and why, but early reports reveal that writing may benefit the immune system. I teach a class in transformative journaling, and I know that it is possible to change our situation, deal with illness, and even help reduce pain not only through a simple act of recording our symptoms but writing about how we feel about our symptoms. From there, suffering individuals have been able to reduce their pain simply by writing and changing the story about their illness or pain.
Journaling has been found to:
- Boost thinking ability
- Increase working memory
- Reduce pain, tension, and fatigue
- Enhance mood and sleep quality
- Positively influences immune system function
- Help wounds heal more quickly
Decrease doctor visits
- Help improve school grades.
- Journal writers are hired for new jobs more quickly than non-journal writers.
- Lower stress hormones
- Decrease blood pressure
- Improve problem-solving
- Reduce the symptoms of some chronic illnesses
If that wasn’t enough, Journaling has psychological benefits as well.
A consistent journal writer will discover an increase in her creativity. Journaling encourages more follow-through with goals and visions for the future.
Journaling helps the writer recover from stressful life events. Including weddings and the holidays.
Consistent journaling will help you uncover what is really going on (put your mother’s name here) and offers a safe space to vent about the same. This is not only healthy for you, it’s really healthy for your relationships.
Writing increases the benefits of learning and helps with retention as well as improves your writing skills, obviously.
Keeping a gratitude journal will influence your day-to-day interactions and while you list all the things in your life to be grateful for, you will find more.
Journaling helps us get past our current situation and visualize something better, something bigger or more interesting. If you want to lose weight, think of how you will feel wearing a new dress or a tight shirt. Think of how you will feel. Explore the why of weight loss in your journal, the more you write to understand, the easier it will be to put a diet, or any other difficult goal, into practice.
What are your personal goals? Putting your head on your knees in Yoga class? Running a marathon? Climbing Mt. Fuji or Kilimanjaro? Write it down, and visualize the feeling you’re pursuing. Play with your imagination. Think of hobbies and ideas you want to try.
In the last few years, scientists discovered that aging brains are not doomed to solidify around the information we learned Junior year in college, never to be changed or budged. The good news is our brain can change, and grow and we can continue to learn and retain newly learned information and skills all during our life span. Yes, that also obligates us to take that class in 17th Dutch Politics, it may be interesting. Journal about why you don’t want to attend.
Journaling then, can be a portal to a new life, a new story. If you are bored with your life, journal about what you really want. African Safari, gourmet cooking? Write down what you want. Back up the steps to get there so you can take the first step today, this morning. Start small but keep moving forward – record your progress.
For me, the most exciting moment in all this science was the discovery that journaling keeps our brains supple and alive just as well as scratching letters into endless crossword puzzles. I cannot tell you how happy I was to read that.
We automatically tell our story when we journal, because the practice is delightfully about us. All about me, me, me, me. And here is a secret, once I’ve had my fill of me, me, me, and my own petty problems and gripes. I get bored. That is the moment the Muse swoops in crying “It’s about time.” My journal becomes a place for creative first drafts, bad poems, and character sketches. Ideal. Magical.
How to start the practice of daily journaling
Write down a problem or challenge (this includes challenges with a character in fiction or a section in a non-fiction book)
- What do you really want to have happen?
- Outcome – what is the desired outcome?
In other words, visualize something better.
The first goal of journaling for transformation is to work on it first thing in the morning. The magic happens when you can tap into your subconscious and record genuine dreams, ideas, and emotions well before you check email, news, or social media. The beauty of journaling is that you will capture the energy and wisdom of your own mind.
This is not one of those horrible – really-successful-people-rise-at-4:00-in-the-morning lectures. Just plan to journal for ten minutes between the time you wake and the impulse to respond to emails or texts or social media.
Rise – grab a hot beverage (if you are drinking lemon water or celery juice, good for you, but we cannot be friends). Now sit with your computer or pen and paper and write everything that comes to mind.
Write for 5 to 10 minutes with ten minutes being the optimal amount of time.
Slam the journal closed and get on with your day. Check off Journaling writing as one of your early accomplishments today. A job well done.
The next morning – do it again.
What are you writing?
- Everything
- Nothing
To make the strictly transformative exercise work, you need to write things as they come to you – clearly and without judgment or rationalization. Just write it down, and you’ll review it afterward and cut and paste the most interesting ideas into your various files and journals.
Images. What images come to mind when you focus on a situation? Record and describe the images as they appear in your mind’s eye.
Don’t interpret them, at least not right now.
Describe them, sketch them, handwrite them, and then move on.
When you return in a day or a week or a month, you’ll be able to better appreciate the image, or give it a useful label.
Don’t edit while you write.
In fact, in a journal, you never need to edit. Just let it all flow and capture what you feel and what you want, and later what you want to have happen and who you want to be.
Your journal is your new non-judgmental friend. Your journal is cheaper than therapy and healthier than excessive alcohol.
Dump all the angst, anger, wonderment, and anxiety into the journal, keep the streets clean and your friendships lighter!
Where to write?
Everywhere. I’ve written in Trains, planes, and automobiles. Sitting on the hotel room floor, and in comfortable cafes. There is boldness in beginning! We will cover next what kind of journal is best for success, but for today, journal on whatever is handy, whatever paper you can find, whatever pen or laundry marker still works.
Write for ten minutes today.
Prompts
- How do I discover the question I need to ask?
- What is the best time for me to write in a journal?
- Who am I today? What do I want to be tomorrow?
- How do I feel?
- What is my body telling me?
- How do I release resentment?
- how do I release and give up anger?
- What is the best way to give up fear?
- List as many memories as you can.
- List everything you know now
Journaling is a way to re-write your story. In the privacy of your journal, allow for a re-write. Create a new story, create what you are and what you want to be. We can change, it just takes time and daily journaling.
