How to start a beginner journal?
- Nivaasini
- Nov 28, 2020
- 4 min read
I guess you would have heard this word journaling somewhere on social media. If you are practicing journaling in your day to day life, that’s awesome. Journaling is all about writing down your thoughts, your ideas, your plans, your goals, and all about you. Journaling can bring numerous benefits to your life. Writing a journal can reduce your stress, can help to keep your thoughts under control, deal with anxiety, depression, and a lot more benefits.
Read this article, to find your “why” the reason to start journaling, what type of journal to choose based on your why, when, and how to journal.
Why
Having answered the “why” can help you get through this process in a long run. This can also help you to find whether journaling is your cup of tea or not.
Why do you want to start journaling? See if you can answer yes for any questions below,
Do I need to set and track goals for my life?
Do I want to track my day to day life?
Do I need to capture my thoughts and ideas?
Do I want to create my dream life?
Am I looking for any creative outlet?
Do I want a stress free mind, by letting out my thoughts and emotions?
These are a few common questions to ask yourself. If you answer yes, then yes, journaling is your cup of tea.
Types of Journal
Bullet Journal
The bullet journal is trendy nowadays. This is the method of personal organization developed by Ryder Caroll. The main purpose of this journaling is to elevate your productivity and organization. It is by setting a to-do-list for the day, planning your meals, tracking your habits, grocery checklist, etc. Anything and everything in a creative format that helps you keep track effortlessly. If you want to keep your life organized in a paper rather in mind, then bullet journaling is for you. Check this article for 100+ bullet journal ideas.
Morning Pages
As the name suggests, morning pages are writing your journal in the morning. You can flow your thoughts as soon as you wake up or plan your day or express your gratitude for the day. It can be anything you like to calm your mind and prepare your soul to rock the day.
Dream Journal
A dream journal is for your dreams. It can be for the dream that you dream in your sleep or can be for the dream that does not let you sleep. This journal is predominantly for your dreams. You can plan for it, pen down the steps to achieve your dreams, ideas to tackle the hurdles that come on your path. Check this article for more ideas on dream journaling.
Overthinking Journal
It may sound weird initially. But, this can help you to calm your mind, address your emotions, reduce anxiety. It can be one of the therapeutic ways of dealing with stress and depression.
Whenever your mind wanders in the air, write down all the thoughts in this journal. No filters in this. Be as raw as you can. It can be positive thoughts or negative thoughts, just write. Let go of your emotions on the piece of paper. Check this article to use journal prompts for handling anxiety. Check this article to know about the benefits of journaling for depression, anxiety, and stress.
Food Journal
If you are a health-conscious person or you want to lose weight or to gain more or to be fit then food journaling is apt for you. Make an entry of every day in your journal to have an insight into what your stuffing in your mouth daily. Check this article to know more about the daily food journal.
Gratitude Journal
As the name suggests, this is for expressing our gratitude. Start and end the day with gratitude for all the blessings you have in your life either big or small. On the bigger picture, we may crib of things that we don’t have. But going deeper, we will find one or two to be grateful for every day. Check this article for gratitude prompts and ideas.
Art Journal
Are you a creative person? You want your creative soul to be alive? Then an art journal is for you. Draw, color, paint, doodle to make your journal more appealing for you. Check this article for more ideas on art journaling.
Five Minute Journal
This is just a five-minute journal to write every day. Yes, you heard it right, only 5 minutes, easy-peasy. If you are not sure what to write in your journal, then you can create prompts and answer those every day. It can be like,
How do I feel today?
What bothered me today, could I have done anything better?
What am I grateful for today?
What made me happy today?
Check this article for ideas for journaling daily.
Brainstorming Journal
Pen down any amazing idea that comes to your mind. You may not know when a brilliant idea will pop up in your mind. So have a brainstorming journal with you, and catch anything and everything in your journal.
Benefits of Journaling
Research shows that consistent journaling has amazing health benefits. It also improves mental clarity and minimizes stress and depression. This is also a great way to know more and discover yourself. My favorite benefits are,
Helps to track mood every day.
Deep clarity on likes and dislikes.
Better mental health.
Being aware of things to be grateful for.
It also leads to new ideas.
Boosts creativity.
More aware of oneself.
How to Journal
There is no guide for how to journal. It is your personal space. You can write, draw, doodle, scribble, paint, decorate. Do anything and everything you wish to do.
Don't worry about grammar mistakes, sentence patterns, punctuations, or spelling mistakes. You are not going to submit this journal anywhere, so feel free to write anything you wish.
You can journal in a notebook or digital apps. A pen and paper are enough to serve you. But if you prefer to do it online, then check,
When to Journal
Again there is no hardcore rule for journaling. You can write whenever you wish to write. But make sure, you are consistent in writing.
Initially, it may be difficult to be consistent. But try to make it a habit. Set a particular time every day for journaling. Start by writing a few lines daily. If you don’t know what to write, then write the same “ I don’t know what to write”. After a couple of days, you will surely find something to write. Eventually, you will fall in love with this process. Happy journaling.
Like if you find this article useful and comment if you have any other ideas on journaling and your experience in journaling.
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