Journal To Journal

"A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving" Lao Tzu

Last November I started a gratefulness journal practice. Unsurprisingly this has helped me be more grateful for the life I lead. A few days ago I watched an Ali Abdaal video as I often do. This one was about him having a long-term journaling habit. His journey inspired me to create my own journaling space on Notion. I just made my first entry this Saturday. I am still very fresh to actual journaling and that is why I decided to write about it. This will be me and you discovering the world of journaling together.

When writing my first entry I quickly realised that starting from a blank page is tough. I was surprised to learn that writing a blog is very different to journaling. When writing this blog I have developed a certain way of initiating the writing process. I first brainstorm things I have done or thought about recently, I choose a topic and write out 3 main points that I could further expand. But when writing my first journal entry I had no direction whatsoever. My text was erratic and all over the place.

I decided that I should have journaling prompts. These are simply a helping hand in the scenario where I would have writer's block. The ones I picked are:

1. Identify one area where you’d like to improve. Then, list three specific actions you can take to create that change.
2. How can you better support and appreciate your loved ones?
3. How does a day five years in the future look like? How different is it from right now?
4. When do you trust yourself most? When do you find it harder to have faith in your instincts?
5. Describe a choice you regret. What did you learn from it?

When looking for journaling prompts I also stumbled upon a few studies that show the benefits of journaling. One study from 2002 done on 122 students during a month suggests that journaling about stressful events "may facilitate positive growth". This study also mentions that the focus of journaling is important. As in it matters what you journal about.

Another study from 2018 looks into the effects of positive affect journaling – this is explained as an "emotion-focused self-regulation intervention" by the study. The results of the 12-week study imply that positive affect journaling is linked to decreased mental distress and increased well-being relative to baseline.

A third study from 2 years ago was done on mothers of troubled children. The study concludes that "implementing a positive writing intervention is a practical means of promoting psychological well-being as a self-care strategy for this population."

I think you get the point. Science is continuously backing up journaling. I have not yet thought of how often I would like to journal. I feel like if I do it too often then the prompts will be too used up and my reflections will be too similar and the whole process might get boring. On the opposite though, my ideas might fluctuate so much that it could be interesting to keep track of them on a more regular basis.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it!

This Week's Suggestions:

🎶 "About A Girl" by Nirvana:

I was doing some rock-research and decided to look into Nirvana. I knew a few songs but I had never listened to Nirvana's albums. That is precisely what I decided to do – I pressed play on MTV Unplugged In New York. It was a great experience. "About A Girl" was one of my favourites.

🎬 I Journaled Everyday for 90 Days. Here’s What I Learned.:

This video is the one mentioned in the first paragraph. He explores for 90 days the pros and cons of physical journaling. It is a very well-structured story.

That shall be it for this one!