Looking to journal but not sure where to start? Today, I discuss the benefits of journaling and share simple prompts to help you on your journey.
What is journaling?
In the simplest terms, journaling is jotting down your thoughts, worries, goals, accomplishments, memories and anything else applicable to your needs at the time. When you were younger it was most likely called Having a Diary. That being said journaling is considered a lot more in depth and with purpose.
Benefits of journaling
Key things noted by those who journal regularly are:
- Journaling provides a form of therapy
- ‘Cleanses’ your brain space for other items (form of brain dumping)
- Considered a mindfulness practice
- Provides clarity on certain aspects of life
- Allows your mind to explore topics you might have been afraid to discuss with loved ones / friends
- It’s educating – improves your writing skills
- Allows you to track your goals / achievements in life
How often should I journal?
The act of journaling is a completely individual matter. The frequency with which you will journal will depend on external factors such as family dynamic and time management. For example someone with younger children might not have the opportunity to journal every day versus someone with grown children might have more time to allocate to this practice.
My suggestion is to start with once or twice a week and see how that fits into your daily life. Journaling is such a personal journey, it will also depend on your own need to document your thoughts & feelings.
Best practice is to journal either first thing in the morning – the brain is freshly awake and ready to ‘spit out’ information or last thing before bed, allowing you to reflect on the day and quiet your mind before resting.
How to start journaling?
Honestly, you just need a pen and paper and you are good. As this is a very personal journey, journaling will have various requirements for each of us. For me, I need to be in that mental headspace to jot down my thoughts and I need to have a nice journal to do it. (I love a good journal!).
The easiest thing to do is to start with what’s on your mind and as your develop your own tactics the topics will naturally come.
Below you will find a list of journaling prompts I have put together for you to help you get started.
JOURNALING PROMPTS TO HELP YOU GET STARTED
- Daily check-in: What is my body trying to tell me today?
- Three things I am currently working on right now & what steps should I take to accomplish them.
- One relationship in my life I’d like to improve is…
- Three things I am looking forward to.
- Last Week/Month Recap: Anything I should have done differently?
- What do I fear the most? What are some proactive steps I can take to overcome my fear?
- My most memorable childhood memory is…
- What makes me happy?
- What would I tell my teenage self?
- Today’s Gratitude and Affirmations (Bulletpoint Entry).
These are some of my favorite prompts, they are simple yet very effective and get my mind working. I selected these few, as they cover variety of aspects of life, as well as allow you to review your past, present and look towards the future.
Mindfulness is a work in progress, I’d love to hear what some of your go-to prompts might be? Let me know in the comments below.
For more mindfulness activities, take a look Mindfulness Activities for Adults & for Children in my past articles.
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Joanna Stich 
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