Writing our thoughts, feelings, and emotions on paper is quite a wonderful tool. Many people don’t do it often, but it would be a great idea to start doing it. Some write every day, which I know can be tough, some may write only when pertinent things happen, or it can be done once a week, or a month.
The important thing is that letting things out on a piece of paper can be therapeutic and beneficial to one’s mind, and body. Journaling can help put things in perspective. It can show that difficult times, stressful times, and sad times come and go. There were many times when I looked back on my journals, and read about difficult times I had, and realize now that I no longer feel that way. It may seem those down times are the end of the world, but you realize emotions never stay the same. Sometimes I don’t even remember those difficult times.
Journaling can also show what things you can improve on, and what improvements you have made. It is nice to look back on your journey, and see what improvements you made, and what you are still struggling with, and need to work on. It can also make you feel better getting those thoughts and emotions out. It can also help you learn more about yourself, your strengths and weaknesses.
Another type of practice you can try is mindfulness journaling. This is just writing what is on your mind at the moment. Writing what you are experiencing, feeling, doing, or thinking at the moment. Try to look at things in a non-judgmental way. This means focus on your thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and surroundings at the moment, without adding a narrative, or story line to it. I think this is a great way to keep your mind attuned to the present moment.
Writing is a great way to know, improve, and heal oneself. I think this is something most people neglect to do, because who has time to write these down, but I believe taking the time to journal will be very helpful for you. Here are a couple of benefits I found that show the benefits of writing in a journal.
- Helps achieve goals- this makes sense, since writing down your goals, may encourage you to go after your goals.
- Improves emotional intelligence-writing creates an ability to be aware and understand our thoughts and emotions. This can then help us become more empathetic towards others. If we understand ourselves. It is much easier to understand others.
- Strengthen self-discipline-being able to take time to write can create self-discipline, and this can spill onto other things in life.
- Improve communication skills- writing can correlate to speech. The more you write, the easier it can be to communicate those words into speech.
- Healing- as I mentioned, writing is an outlet for your thoughts and emotions, so it can be helpful for the healing process to write your thoughts and feelings.
- Spark creativity-There are always new ideas created by writing. Just write, and let your thoughts flow.
- Gain self-confidence-Being able to look back on your journals, and see the improvements you made, or the positive changes that have been made, or how you were able to deal with difficult times. This gives you a sense of achievement, which builds confidence.
So if it is everyday, once in a while, when you are down, once a week, or once a month. It may be hard to do it daily for most people. I struggle with it as well, but it is good to put your thoughts and feelings on paper every once in awhile, so that you can learn to cope with life, and learn more about yourself.
Source:https://www.huffpost.com/entry/benefits-of-journaling_n_6648884
Psychology of Mindfulness 