Clarity of The Mind. Why, When, What and How to Journal.

Today, I thought  I would share my journaling story along with tips for anyone wanting to start to Journal. I am sure everyone journals in some way or form.

There is no right or wrong way to journal it is what works for you.  Whatever, you do with your journal doesn’t matter.

The power in journaling comes from figuring out what is bothering you, creating a resolution, a motivation and a determination to carry on.  Always ending on a positive note. Journaling leads us to clarity.

Why I Journal

Journaling is a therapy an art of inner discovery and transformation

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For me the art of taking to pen to paper is what journaling and diary keeping is all about. 

I find that when I write on paper, my thoughts become calmer and clearer. 

I am able to understand what is going on inside of me.

What I need to work on, what I needs to change, and why I am feeling the way I am feeling.  

I am able to make plans for the future. 

I am able to work through painful issues repeatedly until I find a solution.  

I write my affirmations, my gratitude and I write my timeline of events I want to remember in years to come.   

I feel that the act of physically writing to be the most therapeutic way of clearing out the daily chaos of my mind. 

It is a brain dump, the download, the get rid of all that noise in my head and give me some silent space to make better decisions.

Why You should Journal?

Journaling daily 10 to 20 minutes helps us unravel our thoughts and leads to peace and clarity. Or just once a week can help if daily is too much.

We can Journal to capture the events if the day as memory keeper. Or to figure out life. To reprogram our minds and thinking from negativity to positivity. Or to vent and so much more.

Journaling is important to off load what is going on inside of us. Journaling is safe. It acts as a decluttering exercise. With pen and paper and no rules write away what you feel. It helps us figure out the confusion we feel, the stress, the anxiety and more. Even if we have people in our life to talk to sometimes we have to do the inner work ourselves, and sometimes we just don’t want to discuss it yet.

Journal Questions or Prompts

Here are some questions when journaling to vent or declutter, that you can use to figure it out.

• Ask why do I feel this way?
• What can I learn from this?
• What can I do keep my peace?
• How can I give positive vibrations to this situation?
• What am I misunderstanding?
• What do I need to change in myself?

What to Journal about?

Try using affirmations and gratitude to change any negativity thinking into positive thoughts and manifest goodness into your life.

Try Journaling. But always end on a positive note to attract good things into your life.

Sunday is a good day to Journal. Any day is good.

When we write stuff out we create space in our heads. But always end on a positive. Learn to change negativity into positive.

Transform Negative into Positive

I can’t. Becomes I can

Why do they do this? Becomes. I send them good wishes to be kind and wise, mature and compassionate.

I don’t like my boss. Becomes. My boss is good to me.

I am successful.

I can do this.

My life is full of goodness. I am fortunate. I have so much in my life.

Positive Self Talk will change your life – if you do it daily.

Back to My Journaling

How often do I journal?

• I will make sure I journal a minimum once a week and this happens at the weekend. But, when I journal daily and end on a positive note that makes the biggest transformation in my life.
• If life is intensively painful, I will journal more.  I may even journal daily and may be even 3 times day. When I am in this ‘state’ I will up my meditation, and positive reading to help get to a solution faster.
• I like to journal about my future plans weekly, or it might be daily especially when I am trying to figure it all out.
• I write affirmations and keep a gratitude journal, I might do this daily or minimum of twice a week.
• Memory Keeping Journal – I only update this with significant things that I know I will want to remember later on in life.
• But I always end a journaling session on a positive note.

What time in the day do I Journal?

I don’t have a fixed time of when I journal.  I won’t necessarily do it first thing in the morning, simply because if I have not slept, I am already in a messed up mood and that just counteracts the purpose of journaling for me.  I tend to do it later in the day or evening.   I don’t like to carry over an issue into the next day, so I will do a nightly brain dump.   If the problem is huge then it might take days or weeks to resolve, but nevertheless, I brain dump at night at least 30 minutes before going to bed.   Before sleeping I will listen to something positive so I don’t go to sleep with a head full of hurt, worry or whatever it is.

What do I journal in?  What do I do with my old journal?

A good 16 years ago, I started the “de-clutter the house project” which in fact is a yearly project.    So, it came round to my journals, do I keep or do I chuck?  Initially, I kept them because I could not let them go. Then, the following year I was more ruthless with the de-cluttering, I shredded and recycled the whole lot.  Yes Sir the whole load, except my A6 memory keeping a journal.   

Okay, there is a method to my madness.  I am de-cluttering, right!   I have learnt what I needed to learn- right!  I have created new habits and I am stronger.  Therefore, the old books are dead weight, the dead negative weight that I have released.  Why am I making my home stagnant with stale books, that I am not going to read again and re-live what I have released?

Memory Keeping Journal

So, you ask what about memory keeping? 

Well, this is a little A6 hardcover book, I will only write significant events and significant things I want to remember.  

I don’t need to remember the lessons learnt because they are now a part of my life. Why do I have to keep the paper to prove it?

Other Journaling Books

• I keep an affirmation and gratitude book.   When these get full, I will keep them for two months into the new book and then they will be shredded and recycled.
• Lessons Learnt book.  A nice Peanut limited edition Moleskine.   Purpose of this book is it to write my lessons learnt from my journaling.  To keep the book with me, to keep referring to it, and make a habit of whatever I need to make a habit of.  Or to remind myself of what not to do, or what to watch out.    It is my work in progress book of  what I need to improve on.   Again when it gets full and there is nothing I really want to keep, I will get rid of it.

My actual journal books.

Well, you won’t be surprised my journal is NOT a pretty book, in fact, it is a notebook from the pound shop, or it is an A4 list pad, or it can be the back of a used envelope.   

When I journal, I may keep my journal pages for a month, or I might keep them for a week.   Or I will shred them on the same day.  

Logic– I don’t want to hold on to dead weight.    I love the act of writing and shredding as it is a physical act of letting go of what is no longer needed. I have dealt with it and now I don’t need to hold it.   If there is a lesson to be learnt – it goes in my lesson learnt book. 

Crazy Journaling process – too many books?  Why?  What is the benefit?

I am so happy with my process of journaling I find it freeing and it is self-cleaning and meets my decluttering needs.  It might sound like a lot of fuss. I like separate books, as I like to go into my affirmation or gratitude book when I am feeling down as it lifts me up.  

I like to go to my lesson learnt book to see what I have to work on.   I don’t want to wade through pages of ramblings to find the affirmation or lesson learnt, I want it on hand.   As for future aspiration – this is front and centre on a note card in my lessons learnt book.

We all journal in different ways, there is no right or wrong way to journal. We are all unique and it has to work for us.  

I thought I would share what I do.  I love to journal, it is for me the only way I can resolve issues and concerns that are driving me mad. 

Journaling allows me to brain dump, create space in my mind, create peace, and clarity in my mind. My mind, I become free and I can free up my mind for more important things.  I have been journaling in some sort of fashion since I was 10 years old.

There were a few years I didn’t journal. Those years that I didn’t journal life was initially good, but when life got hard I struggled. It was only when I started to journal again I found clarity and peace of mind.

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How Others Journal and Why

I would like to share two YouTube videos, proving there are different ways to journal. But, most importantly how beneficial it is to journal.

Robin Sharma = How to Keep a Journal

Morning Pages – Lavendaire

So how do you journal?  Do you journal?  Or is it a waste of time? What are your thoughts?

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