8 Ways to Make Journaling For You

If you’re one of those people who wants to form a regular journaling habit but has blank journals that suggest otherwise, then this post is for you. Here we will break through frequent impediments to journaling, firm up the benefits of keeping to a journaling routine, and offer you a list of journaling styles so you can explore what works for you.

JOURNALING; WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU?

Journaling is a way of checking in with yourself – assessing how you feel about what is going in your world. Any subject is fair game, from logging details about your day, hashing over a particular event, or setting goals and making your plan to achieve them.

Journaling is your dialogue with you, a way of allowing you time and space to solidify the stuff in your head, with how it makes your heart feel. Journaling benefits often also include:

• A tool to help organize and find clarity in your thoughts.
• A way to process through difficult situations.
• A pressure valve for walking through feelings of anxiety and depression.
• A means to improve your writing skill.

JOURNALING STYLES

Sometimes the biggest roadblock to treating ourselves to the care we deserve is our limiting beliefs and negative internal voice. So if you’re a person who wants to journal and reap the benefits but you don’t allow yourself to delve in, start with a shift of your opinion.

For example, if you consider journaling a chore, try setting it up as a reward you give yourself before you step out of bed in the morning. Take a few minutes to ponder and write about your first thoughts or reflect and imagine the day before you.

Think of journaling as a way to connect with the person who is your best and trusted friend. In an ideal world, your relationship with you has to come first to be effective and purposeful.

Think outside the journaling box as well by finding a journaling technique that works best for you. Here we highlight eight journaling styles to consider and try out.

1. Brain dump: Some call this free-flow writing, but if you want to experience the catharsis from stress, or acknowledge your joy, let it leak onto the page with reckless rapid writing abandon. Express thoughts and associations that are on the top of your mind, and don’t judge them at all.
2. Prompt journaling: If the blank page freaks you or you want to dig deeper as you journal, use journal prompts to jostle thoughts from your mind to the page. A Words of Encouragement journal meant to cultivate your inner sense of encouragement would be one option for you. We also have the Tell Me Another game with storytelling questions that would work well for journaling too. But you can scout the internet for prompts as well.
3. Digital Journaling: For some, writing it on paper is the barrier to journaling. You no longer need to feel constrained by pen and paper because of digital journaling possibilities. Instead, use audio to record your voice, video, or images to document your thoughts and feelings. There are even apps to pull all these mediums together. Lifewire lists several of the latest apps that are popular for digital journaling.
4. Creative Journaling: If you like working in multiple mediums, including words, images, and illustration, and enjoy creating art, then creative journaling could be your best option. People also refer to this format as Junk Journals – but if it is your journal, those are treasures you press between the pages.
5. Sketch Journaling: For those who love to draw and doodle, using pen, pencil or markers could be your way of journaling your colorful life.
6. Bullet Journaling: There are those for whom lists are powerful (which is, I kind of, I think, everyone)? List what you want to do, list what you’ve done, list your favorites in any category. Bullet journaling is beneficial as a systematic way to track what you’ve done and where you want to go with your goals and activities.
7. Theme Journals: What better way to start your day than by listing those aspects of your life that bring you a sense of gratitude? When selecting a theme, gratitude is a popular one, but any theme such as travel, food, or fashion is possible.
8. Poetry Journal: Turn the jumble of thoughts within to carefully crafted words with a punch. Write poetry about what you experience, allowing yourself to dig deeper and calling on your creativity as you write.

HEAR YOUR VOICE AND THINK ABOUT IT

The primary voice you live with is your own. To be fully engaged and enriched in your life, you must make space and time to listen and reflect.

The #1 thing many seek is to understand the meaning in their life. By taking time to journal, you get in touch with your life, and what matters most so you can live more fully and purposefully. Use journaling in any format that works as a way to tap into and connect with your most important relationship because you deserve it!