With our minds producing over 50,000 thoughts a day, it can be hard to notice and note your ideas down.
You can achieve great things by adopting the art of journaling into your life.
In this article, we will share how to do this simple activity.
Remember, if you can journal, you can improve your mental health, strengthen your immune system, achieve your goals faster, and have a medium to become more grateful for your life.
Despite how beneficial journaling is, many people falter to do it correctly and spend years trying to journal the right way.
Here is why.
The art of Journaling is a process
Many people jump into journaling without any framework whatsoever. They regard the activity as something lacking in structure.
Doing so leads to:
- Lack of consistency
- Lack of coherency
- Writer’s block
And many others.
To avoid this, we will share with you a simple but effective process that can help you start journaling but also allow you to make it a habit.
We will be focusing on the idea of journaling with a physical notebook. However, you also have to freedom to journal digitally.
Step 1: Get Yourself A Journal
There are thousands of journals out there you can start using now. Depending on the kind of person you are you may go with specific brands. Some journals allow for customization while others don’t.
Some of the journals allow for ripping out without causing any damage to the rest of the leaflets. Some are heavy and others are lightweight.
Although the journals may vary depending on features, the best perspective is to get the one that serves your purpose.
To help you with choosing one, here is a list of some of the best journals on the market:
- Moleskine Classic Notebook Expanded At Amazon
- Intelligent Change Inc. The Five Minute Journal
- Minimalism Art Classic Notebook Journal At Amazon
- Paperage Lined Journal Notebook At Amazon
Step 2: Find A Comfortable Pen
The next step on how to journal is to find a pen to write with.
In order to make your journaling experience enjoyable, you must procure a quality pen to use. This will prevent issues with low-quality writing or the need to suspend writing because of ink.
Because of this, you will need high-quality pens to start journaling.
Here are a few of the best:
- Sakura Pen for journaling on Amazon
- Everyman Pen for journaling
- Sharpie Pen for Journaling
Step 3: Choose What To Write About
After you have set up your journal and pen, you need to now figure out what specifically to write about. Obviously, you cannot write about every aspect of your day in one go. You need to cut out a portion to focus on.
Most people dive in without thinking of what they actually want to be writing about. They enter into what you might call thought oblivion.
What you need to do is the reason through the main focus of your exploration and get your mind straight. You will realize your thoughts with flow out of your mind in the form of words more smoothly.
Step 4: Find The Right Journaling Techniques
Once you have a topic to write about, its now time to find methods that can help you get the most out of your journaling sessions. Here are some of the best journaling frameworks put there.
1. Morning Pages: This technique was designed by author Julia Cameron and it involves writing three pages of your thoughts when you wake up in the morning.
The idea is to clear your mind and set the tone for the day.
2. Bullet Journaling: This strategy is a process of keeping all your workflow and goals in a simple list in linear form. Then you follow through with those ideas step by step until there are no more things to do.
3. Gratitude Journaling: Gratitude Journaling focuses on helping remain grateful for your life. You employ this technique by putting down all the things you are grateful for during the day.
4. Freewriting: if you find yourself worrying about grammar, spelling, and punctuation, then it is best to implement the freewriting technique. You just write what comes to mind and later look for the ideas in the text and refine them.
It will help you generate as many ideas as possible and eliminate the fear of having a blank page.
5. Reflective journaling as the word reflect means is the process of considering all the ideas, emotions, and activities you have done and figuring out ways of improving them. You can pose questions like “How can I improve my speaking skills” or “What new concept did I learn today”.
Whether you’re looking to gain insight into yourself, improve your mental health, or simply express your creativity, reflective journaling is a versatile tool that can be adapted to your needs and goals. By committing to regular journaling sessions and being honest with yourself about your thoughts and feelings, you can gain a deeper understanding of yourself and the world around you.
Step 5: Let Your Creativity Flow
Although you are putting your thoughts on paper within a specific topic, there is no need to restrain yourself by not expressing other ideas.
Many people make this mistake and neglect the benefit of linking their thoughts within a certain period of time to other times of the day.
Letting your creativity flow is one of the best steps you can take throughout your journaling journey.
