Table of Contents
Are there rules for journaling?
There are no rules in journal writing. The pages are for your eyes only. Be your weirdest self. Be your most curious self. Can we use the terms diary and journal interchangeably? Yes, definitely, and calling your own place where you collect thoughts and writing one or the other doesn’t have to change what you put in there. Studies show it’s better to journal at night because it gives you an outlet for emotions and thoughts that might otherwise keep you awake. Improve writing and communication skills Writing, like anything, improves with practice. When you journal every day, you’re practicing the art of writing. And if you use a journal to express your thoughts and ideas, it can help improve your communication skills.
What should every journal have?
Ultimately, to get the full emotional benefit of journaling, it’s best to tell a narrative, not just recap your day, and write through your emotions. Write about a few things that happened during the day and, more importantly, how those events, epiphanies, or interactions made you feel. Expressive journaling Expressive writing involves writing about how you felt during a particular event versus what happened. It is a much more intimate and emotional style of journaling than what we typically think of when it comes to journaling (Pennebaker, 2013; (Nazarian & Smyth, 2013). “An emotion journal allows you to record your feelings over several days or weeks and then notice patterns or trends,” Ruiz says. When you can recognize these trends, you can work to eliminate or avoid certain triggers — or focus your energy on how best to respond next time. You don’t have to be a writer to learn how to journal. To practice journaling, write a short entry at the same time of day, every day. If that sounds like too much work, try once a week. If you want to learn how to start a journal on your computer, use a dedicated journaling app like Day One. Stosny believes that journaling can take a negative turn when it wallows in the unpleasant things that have happened to you, makes you a passive observer in your life, makes you self-obsessed, becomes a vehicle of blame instead of solutions, and makes you live too much in your head. A journal and a diary are similar in kind but differ in degree. Both are used to keep personal records, but diaries tend to deal with the day to day, more data collection really, and journals with bigger picture reflection/aspiration.
Can you journal without writing?
You can work through complicated emotions by journaling without writing — instead using collages of memes, or putting a daily memento into a time capsule journal. In these ways, journaling is still an excellent (and free) form of mental and emotional self care. I’m going to share my process for what I call “deep journaling” — which is a structured way to confront difficult emotions on the page. it’s a process I’ve been using for many years to work through deep and dark things. it’s painful and clarifying, like a bitter tonic. Rereading Journals is a Valuable and Powerful Activity. We not only keep journals and find the process of writing in our journal valuable. We also often reread our journals, for all sorts of reasons. This rereading experience can be just as valuable and powerful as the initial writing experience—sometimes, even more so … So can journaling be harmful? The answer is yes, there are scenarios in which journaling can be harmful, but these scenarios are easily avoidable. Just like anything, you have to moderate the amount of time you spend doing it. You simply have to know when to stop. If you’re struggling to journal, you need to maintain some sort of consistency. Set a specific time each day or once a week to journal. You can journal for 20 minutes every Sunday at 9 pm or opt for 5 minutes a day every morning at 8 am. Be specific!