How to get useful results from your journaling
There’s a good reason why I built my coaching business around journaling after using it myself for years and enhancing my knowledge and experience into practice during my Journal Therapy diploma. It’s a powerful tool for achieving meaningful results.
It's not just me saying that either, it's also backed by science. Among other proven benefits, this study shows that journaling can effectively reduce anxiety and check out this study to show that it can improve physical health too! It sounds crazy I know! It goes to show that when you look after your inner world using techniques like journaling, it reflects in the outer world.
You may hesitate because it doesn’t seem like writing down your endless thoughts will particularly help you. However, there is a strategic way to approach journaling for self-improvement that will allow you to enjoy benefits like these.
Reasons journaling can be so powerful
As the studies above show, journaling isn't a fad and has been helping people for hundreds of years. It’s an effective tool enabling you to achieve everything you are capable of. While the act of writing thoughts down is itself therapeutic, the power of journaling goes far beyond that.
Switch off autopilot
How often in life are we given the opportunity to pause and reflect? It feels like a race from one thing to the other especially if you’re juggling family life with work life. We barely have time to think. Your journal is your safe space to think. You can explore what’s going on in your life and how you feel about it. It’s an opportunity to be more intentional about the decisions you make and actions you take because you’ve reflected in your journal.
Find your own way through self-discovery
I hate being told what to do. What about you? I think it’s much better that we find our own way through life that aligns with our personality, values and wonderful quirks. Journaling helps you to forge your own path through self-discovery. As you figure out what makes you tick and what you really care about, you can tune out the noise and focus on what feels right for you.
Build your self-esteem through self-knowledge
Journaling helps you to learn about yourself and truly understand who you are. From there, you are able to take ownership of your life and commit to finding your own way. Knowledge is power and when you really know yourself, you’ll experience a massive self-esteem boost. You’ll build confidence in your ability to make decisions and make things work. You’ll feel empowered because you have listened to your inner wisdom and trusted yourself instead of relying on external sources. The way you have done things makes sense for you, leaving behind the frustration of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
Evaluate beliefs and habits
A lot of what impacts our day-to-day lives takes place in the unconscious. The beliefs we don’t question and the habits that are second nature influence how we think, feel and act. That’s pretty important. Your journal is an opportunity to identify and evaluate your beliefs and habits. How do they still serve you? How are they holding you back or spurring you forward?
Work through challenges
When shit hits the fan, the mind can be a very messy place. It’s overwhelming to try to make sense of what’s happening and how to respond. With journaling, you can get your thoughts on paper so they are easier to work through. Once you have your thoughts down, you can take a step back, look at things more objectively and with less emotion, explore them and come up with a plan for moving forward.
Tool for growth and achieving goals
When you do the inner work of exploring limiting beliefs, your unique values and what makes you tick, you’ll start to see external progress. The action you take is more aligned with your values, purpose and goals. Using a journal to track your progress towards goals (or highlighting the lack of) helps you to focus on your priorities and be motivated to keep taking action. It’s a way to kindly keep yourself in line.
How to Use Journaling as a Tool for Change
My approach to journaling focuses on raising awareness through expressive writing. Remember, this isn’t a diary where you write down everything that happens each day. When I sit down to journal, there’s a specific thing I want to work on following these principles.
Write by hand
I highly recommend my clients write their journals by hand. (That’s not just because I sell some beautiful ones 🤣 ) It allows you to slow down and fully engage with the thoughts and feelings you are putting down on paper. Writing by hand has a stronger connection to the brain compared to typing and it helps to process as the words are forming. The fancy way of saying that is ‘a higher level of cognitive engagement’. Basically, it’s a quicker way to tune into your thoughts, feelings and beliefs and process them. Your handwriting also reveals a lot of information too; if the words are upbeat but your writing is pressed hard into the paper this would suggest an inconsistency between your words and emotions. What does this tell you?
Find your routine
You don’t have to journal every day. You don’t have to journal for hours on end. Figure out what routine works best for you so it doesn’t feel like a chore. While I share daily journaling prompts in my memberships, I don’t expect everyone to journal on them each day. Some people respond to the prompts every few days or once a week. Make journaling work for you.
Respond to specific themed prompts
Talking of prompts, I find journal prompts really useful for self-discovery, decision-making and action-taking. Get your thoughts and feelings down about a topic then go in and answer more specific questions to reach the root of issues and reveal ‘aha’ moments. It’s particularly useful if someone else has written the journal prompts because they might encourage you to explore something you wouldn’t have thought to journal on. Exploring a single theme over a period of time helps you to go deeper into a topic and really mull it over. There’s always more to uncover after the first journaling session.
Take action with greater awareness
Once you have used your journal to raise your awareness, act on your insights. Now you’ve learned something new about yourself, how are you going to apply that to your life to make a real change? You can use your journal to weigh up options and even practice conversations you want to have, readying yourself to turn inner work into outer progress.
Make Journaling Work For You
What might seem like just a notebook and pen can be used to help you reconnect yourself, find fulfilment and pursue your ambitions. This blog is a guide but how you use journaling is up to you. It’s a great tool to have in your back pocket whether you are working through tough stuff or working towards an exciting goal.
My strategic approach to journaling is the basis of my memberships. The Journal Vibe Club helps members use journaling as a self-coaching tool on their self-development journey. The Find Your Vibe Business Club applies the principles of journaling to business growth. Both give you access to accredited coaches, a community of like-minded women, daily prompts, guided workshops and journaling resources. Dive into the world of journaling and see just how much you are capable of.
