Journaling: Forgotten Self Care Practice?

I am not sure about you but as a teenager my mother gave me a journal to write in, which I used a lot as a teenager. As an adult now I look back and wonder why I stopped utilizing a journal since it can be very therapeutic to write down thoughts you maybe do not want to express aloud, to remember memories you made that day or even to write down ideas you had.

Journaling can be a useful tool to add into your daily routine for a number of reasons and an easy self care practice honestly. All you need is just a pen and paper, and everyone has that laying around. Journaling seems to fall through the cracks when it comes to being labelled as a self care practice, but in my opinion it is probably one of the most beneficial self care practices out there. I want to take a look at some benefits of journaling, and why you should consider adding it into your daily routine.

1. Become More Mindful. First and foremost it can help you become more aware and present of what is going on in your life. It can help you become more appreciative of the small things and bring awareness to frustrations you have that you may not have realized. This will allow you to fully engage and deal with those thoughts and feelings. The goal is to not dwell on the past and not anticipate what the future will bring, but to process what happens on the daily so you can start fresh each day.
2. Enhance Memory. Just like I talk about the brain and gut having a connection, the brain and the physical movement of writing have a special connection as well. Studies have shown that expressive writing improves your working memory, because you are releasing those thoughts and free up space to allow more cognitive resources to handle other mental tasks. Basically you lower the amount of stress on your brain, which gives your brain room to organize and store those important memories you want to remember. Who knew??
3. Promotes Healing. When I say it promotes healing, it not only can help you in regards to your mental and emotional health but also your physical health. You may be wondering how it could possibly help your physical health? By letting your thoughts and emotions out on paper it can actually help give you more restful sleep. Not to mention it helps you reduce stress, your blood pressure, and anxiety as well.
4. Set and Achieve Goals. When you are journaling it usually sparks some dreams or goals that you have. By writing down your dreams it helps your brain mark it as important to you and also increases the odds that you will actually achieve that goal. The more detailed and specific you can make your goal the better. Make it something attainable and in a realistic period of time.
5. Improve Communication. Writing is a form of communication. Did you know that written communication can actually help your verbal communication. It can allow you to practice on writing your thoughts first but eventually will help you get more comfortable with actually expressing those thoughts and ideas.

I just listed a few of the benefits of journaling, but as you can see it can be really beneficial on numerous levels. This is just one example of a forgotten but easy daily practice of self care. I cannot express the importance of including self care practices in your daily routine. We often get caught up in the hustle of bustle of our daily routine that we do not take a second to let ourselves process what that day even brought. You do not need to spend a bunch of time with this if you do not want, but just sit down for even 5 minutes and write down some thoughts of the day. I know for me time commitment was always an excuse not to do something, but we all have 5 minutes to spare, especially if it is helping our health.

To help you get started here are some journal prompts you can use to get started:

• What kind of day are you having? Any why?
• What keeps you up at night worrying? Is there anything you can do about that worry?
• My biggest fear is….
• A moment in my life I will never forget is….
• I really wish others knew this about me….
• What do you love about life?
• I feel happiest when…

Those are just a few examples of some journal prompts. A simple search on the web too can give you hundreds of more ideas as well if you are still feeling stuck after this. Journaling can become a simple task to help you practice some form of self care daily. So stop with those excuses that continue to hold you back in life and take a plunge! You just never know what you may discover about yourself and your feelings.

Feel like you need help including more self care activities into your life? Subscribe to my email list and receive an EXCLUSIVE 14 day self care challenge right to your email! This challenge will give you a different self care activity daily so that we take time to show ourselves a little love. In the end helping you live a more fulfilling and happy life.

XOXO,

Brooke