Journaling is not something new to us. It is not new or revolutionary- whether it’s keeping a childhood diary, personal essays from school, now a beautifully embroidered journal or writing scattered notes in our phone’s app. It is an act of expression and creation, we express our thoughts, feelings, ideas, emotions, stories and dreams. When we get it down onto a page, we create space for ourselves.
In the process, we rediscover our voice, we all have a story to tell- no matter how big or small. When we journal, we recapture our lives; the brief moments and memories that we hold near to us. It allows us to process, vent or crystallise events in our minds. Through writing, we become thinkers, creators, storytellers, most importantly we tap into our own authentic self. This is true power.
Journaling is more than just writing words on page, it is a transformative tool that we can use to raise our awareness. It bridges the gap between our inner worlds and our outer worlds. When we write our internal voice becomes externalised, we can:
Track our thoughts patterns, and recognise patterns of behaviour
Let go of self limiting beliefs, we question and challenge why we believe that
Express ourselves freely without judgement or resentment
Become more creative, we generating ideas and becoming curious, asking questions without judgement
Ways to Journal
Brain Dumps
Just write down anything that is on your mind, this is unfiltered and unprocessed. Get rid of all your thoughts, dump them all. There is no goal, objective or structure here, which is great because it’s completely natural. If you are creative or don’t like structure this is a great option. This is like a stream of consciousness, we find unexpected insights amongst the chaos.
Prompted
Ask yourself questions. The better you know yourself the more powerful you become, the more self-assured. Start asking yourself the right questions, dig a little deeper.
How do I want to show up today?
How can I improve myself today?
What do I want for myself and my life?
What is currently holding me back from achieving my goals?
What am I not facing, why am I afraid of that?
Thoughts..
When you dump your thoughts out onto the page. Question them. Are they a true reflection of yourself or the situation? Where did you form that belief or why do you believe that?
Thoughts come in different forms.
It could be our ego speaking, that might sound a little defensive, harsh or self doubt, worried, judgemental, fearful. Those thoughts are very “me” focused, quite self-centred.
It could also be the persona that we’ve created speaking for us. This can be judgements about who we ‘should’ be, what we ‘should’ or ‘shouldn’t’ do, this is the idea of ourselves that we want to present to the world.
The thoughts that we have that feel uncontrolled and unrecognisable to us are often the part of us we deem socially unacceptable. It’s important to recognise those thoughts without judgement, these are often triggered before we even realise how we respond or react.
Feelings…
Learn to recognise, feel and label your own feelings.
Ask yourself:
What am I feeling?
Did a situation trigger this feeling, or is it rooted in my thoughts?
How does this emotion impact my body?
How did it affect my ability to think and act?
It’s so simple, but it’s so easy to react in the moment and not fully realise how we are feeling about something. Or the opposite, not reacting at all.
We should not look at emotions as something that gets in the way of our lives but rather a sign from our body that we need to be more aware of something or someone. Suppressed or repressed emotions will create more issues for us than addressing the problem at hand. This is actually incredibly important for ourselves, we will not act out of fear, we will not act out of rage- we will feel more control of ourselves, and not let how we feel run our lives at all.
What am I proud of..
Learn to congratulate yourself, validate the actions or words, work you have done that you feel did well with. When you learn to let yourself enjoy your wins, big or small, it takes away the reliance for external validation. You learn what actions align with yourself, your values.
What could I have done differently..
If there is something you did, did not do or said, didn’t say that you were different then recognize that. It’s okay to make mistakes, it’s okay to not get it right. Accept it, move forward and think about how you will change that next time.
Gratitude Journaling
This is truly undervalued, and highly effective. This truly shifted my perspective and outlook on life. No matter how bad we feel things are, there is something small to be grateful for, no matter how small. This doesn’t diminish the gravity of a situation, but it allows us to find a small bit of peace. It reminds us to find the beauty in the simple things and appreciate them.
List 3-10 different things you are grateful for…
This can be anything, but choose something different every time! Be specific with it. But be honest with yourself and actually feel grateful.
Affirmations
These are small phrases that resonate with you. Things that you need to remind yourself of in order to show up as the person you want to become. Start your practice by looking into yourself, addressing your limiting beliefs. Now, take one or two of those beliefs and flip it on its head.
I am confident in my ability and in myself.
I am resilient and powerful.
I can create the life I dream of.
I am beautiful.
Remind yourself of who you are, even if you don’t feel like yourself.
There’s no right or wrong way to journal. Whether it’s a single sentence at the end of your day or an hour-long reflective session, what matters is consistency. Your journal is your space—a sanctuary for exploration, creativity, and growth. This can never be taken away from you and it can be lifechanging.
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