Journaling is one of the most emotionally relieving, stress reducing and kindest self love practices we have at our grasp. There is something about gripping a pen real hard and furiously writing down all the things that ticked you off today, or gently reminiscing as in a dream of the wonderful memories you made that day. Maybe your day was dull and boring and you need to vent or brainstorm about some fun ideas. Whatever it is journaling can be incredibly beneficial for several reasons.
Stress Relief
We all need a way to blow off steam, maybe we are embarrassed and don’t want to tell our mate or they are tired of hearing us complain. Either way the paper can’t judge you, at least I hope not. No need to worry about what anyone thinks, journaling is a judgment free zone. Say what you need to and get it all out, and flush it away. Vomit up that negativity, frustration and hurt into a beautiful Picasso of pen strokes. Burn it when your done if you are so inclined, I don’t know what it is about fire but it is freeing to watch things burn.
Memory
Do you ever struggle to remember what you did yesterday? Try writing about your day right before bed, sit and recount all the events of the day and jog your memory so to speak. Anything you can’t remember, make a note of it. If we do this we will always have documentation we can go back to when we are feeling crazy because we are absolutely sure we forgot something important from the other day. It happens to this best of, this is a tool that helps minimize those moments.
Self Love
I don’t know about you but being kind to myself does not come easily. I have no problem being compassionate and complimenting someone else, but when it comes to myself, now that’s a true challenge. Journaling is a great way to improve our self esteem and practice self compassion. Writing about things we did that were positive gives us documented proof that we in fact are not terrible people. Next time your girlfriend calls you a bad name show her the facts! You can also acknowledge the mistakes you made, take a look at why and hopeful conclude that hey, I’m human, I will do better next time. I’m not perfect, but I can do good too. There is something satisfying about seeing your accomplishments on papers, almost like getting a certificate or medal. Hang it up on the wall and show everybody!
Improved English Language Skills
Believe it or not the more you read and write the better you get at it, even if your only reading your own material. Between learning how to put your thoughts on paper, working on grammar, sentence structure and editing, you can get a ton out of simply writing and rereading. Try journaling for a few months and go back and read entries from when you started and tell me you don’t feel stupid. Practice makes better, and if you are focused you can hone in on a few things to seriously improve. Try learning new vocabulary words to use in your writing and carry them over to every day life, chicks love big words. There are some really cool free word of the day applications that I find fun and interesting, or you can go to Marriam-Webster’s word of the day here. You can try typing using a text editing software that has grammatical tools so you can check your mistakes and if your really diligent you can practice typing with more than two fingers. If you decide to stick to paper you can always work on your handwriting.
Sense of Accomplishment
To me there is just something really satisfying about looking down at a piece of paper full of ink strokes that you put there. Without reading it you can have a sense of pride for witnessing your on work coming to fruition. Time yourself and see how much time you actually spend. Eventually you will grow to have spirals filled that you can start stacking. Before you know it you will have boxes and shelves full of documentation of your life. How cool would it be to decide I want to know what I did on August 11 2009 and you could pull out your journal and read and reminisce.
Journaling is one of the most helpful tools I have learned to incorporate in my life for its many benefits. I recommend trying this for a month and seeing what you think at the end. Who knows you might love it, or you may hate it but at least you tried and can answer why if asked again. Once you see an entire notebook full of your writing I promise you will have a fulfilling sense of accomplishment and completion.
Russ
https://russellsrevelations.wordpress.com/blog/
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