Journaling is something everyone has heard of, most people have tried, and few people understand the far reaching potential of. If you commit to its philosophy of uncovering secrets about yourself, then your self awareness will improve in leaps and bounds. And self awareness is the biggest key to self improvement. If you want to see changes in yourself or your life, then journaling is a great place to start. Knowing yourself is a huge step forward towards any goal you can have in life.
Journaling, to me, is about finding out who you are through questions and reflections. It’s a safe space to pursue self awareness and intuition.
If you take the activity seriously then it can change your life by revealing your innermost thoughts and desires. You can use that to set goals and make plans. Gain insight into relationships to craft stronger and healthier connections. Create peace of mind and mental clarity by allowing yourself to be in tune with your thoughts and emotions. It can also boost creativity, increase motivation, give you something to read a year from now so you remember what you valued at what times, increase productivity, and help with morale.
If you journal consciously and purposefully for long enough, then you will find that you automatically reflect throughout your day as well. With practice comes ingrained habits, after all. You’ll be able to get to the root of a problem by asking yourself questions to understand your own reactions. It’s a skill that allows you to relax and depend on your own insight.
It’s very easy to go through life by just reacting and moving forward with no real comprehension. But knowing how to look at things, write about them, and cut to the center of a problem will save you time and suffering in the future.
I started journaling because I was drowning in my emotions. I was reacting and living in word only. There was so much going on that I felt blank at all times, even with a storm cloud where my heart should be. Journaling allowed me to slow down and parse through those feelings to identify their sources and the complicated web that connected them all.
Just remember, that journaling is healthy, but requires you to look at yourself with compassion and understanding. It means diving into the depths of your mind and exploring what makes you the person you are. Journaling can feel like ripping your heart out and pressing it to a page just to see what patterns your own life blood makes. But that’s what makes it valuable.
The prompts I write are based on questions I’ve asked myself over the years and things I found important to remember or figure out. I value what I’ve found so highly that I’ve made an entire blog about it. Hopefully it helps others as well.