How to and the Benefits of Journaling

How to and the benefits of Journaling

A blank page stares back at you.  Taunting you to find something to write upon it and your Soul sinks. Journaling can be a little intimidating, especially if you’re a beginner. 

What do you write? How do you start? What do you put on that page?

As someone who has been journaling since 2016, I know that unnerving feeling when you first start a journal, you have all good intentions to make it a regular habit and then life gets in the way. But I’ve had 6 years overcoming those problems, and I can help you out.

Journaling was become my go-to self-love and self-care practice. In fact, it was the 1 thing that helped get any of the limiting and negative thoughts that ran around my head. Now it has evolved into a core spiritual practice for me, which helps me clear my thought and to channel messages from my higher self.

So if you’re interested in self-growth, spiritual healing, here’s my guidance on how to journal as a complete beginner …

How to Start a Journal

There is an argument for using pen and paper and for keeping an electronic journal. But in my opinion writing with a pen and paper gives me a better connection to my subconscious that typing doesn’t. But whatever method you choose here are a few pros and cons of both.

Hand-written journaling pros: 

• Cosy and romantic (let’s be honest)
• You can doodle and draw more easily
• Helps you to slow down and be introspective

Cons:

• It’s not as secure or private
• Can feel laborious
• Not easily searchable 
• If you have messy handwriting that you can’t read, it’s probably not a great idea

Online journaling pros:

• You can easily do stream-of-consciousness writing
• More convenient when you’re on-the-go
• Easier to keep organised (e.g., with tags, folders, etc.)
• Is searchable (i.e., many online apps like Evernote allow you to search for a keyword or an idea you’ve had)
• More secure and private 

Cons:

• Lacks artistic flair
• Not as meditative 
• You might not be able to connect as emotionally to what you’ve written

Yes, you can absolutely try out both (in fact, I recommend that you do!). But generally, you’ll gravitate toward one more than the other when learning how to journal. 

Journaling, Spirituality, and Self-Care 

I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.

— Anne Frank

Learning how to journal can enrich your life on every level, including the spiritual. Studies have shown that journaling improves our emotional and mental health. But how does journaling help us spiritually? 

The answer is that journaling provides a doorway to our inner Self (also known as Higher Self or Soul).

By helping us to explore, process, and work through our thoughts, emotions, dreams, and desires, journaling nourishes and enhances our self-awareness. We start to develop a bountiful relationship with our inner landscape.

And the more inwards we go, the greater capacity we have to distinguish between our thoughts and feelings, and the whisperings of our Soul are heard more clearly.

How to Write a Journal Entry

So how do you begin?

What do you write about within your journal?

When learning how to journal, just focus on one of the following basic questions:

• How do I feel right now?
• What’s on my mind right now?
• Why do I feel or think ______ ? 

Start with one of these questions and see where it takes you, you might be surprised!

How to Keep a Daily Journal

Answer: create a habit.

How do you create a habit?

Here’s some guidance to get you started

1. Create a cue or trigger that will inspire you to do the habit. For instance, think about when you’d like to journal – maybe in the morning? Perhaps before having your tea or coffee you could sit down to journal. Ask yourself, “How can I fit this into my day?”
2. Make it into a routine. Once you’ve chosen your journaling cue, create a routine out of it, aka. do it every day, at the same time, in the same way. Even if you can only spare 1 minute, that’s okay. The point is to keep up the habit.
3. Reward yourself. You can either go out of your way to reward yourself (this works in cases where you’re doing something you don’t enjoy). But the reward here will most likely come naturally: you’ll experience the spark of joy from having filled a page. You might feel a sense of self-mastery, accomplishment, mental clarity, or emotional relaxation – that will be the reward. But if you want to eat a piece of chocolate afterwards, I’m not against that either. ;)

That’s it!

Journaling is a spiritual tool and discipline.

Journaling helps you to go deep within your subconscious in a way few other modalities can.

If you’ve ever gone to therapy, you’ll also notice that journaling is one of the first practices recommended by counsellors and psychologists. 

So if  you want to build a better relationship with yourself, here’s my advice for how to journal:

1. Take a breath

This is often beneficial to pause briefly before journaling by closing your eyes and taking a deep cleansing breath to centre yourself.  (i.e., breathing slowly, smoothly, and deeply) helps to stimulate a calming parasympathetic response in your body. 

The idea is that the more relaxed you are, the more enjoyable it will be to write, and the more you’ll be able to go deeper with your journaling.

2. Get comfortable 

Depending on your location to journal, this isn’t always possible. But if you choose to set a journaling habit at home, it’s amazingly helpful to associate it with comfort and safety.

Whether it’s a cosy spot in your house, a favourite chair, or even your bed, journaling in a comfortable setting will cement this as a life-enriching habit. 

3. To connect with your heart, try this

If connecting to your self and your heart is something important to you, try this:

Place one hand over your heart, and the other hand over your stomach. Mindfully sit like this for one minute, tuning into your inner being.

That’s it, it’s very simple. Instead of staying solely in your mind, this trick will help you to tune into your heart and gut instinct intelligence.

4. Light a candle

Again, this is not essential. I only share this tip because it has helped me create a comfy atmosphere in which to write in. 

If you want to dive right into journaling, go for it! 

But if you like creating little rituals that ‘get you in the mood,’ this might help.

Lighting a candle is symbolic of intentionally creating a ‘sacred space.’ Fire also represents clarity, inspiration, passion, purification, and rebirth. If you have a Himalayan salt lamp this will also help create a cosy atmosphere.

As you can see, this simple practice has benefits that directly enhance the process and power of journaling.

5. Ask yourself these questions

Focus on answering one of the following simple questions:

• How do I feel right now?
• What’s on my mind right now?
• Why do I feel or think ______ ? 

Choose one of these questions and go from there.

6. Just let it flow

Spelling and grammar doesn’t matter when journaling, none of that matters. Let go of the idea that you have to be a “good writer,” or “make sense” – this is irrelevant! 

The point of journaling is to help you get into an introspective flow that will enable you to spill out the contents of your heart and mind.

7. Send your inner critic to the naughty step

We all have an inner critic, that part of us that is watching and judging and second-guessing everything we do. You know the type.

Journaling can trigger this fault finding part of us – especially when you’re first learning how to journal.

When thoughts such as “you’re no good at this,” “this sucks,” “I sound ridiculous,” “none of this makes sense,” “you should just quit now” start to crop up, be aware that they’re from the inner critic. And send that part of you to the naughty step for a time out until you are finished journaling!

By this, I mean, reclaim your power, affirm yourself, and ignore the tirade of negativity from your inner grouch.

8. Read over what you’ve written to gain insight 

Don’t skip this part!

Reading back over what you’ve written helps you to integrate different pieces of information. Often, the greatest epiphanies will emerge out of the blue when reading your own words back to yourself.

Also, his practice helps to strengthen your self-awareness, self-understanding, and even self-acceptance – it gives you a bird’s eye view of what you’re thinking and feeling.

You may even like to go so far as highlighting keywords or even making notes about your notes. This practice can boost clarity, emotional integration, and provide clues for what to do next in your life. It also may raise questions that you can journal on the next day.

9. Keep your journal private

In particular, if you opt for a physical journal, keep it secure!

Why?

By ensuring that your journal is private, you’ll be able to write in an uninhibited way. You won’t feel pressured subconsciously to keep things ‘clean’ or ‘acceptable’ so that just in case someone reads it, you won’t get in trouble.

Your journal needs to be a space where you can be absolutely 100% honest.

So buy a padlock. Lock it in a case. And if you have an online journal, choose a secure password.

Don’t share that password with anyone (obviously) and make that password unique to the journaling platform you’re using.

10. What to do if you have writer’s block …

Some days no words come. It happens. And that’s okay.

I don’t write in my journal every day, particularly during periods where I feel like life has a certain equilibrium.

(But as a beginner learning how to journal, it’s good to create a daily habit, even if you don’t feel like it, keep the habit up every day for a year.

There are a few ways to overcome writer’s block:

• List 10 things you’re grateful for and why
• Start the sentence, “Today I am feeling …”
• Start the sentence, “Today, most of my thoughts have been about …”
• If you’re on Instagram go to my stories and there are loads of journal prompts for you to choose from to inspire you!

11. Different types of journaling

There are so many types of journaling out there. Examples include:

• Introspective journaling (what we’ve been talking about)
• Gratitude journals
• Bullet journals
• Morning pages
• Dream journaling
• Travel journals 

Don’t overwhelm yourself with taking on too many types of journaling, just try one or two and stick with them to see how they resonate with you.

12. Be gentle and forgiving with yourself

When first learning how to journal we want to try and create a habit. 

But don’t let that desire to create a habit cause you to feel pressured into doing it. Journaling is meant to be fun and therapeutic.

When we’re overly strict with ourselves, we invite the inner critic into the room to berate us with nasty self-talk and diminish our self-worth. So attempt to set a habit, but be gentle and forgiving with yourself.

It’s okay to put journaling aside if you feel worn down or just don’t want to force yourself. Do what empowers you!

13. Look at the big picture

Finally, perhaps one of the things I love the most about journaling is the ability to see the big picture of your life.

When we commit to a daily practice of journaling, we deepen our spiritual awakening and facilitate the process of internal evolution.

Few people explore the benefits of reading back over what you’ve written one week, one month, or one year in the past.

I often like to flip to random pages and see what I was thinking or feeling on a certain day. Often I find unexpected themes emerging, such as the fact that around the full moon, I feel particularly antsy and irritable. (Or conversely, filled with wild ideas.)

By looking back at what you’ve written, you can find strange and delightful surprising patterns emerge. 

Often, a life lesson that you’ve been trying to integrate comes back into focus. A new layer is revealed. And more spiritual integration can happen.

It’s such a beautiful process!