Blog

We’ve already looked at how journaling is helpful to self-care, ie. what the benefits are. Here we’re going to take a little closer look at how you can use journaling for self-care. Aside from just adding journaling to your routine, it is important to understand why it can be so therapeutic and cathartic for you, and why it is considered to be a self-care activity.

Why Journaling is Considered Self-Care

When you think about self-care, you want to think about what will improve your life, make you feel happier and healthier, and be good for your physical, mental, and emotional health. That is where journaling comes in.

Journaling provides many things for many people, but it won’t always have the same benefits for each person. What you get out of journaling relies on how you use it, what you write about, your mindset about journaling, and if you even enjoy writing.

However, in general, here are some reasons journaling can be good for self-care:

• It is a reflecting activity, letting you see where you want to make improvements in your life.
• You can do a brain dump, where you get all the stressful thoughts out of your head and onto paper.
• It helps you to vent in a safe, private space without fearing judgment.
• It gives you a few moments of peace and quiet, where you focus on yourself and how you are feeling.

How to Turn Journaling into a Daily Ritual

If you want to use journaling as part of your self-care routine, here are a few things that can help you with that.

Start with morning pages. Morning pages are simple 2-3 pages you write down in your journal during your morning routine. It is stream of consciousness style, where you just write anything on your mind, not worrying about the topic, sentence structure, grammar, or any other writing rules.

Set up your journaling space. For some people, the area in their home they use for journaling is just as important as choosing the journal itself. You want this to be a quiet, private space in your home without distractions. A bedroom or office works great for this.

Use journaling prompts. If you are feeling stuck on what to write about, try using journal prompts. These are sentences or questions that give you a specific topic to write about.

Types of Journaling for Your Overall Wellness

Remember that there are different types of journaling that can help with your wellness and work for self-care. Here is a rundown of some of the more popular options.

Stream of consciousness. This is where you don’t think about what to write about, and instead are just doing a “brain dump” where you get your thoughts out of your head. Typically, you end up writing about many different things, and go with the flow of your thoughts.

Daily journaling. Do you remember writing to your diary when you were a pre-teen? That is similar to daily journaling. It is often done at the end of the day, where you write about how your day went, how it could have been improved, and any reflections you have about your day.

Goal setting and specific topics. Some people prefer using their journal for specific things, like setting goals or expressing their creativity with short stories.

A question that often arises when I suggest journaling, is “What should I journal about?” The answer depends on what you hope to gain from it. This article suggests some of the ways in which journaling can be helpful as part of a self-care routine.

Journaling effectively enables you to process your thoughts and emotions. As a result, it can help you better understand yourself and make positive changes in your life. Journaling is also a type of self-care, allowing you to relax and unwind.

When you consider what to journal about, understand that there are endless possibilities of things to write about. But the point of journaling is to help you with an issue you’re having.

Whether it’s to identify patterns to your health condition, learn a new language, or overcome your inconsistent actions, journaling can help. Instead of thinking about what to journal about, think about what you’re writing about and your purpose for keeping the journal. Then choose topics that are meaningful to you and will help you grow and reflect on your life.

But what should I journal about?

Record your daily events and thoughts

Recording events and thoughts every single day is a great way to track your progress and see how your thoughts and behaviours change over time. It can also be helpful to look back on old entries to see how far you’ve come. Ensure you include dates and details (eg. pain scales) so you can remember.

Set goals and track your progress

Goal setting is imperative for journaling to work. If you have specific goals you want to achieve, journaling helps you to stay on track and keeps you motivated. First, write down your goals, what you’re doing to achieve them, and your progress along the way. Then, take the time to review occasionally to see how far you’ve come.

Work through stressful or difficult situations

Writing about it in your journal can be therapeutic when dealing with a challenging situation. It can help you work through your emotions and devise a plan of action.

Reflect on your successes and accomplishments

It’s critical to commemorate your wins, no matter how big or small. Journaling is an excellent method to reflect on your accomplishments and remind yourself of what you’re capable of.

Explore your creative side

Journaling can help you get the juices flowing if you’re feeling stuck creatively. Write down stream-of-consciousness style or try out different writing prompts to jumpstart your creativity.

Record actions on future goals

If you have a goal that you’re working toward, take the time to write about what you did each day toward that goal. Doing so enables you to reflect on your thoughts, improving future planning.

No matter what you choose to journal about, whether you’re seeking to increase your creativity or build better relationships, journaling can work for you. It also doesn’t matter what type of techniques you use. The important thing is that it brings you joy and helps you grow.

So regardless of your reasons for journaling, and no matter what you journal about, experiment to find what works for your journaling journey. Before you begin, simply know that it works and trust that you’ve chosen the right way for you – then commit to taking action!

There are many different options for journaling, such as pen, paper, and online journaling. You can also use other mediums for journaling, such as a notebook, computer, or phone. You can use apps that let you use your phone to journal too. The choice is yours. Of course, the right answer is the option you will use regularly.

If you want to start journaling, but don’t know where to begin, here are some tips:

Decide the type of journaling you want to do.

Do you want to write about your day or track your thoughts and feelings? Choose what feels suitable for you because there is no one right answer. The type of journaling you choose may inform the medium you pick too.

Choose a medium that you’re comfortable with.

If you prefer not to write, you can try using an app on your phone or even dictating your journal entries into a voice recorder.

Here are a few options for journaling you can consider:

• Pen and paper: This is the most classic journaling method and offers flexibility. You can use any paper you want, from lined to blank, and any pen or pencil you prefer. You can also decorate your pages however you like, with stickers, washi tape, or drawings.

• Digital: Similar to the classic journaling method, here you can type your thoughts into an online journal or write them in by hand with a digital pen. You can still decorate your pages with digital stickers.

• Painting: Journaling with paint can be an enjoyable and creative way to express yourself. You can use any painting style that you want – from watercolours to acrylics – and you can even mix mediums and add collages or drawings to your pages.

• Drawing: If you’re more of a visual person, journaling with drawings might be the perfect way to express yourself. You can use any drawing medium, from pencils to markers to paints. You can also add words to your drawings if you want or keep them completely wordless.

Don’t try to use a method you will not like or use regularly. If a paper notebook or a voice recorder by your bed works best for you, do that. Don’t put roadblocks in your way.

Set aside the time each day to journal.

Whether it’s 5 minutes or half an hour, find a time that works for you and stick to it. Choose a time that you always have available to devote to journaling. You really only need five minutes to write your thoughts down for the day.

Be patient with yourself.

Don’t expect perfect results from your journaling practice. The point is to get started and simply see where it takes you. Set a goal to do it for 30 days in a row so that you can judge how well it works for you.

Whether you use pen and paper, journaling apps, or choose an art option – or anything else – to capture your thoughts doesn’t matter. What’s important is that you use an option for journaling that works for your needs.

There’s no doubt that journaling can be a helpful tool for self-care. When you write down your thoughts and feelings, you gain valuable insights into yourself and your life. Also, journaling helps you release pent-up emotions and reduce stress. We wrapped up our recent series of articles on mindfulness with a quick look at using journaling for mindfulness.

So how does journaling work?

1. Journaling can help you to gain insights into yourself.

Many people find that journaling is a helpful way to get to know themselves better. Recording your thoughts and feelings allows you to see patterns and trends in your behaviour. This is extremely valuable in terms of personal growth and development.

2. Journaling can help you to release pent-up emotions.

If you’re bottling up your emotions, it can be helpful to let them out through journaling. Writing down your thoughts and feelings about them will help you process them healthily and prevent them from causing problems in your life.

3. Journaling can help you to reduce stress levels.

Research has shown that journaling can be an effective way to reduce stress. For example, in one study, participants who wrote about their stressors for 20 minutes per day for three days showed significant reductions in stress levels.

4. Journaling can help you to achieve your goals.

If you’re working towards a goal, journaling can help you to stay on track. By writing about your progress and challenges, you can better understand what’s working and what isn’t. Additionally, research has shown that people who write about their goals are more likely to achieve them.

5. Journaling can help you to improve your mental health.

There is evidence to suggest that journaling can be beneficial for mental health. For example, in one study, participants who wrote about their trauma showed improvements in symptoms of PTSD. Also, journaling has been helpful for people with depression and anxiety.

6. Journaling can help you to boost your immune system.

Research shows that journaling can help to boost the immune system. For example, in one study, participants who wrote about their emotions for 20 minutes per day for three days had increased antibodies.

7. Journaling can help you to get better sleep.

If you’re struggling to get a good night’s sleep, journaling may be able to help. One study showed that people who wrote about their worries before bed slept better than those who didn’t.

8. Journaling can help you to manage chronic pain.

If you suffer from chronic pain, journaling may be able to help you to manage it. For example, in one study, participants who wrote about their pain for 20 minutes per day for three days showed a reduction in pain intensity.

9. Journaling can help you to cope with grief.

If you’re grieving your loved one, journaling can be a helpful way to cope with your emotions. Participants who wrote about their grief showed improvements in symptoms of depression and anxiety in a study.

10. Journaling can help you to increase your self-esteem.

If you’re struggling with low self-esteem, journaling may be able to help. One study showed that people who wrote about their positive qualities for 20 minutes per day for three days showed increased self-esteem.

As you can see, evidence that journaling can be a helpful tool for self-care is plentiful. So, journaling may be a good option if you want to improve your mental health, achieve your goals, or get to know yourself better.

Are you looking for another way to practice mindfulness that doesn’t involve meditation or physical activity? Do those not work for you, or maybe you just want some variety? Well, journaling for mindfulness might be just what you need.

Journaling has many benefits of its own and is often used for self-development and in various forms of self-help. It can also be incorporated into a mindfulness practice. It’s one of the easiest mindfulness activities to learn. It doesn’t require any special equipment or fancy journals; all you need is a pen and a plain old notebook. (There’s nothing wrong with fancy journals if you want one; it just depends on your preferences.)

The easiest way to get started is to use journaling prompts designed specifically to help enhance mindfulness. You can buy a journal that includes these, or you can get them for free off the internet.

When you sit down to write, start with the prompt. You can write as much or as little as you want or need to. You can spend only a couple of minutes per exercise or as many as five or ten.

You need to journal at least several times a week if you want to see the benefits, but you can also journal every day.

Once you get the basic technique down, you can switch from prompted journaling to freestyle. This means you write about whatever is on your mind, or whatever you think about as you start to write. This is a great method to enhance your mindfulness of your own thoughts!

Regularly journaling will help you understand your thought processes, sharpen your focus, help your problem-solving skills, lower your stress, and more. It will enhance your mindfulness practice in every aspect of your life.

Here are a few prompts you can use to get started:

• What are three things that made you smile today?
• What was the best part of your day? What about the worst?
• Describe something that challenged you today. Why did it challenge you?
• What’s a problem you’re currently trying to solve? Why is it a problem?
• What’s one thing that made you feel valuable/loved/heard/brave today?
• Did you make progress on a goal today? Which one? What happened?
• Did anything unexpected happen today? What?
• Describe something beautiful you saw today.
• What made you laugh today? (You can also alter these to fit morning journaling -you don’t have to journal only at night!)

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this series on mindfulness. I’m starting a new self-care series of articles for December, all around the topic of journalling, so please join me.

If you’ve been following this mindfulness series from the beginning, then by now you may know that being mindful brings with it, a host of benefits. But what you may not know is that there are several simple ways to stay mindful. It’s not always necessary to take a mindfulness pause or meditate daily. Below are some simple ways you can work on being more mindful every day.

Slow Down Sometimes

In this day and age, it is common that most people live a fast-paced lifestyle. And while it can be fun to be busy sometimes, you may need to take life slowly sometimes to stay mindful. This can be as simple as listening to a podcast instead of responding to emails while travelling. Or when you are at lunch break while at work, resolve not to do anything work-related for the entire break. You can even slow down just by spending a quiet afternoon on the couch reading a book. Whatever you decide, just make sure you allow yourself time to slow down to be more mindful.

Put Down Your Phone

Phones have come to be more of constant companions than something we spend a few minutes on each day. To be more mindful, it’s time to put your phone away for a while during your busy schedule. Try not to scroll through social media on your work break. Spend time evaluating how you feel instead. Also, make sure to put your phone away when you are spending time with loved ones, so you can be more present in the here and now.

Make An Effort To Listen

Sometimes, when someone is talking, your thoughts may tend to drift, or you may be scrolling on your phone instead. It’s time to stop this habit and make an effort to listen to someone when they are speaking to you. Not only will this help strengthen your relationship with this person, but it will also make sure you don’t miss something they may be trying to tell you. This will help keep you more focused on what is essential in life.

Overall, it can sometimes seem difficult to stay mindful. Make it easier on yourself by employing simple techniques of staying mindful such as slowing down, putting down your phone, and spending time listening. All of these things are easy to apply to your life and will help to keep you mindful.

Once you’ve made start at mindfulness, it can help you in every area of your life. Mindfulness can even help you do better at work! (No meditation required -though it can help.) The following are just a few of the many ways mindfulness can help you be more productive and perform better at your job.

Ability to Focus

Mindfulness increases your ability to focus. This lets you devote all of your attention to a task, rather than having it scattered across multiple different things you’re thinking about all at once. At work, this allows you to single-task, devoting yourself to one task and finishing it faster and better than you would have otherwise. This directly improves your performance on the job.

Be Present

Mindfulness teaches you to be present in the moment. You learn to be present where you are instead of having your mind wander off to five or six different places. When you’re present at work, your work skills and performance will improve, making you a better and more valued employee. Your bosses will quickly notice the difference in you.

Increased Mental Stamina

Our brains tire throughout the day. As the workday wears on, our energy levels, critical thinking skills, and decision-making abilities all decline. Practicing mindfulness sharpens most of these skills, which increases your mental stamina, making it easier for you to work productively for longer.

Fewer Emotional Reactions

Let’s face it – we don’t get along with everyone at work. Some people will deliberately wind you up and others will just get on your nerves. The increased emotional regulation ability that comes with mindfulness will let you handle these folks without reacting emotionally -which is good for both your stress levels and your career.

Improved Ability to Handle Stress

Mindfulness lowers your stress levels, but it can’t erase all stress from your life. That’s impossible, especially in today’s world. You’re going to experience stress in all areas of your life, including work. Practicing mindfulness regularly will improve your ability to handle that stress and lower your physical and mental reactions to it. You’ll be able to perform better and be more productive under stress than you were before.

Ability to “Recharge” Throughout the Day

One of the best ways to recharge your brain is to take a mindfulness pause and guess what? Once you get good at it, you can do one at work without ever having to leave your desk. Just taking a minute or two to breathe deeply and ground yourself can recharge your batteries!

As you can see, mindfulness can help you perform better at work but it also helps you cope better with the stresses that come with it. A win for your boss and a win for you!

It can be difficult to practice mindfulness in an age of information. In today’s world we have a host of digital tools at our fingertips. It’s easier than ever to be distracted. There is a whole array of new entertainment modes, communications channels, and outright distractions.

The constant pinging of notifications can be annoying even to people who aren’t trying to be mindful. If you are trying to maintain a mindfulness practice, it’s even more of a challenge. Can you even do so without resorting to moving to a cabin that’s outside of mobile phone reception and Wi-Fi range?

You can! You just need to learn how to integrate your mindfulness practice with your life and avoid the digital overwhelm that’s so common these days. Of course, no-one said it would be easy but here are some things you can do to help.

The most important part of integrating mindfulness into a digital world is to control your digital life. As previously stated, it’s easy for anyone to find themselves overwhelmed these days.

Start by turning off all notifications (on your phone and computer) that you don’t actually need. Sales and price drops on items you’re watching? News stories? Book releases? All of these are things you can look up when you’re ready to give them your attention or have them sent to your email.

Next, dedicate certain segments of time each day to checking your email, both work, and personal email. Don’t look at your email at other times. Turn off the notifications so you aren’t interrupted. If someone needs to get in touch with you that badly, they’ll call.

You can also sort your emails automatically by creating filters and applying labels, so you know what needs attention when you check your inbox and what can wait.

Finally, when you sit down to focus on anything -your mindfulness practice or otherwise -turn off all notifications. Put your phone on silent or turn on do not disturb (on iphone or android) if you want emergency calls to come through. You may have noticed that this is what I do when I’m in clinic. You have my undivided attention.

Part of the goal of mindfulness is to decide what you give your attention to. In today’s age, digital notifications try to make this decision for you and command your attention. Don’t let them. Make the choice yourself and corral your notifications. This will help you to practise mindfulness in an age of information.

Practicing mindfulness has many benefits and not just on your physical health. If anything, it benefits your mental health even more than your physical health. Acupuncture is an holistic treatment. We treat the whole person, since mental and physical health are so intimately connected. Mindfulness is another holistic practice, benefiting both physical and mental health. What can you expect if you start a mindfulness practice? Here are six of the mental benefits of mindfulness:

• Improved memory and cognition
• Reduced levels of depression and anxiety
• Lowered stress level
• Improved emotional regulation
• Decreased negative emotions
• Stronger relationships

Let’s take a brief look at each in turn:

Improved Memory and Cognition

Many of my current clients complain of problems with memory and concentration. The pandemic has had a negative impact on our thought processing abilities for various reasons. People who practice mindfulness show improved memory and stronger cognitive skills after just a few weeks of practice. They show improvements in recall, focus, processing speed, and more. Not bad for such a simple practice! I’ll be referring my clients to this series of articles and encouraging them to give mindfulness a try.

Reduced levels of Depression and Anxiety

A regular mindfulness practice can reduce the incidence of and severity of both depression and anxiety. All markers of these issues improve with a mindfulness practice. When coupled with other treatments such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), practicing mindfulness has also been shown to reduce the recurrence of both of these issues.

Lowered Stress Levels

Stress affects you both physically and mentally. We’ve already considered the benefit of lowered stress levels on the physical body. One of the primary benefits of mindfulness is a reduction in the mental effects of stress. Overall stress levels are also lower in those who’ve been practicing mindfulness for a while.

Improved Emotional Regulation

The focus on understanding your feelings and not getting overwhelmed that is a hallmark of mindfulness helps improve overall emotional regulation in those who do it regularly. Mindfulness has been shown to physically alter the areas of the brain responsible for regulating your feelings!

Decreased Negative Emotions

The number of overall negative emotions you experience decreases when you have a mindfulness practice. This includes more than just the depression and anxiety previously mentioned; it means that anger, self-doubt, sadness, and other such emotions all decrease when you maintain a mindfulness practice.

Stronger Relationships

Our relationships with other people are an important component of our mental health. We’re social creatures through and through. You might think that something like mindfulness wouldn’t have effects that extend beyond ourselves, but you’d be wrong.

Researchers have shown that practicing mindfulness strengthens all of our personal relationships! This may be because the other benefits of mindfulness lead to more empathy and mental “space” to handle relationships but regardless, it’s a great benefit.

Don’t forget, it’s the regular, daily practice of mindfulness that leads to these mental health benefits.

By now you hopefully have some really great reasons to give this style of mini meditation a go. You have an idea of how to give it a try. But you may be asking when to take that mindfulness pause? Is there a good time versus a bad one?

There’s no one right answer to this question, as it’s largely dependent on your personal preferences and schedule, but there are times that are better (or worse) than others. Here’s a few examples of each that you can try (better times), or should avoid (worse times).

The best times to choose

Before starting (or after completing) a difficult task: Taking a pause right before starting a project will help you focus and centre yourself for the task ahead. Doing so afterward will help you decompress and destress.

Before or after driving: Let’s face it, driving is tough, especially in rush hour traffic. Doing a pause before setting off on a journey, or after you get home, can help you manage that stress.

Before eating: Take a pause before you eat to help you concentrate on and be mindful of the meal.

Before getting ready for the day or laying down for bed: This can help you become focused and set your intentions for the day in the morning and help you set aside the worries of the day at night. Note the caution further below though, this shouldn’t be done while lying in bed (unless you want to fall asleep).

The worst times to choose

Don’t pause while driving: This one should be obvious, but don’t do it when you’re stopped briefly at a light or in traffic. It increases the odds of an accident.

Don’t pause while lying in bed: Whether after waking in the morning or at night. Your body is in sleep mode at these times and you’re likely to become mindful of the need to sleep and do just that.

Don’t pause when it could cause trouble: You obviously know best what your workday and personal life are like. If taking a pause at the wrong time could get you in trouble with your boss or your family, then be selective in your timing.

So now you have some pointers for good and bad timing, when will you take a mindfulness pause?