Journaling is great for many reasons. Above all, we can use it as a self-reflection practice.
In this post, we’ll discuss some of the benefits of journaling and give a few examples of how we can pick up the practice.
There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to journaling, so we’ll list out a few different approaches and the benefits of each.
Benefits of Journaling
Journaling is a tool for self-reflection and mindfulness. The practice is valuable in countless ways.
Above all, journaling is regularly used to manage anxiety and mental health, and even increase productivity.
How Journaling Helps Anxiety
Journaling has been shown to relieve symptoms of stress and anxiety through focused examination.
Similar to opening up to a friend, journaling helps us develop cognitive distance from our thoughts and feelings. It usually helps to vent about things on a page that might otherwise just rattle around aimlessly in our heads.
Relieving stress was the most important reason for me to start journaling personally. I’ve always dealt with anxiety, and I started my mindfulness journey during a particularly anxious period.
How Journaling Helps Mental Health
Journaling can also be used for general mental health purposes. Reflecting helps us identify problems, track symptoms and ultimately stay on top of our mental well-being.
Journaling is an opportunity to develop a positive internal monologue and identify any negative thoughts and behaviours.
The practice is also good for mental health, as it has been linked to better moods, better sleep and increased self-confidence.
How Journaling Helps Productivity
Journaling has been shown to improve memory, comprehension and working memory. The practice also contributes to mental clarity and productivity, especially when we record ideas that can be used in the future. In this sense, journaling works as a sort of external mind.
After all, we’re less likely to forget something we’ve written down. The practice also brings organisational skills, as it forces us to organise our thoughts.
Journaling has even been shown to contribute to higher IQs and stronger immune systems. Of course, journaling improves our writing abilities and also inspires creativity!
These are all incredibly productive results of such a simple habit.
How to Start Journaling for Self-Reflection
When we start journaling, we don’t need to follow a specific method. The simple act of writing down thoughts on paper is a core activity that contributes to cognitive distance.
Whether we prefer to use prompts or go free-flow, getting our thoughts on paper is what matters. In this section, we’ll offer some different techniques you can use to get started.
And we’ll start with my personal method.
How I Journal
Journaling has been a regular practice for me since early 2020 when I needed a way to deal with all my anxiety. At first, my journaling revolved around work and anxiety. But lately my reflection has become more positive and reflective of other aspects of my life.
I tend to start with a blank page and start writing the first thing on my mind. I’ll dedicate a whole paragraph to an idea before moving onto the next one.
This idea might be something on my mind that’s causing anxiety. For example, if I have to do something this week and want to make sure I won’t forget. Journaling is a great way to make these tasks feel more actionable and less disturbing.
I also enjoy reflecting on progress I’m making towards my most important goals. Putting in work to reach my goals is difficult, and reflecting on them regularly makes it all worth it. Journaling about my progress makes my goals feel more real and attainable which, in turn, motivates me to work even harder and reach my goals sooner.
I don’t journal everyday, though I think ideally I would. Even if it’s just once every few days, I’ve found journaling helps put my most important thoughts in perspective.
Journaling has also helped me better understand who I am, as the text I write is a reflection of how I think and what I think about. I feel I’ve been able to make conscious changes in my personally identity since I began journaling. For example, I now value kindness in a new way and feel happiness is easily attainable.
Journaling Exercises
If you haven’t taken inspiration from the methods above, or you’re just eager to learn more, here are some journaling exercises you can start right away.
A Streamlined Journal Exercise
The first exercise takes about 10 minutes and you can start right away! All you’ll need is a pen or pencil and a notebook with plenty of pages to write in.
For this streamlined journaling exercise, we’ll write down three things in our notebook each day.
- At least one positive thing that happened to or around you today;
- A question for yourself (you can use one of the questions below or something entirely originally), but don’t answer it yet
- A reflection on the question you wrote the previous day for yourself and an answer to it.
The first time you try this exercise, you’ll only complete the first two parts, but you’ll write three components every day thereafter.
The idea is that we first perform a quick gratitude exercise. Then we write down a question we’d to reflect on for the day.
After that, we have a full 24 hours to reflect on the question before answering it. While we go about our regular day-to-day lives, whether consciously or subconsciously, our minds are forming the answer.
If you already have one set-up, the Bullet Journal would work for these simple, daily journal entries.
30 Self-Reflective Journaling Prompts
If you have a solid journaling practice, or you’d like to pick up the habit, you may consider using prompts to get you started.
Margarita Tartakovsky designed the 30 prompts below to help kickstart journal reflection.
- My favourite way to spend the day is…
- If I could talk to my teenage self, the one thing I would say is…
- The two moments I’ll never forget in my life are… Describe them in great detail, and what makes them so unforgettable.
- Make a list of 30 things that make you smile.
- Write about a moment experienced through your body. Making love, making breakfast, going to a party, having a fight, an experience you’ve had or you imagine for your character. Leave out thought and emotion, and let all information be conveyed through the body and senses.
- The words I’d like to live by are…
- I couldn’t imagine living without…
- When I’m in pain — physical or emotional — the kindest thing I can do for myself is…
- Make a list of the people in your life who genuinely support you, and who you can genuinely trust. (Then make time to hang out with them.)
- What does unconditional love look like for you?
- What would you do if you loved yourself unconditionally? How can you act on these things whether you do or don’t?
- I really wish others knew this about me…
- Name what is enough for you.
- If my body could talk, it would say…
- Name a compassionate way you’ve supported a friend recently. Then write down how you can do the same for yourself.
- What do you love about life?
- What always brings tears to your eyes? (As Paulo Coelho has said, “Tears are words that need to be written.”)
- “Write about a time when work felt real to you, necessary and satisfying. Paid or unpaid, professional or domestic, physical or mental.” (Also a prompt from Abercrombie’s Kicking in the Wall.)
- Write about your first love — whether a person, place or thing.
- Using 10 words, describe yourself.
- What’s surprised you the most about your life or life in general?
- What can you learn from your biggest mistakes?
- I feel most energized when…
- “Write a list of questions to which you urgently need answers.” (This is probably my favorite prompt from Abercrombie’s book.)
- Make a list of everything that inspires you — from books to websites to quotes to people to paintings to stores to the stars.
- What’s one topic you need to learn more about to help you live a more fulfilling life? (Then learn about it.)
- I feel happiest in my skin when…
- Make a list of everything you’d like to say no to.
- Make a list of everything you’d like to say yes to.
- Write the words you need to hear.
Morning Pages
While the above exercises focus on self-reflection, there are also activities focused more on creativity.
Julia Cameron developed Morning pages as a creative tool that encourages stream-of-consciousness journaling. Morning pages involve creating a daily habit.
The goal is to start every morning by filling three A4 pages with whatever is on your mind at the time. Throw regular writing rules out the window and write whatever comes to mind.
Then, once we’re done with our morning pages, it’s important that we not read them. We shouldn’t get meta about how we write morning pages. They’re meant as a sort of mindful activity, focused on the here-and-now.
Some of the benefits of morning pages include clearing the mind and processing emotions. The practice also helps develop creative skills. After all, 3 pages is a lot to fill with stream-of-consciousness thinking.
By the last page, we’ll have forced ourselves to have more thoughts than we usually would have had otherwise.
That’s the beauty of the process. It forces us to be creative and channel our inner creative voice.
Marcus Aurelius & Meditations
I don’t think I could have gotten through this post without at least mentioning the great Stoic philosopher king, Marcus Aurelius.
Marcus wrote his Meditations as a personal notebook to try and live a better life. Today, we cherish this best-seller for its insight into the mind of one of the most powerful people in history.
Meditations offers us general insight into the importance of self-reflection. Even while Marcus was on the battlefront trying to save his empire from ruin, he woke up early to journal. He hardly focused on anything other than his duties, yet he regularly made time for this practice.
He used his journal to reflect and generally clear his mind. Future-thinking, he planned strategy. Tranquility-focused, he internalised his goals and focused on what he could control.
Above all, it seems, Marcus reflected on virtue and what it meant to live a good life.
Journaling in a Nutshell
Journaling is a self-reflective practice that has many benefits centred around cognitive distance. From anxiety and mental health to productivity and creativity, journaling helps us put things into perspective and develop new skills.
In terms of method, you might be interested in starting with a streamlined approach. If so, you can try out either the 3-component exercise or go with one of the journal prompts.
On the other hand, if you’re looking for a more creatively rewarding experience, you may choose to adopt the morning pages practice.
It doesn’t matter how you journal. All that matters is that you have a regular practice of putting words on paper. This practice helps
Level up your self-reflection practice with journaling and Mind & Practice today.